April 29, 2024
Cycle day 6 - Edith River bushcamp to Katherine
Cycled 50km today with aa total of 318km so far on this tour.
Temperature - todays top here in Katherine is 34 with last nights low only going so far as 23 degrees so it was a hot night. Still a headwind at about 20km per hour with a strong south easterly tending to a east south easterly in the arvo.
Unpowered camping - Riverview caravan resort = $110 for 3 nights ($36.66 per night)
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Another early morning start again this morning and probably the last for a while as we turn and head west (well the road is heading in a south west direction for a few days then swinging more westerly rather than south) so theoretically our winds will be on our shoulder with the south easterly or dear I say it almost behind us in the arvo with the east south easterly.
Alot more traffic this morning maybe because we are so close to Katherine. It felt like we were gently climbing alot this morning and for the first 12km we came to the top of a rise and we spotted this Gin Mill. Not sure if they have cotton fields out here as we haven't seen any around but this mill had loads of bails around it
It was ok cycling today, most of the traffic was good. Saw a few more caravaners heading north to Darwin today. And here in the caravan park there are a few.
Have to mention there was a near accident (not involving us) and we are not sure if we were the cause of this near accident! There is no shoulder for most of the ride today (and yesterday) so when cars pass we will duck in to the shoulder if something is coming the other way but if there is no shoulder then we don't get off (only for trucks) as the drop is massive! So cars just have to judge and as per usual most cannot judge (it is just a simple easing of the accelerator to create a bigger gap where we are all going to meet) but a ute had to slow right down behind us and as he passed us I got the impression he was not happy but he was so busy either looking at us and gesticulating wildly at us and driving marginally faster than us that the truck and 2 cars behind the truck (who were going the speed limit than was now around 100km per hour - remember the speed limit here is 130km) had to slam on there brakes as they were right on his tail - meanwhile we just kept pedalling watching all this unfold. It is unbelievable what we see on the road - basically most peoples' judgement is atrocious and most people driving on the road shouldn't be driving and have a licence!
Alas we just let the incidents slide of our backs. We did see a kangaroo today - it is only my second one so far on this trip. I thought there might be more but the grass on the sides is just too long to see them. We did see this strange assortment of rocks on one side of the road and are not sure if they were put there deliberately or they are naturally occuring. There were alot of boulders further back of the road.
We knew we were going to be early getting into Katherine but were happy to get here. We did stop and have a cuppa at the rest area at the start of town just to fill in time.
Just before the town itself we cross the Katherine River
We have no food except for 1 wrap, 16 weetbix and 2 scotch fingers so we head straight for Woolworths for some fresh food. We park the bikes outside in some shade directly below this sign ...
But no one moved me on! Katherine has a population of 11,000 people with the vast majority being Aboriginal. Lots of boarded up places and no public drinking signs every where. Most were congregating in their groups and all just particularly going about their business.
Neil comes out of Woolies with ham and coleslaw and a loaf of bread from Brumbys. OOOOhhhhh flash Brumbys. He said the bread in Woolies is like the ones you get at Kangaroo flat - imported from Uzbekistan!
We are staying here for 3 nights - enough time to regenerate the energy levels, eats lots of fresh food and resupply with another weeks worth of food before heading of to Timber Creek and Kununarra. We leave here on Thursday.
Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 318 km (197 miles)
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