Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport

After having a glorious rest day off in the Katherine Gorge I knew it was going to be hard to get the body back into the routine of waking early again. As soon as I left Katherine at 4am there were at least one hundred kangaroo’s within the first ten kilometres. The things were jumping left right and centre. At the 130km mark the sun had just come up and for some reason my body was starting to reject everything and all I wanted to do was vomit. This is always a bad feeling, especially knowing that I still had 65km to travel to our resting destination of Victoria River.

I stopped at the 130km mark and refuelled on porridge and toast which seemed to do the trick and the remaining distance was manageable. As we got within 30km’s of Victoria River we started travelling through a sensational gorge with high red cliffs surrounding us on each side. I rode the last 30km in awe of the beauty and finally rested on the Victoria River.

We were told not to swim near the camp site as a 4m salt water croc hangs in this area. With a 37 degrees heat beaming down we went exploring and found a small area to swim in some rapids. We sat there all afternoon until the sun went behind the red cliffs and then made our way back for dinner.

Craig.

Sorry for late blog but no reception for over 300km and I am doing this at the side of the road 6am this morning.

Clean that dust! Looking after Craig's equipment is an important daily task.

 

Taking in the sights on Day 32

 

Mother nature

 

Relaxing after a hard days work

Thermal springs in Mataranka

It was peak hour on the Stuart Highway this morning with about nine road trains passing me by 7am. I am used to having the road to myself in the early hours, but today being Friday I am assuming some drivers are wanting to get back to Darwin for the weekend. Apart from the trucks, I had two kangaroos come within metres of bowling me over as they leapt across the roadway in darkness. Apart from these little obstacles it was an extremely pleasant morning and I am now riding in summer gear and sweating by 5.00am.

The night time temperatures are very comfortable and sleeping is easier. This morning I have travelled north from Daly Waters to Mataranka, and finished the day by jumping into some thermal springs in a small tropical rainforest. The water temperature comes out of the ground at 34 degrees, and the spring pumps out about 30 million litres a day into the natural pools. We will set up camp here for the day and make the most of the springs for the recovery of muscles.

I am so impressed with the children at Avalon Public School for their efforts in fundraising for the charity. I can’t thank them enough for their enthusiasm when I ran past the school on the first day and the positive attitudes to doing more than expected. Great result. News is that the school looks like raising between $15,000 – $20,000. Just AWESOME.

Again thanks to everyone who is donating via the A2B4C website and through the Kids Cancer 1000 Club. In particular the recent $1000 donations from two families at Manly and Curl Curl.

Best Regards, Craig.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the support crew ‘getting their country groove on’ below!

Sunrise on Day 29

 

Think time for Craig

 

Leg 2 Support Crew

 

Hot spring in Mataranka