Day 128: Katherine to Edith River

June 18, 2021

Start: 6:45am
Distance: 46kms
Ride time: 2:28hrs
Average: 19km/hr
Max: 44km/hr
Finish: 10:30am
Temp: 18-32C

It was 27C last night when I crawled into my tent at 7:30pm. The ground radiates out the heat from the day's sun. I prefer it to be cooler so I can sleep easier.

Another downer was my inflatable pillow had a leak and was flat. The pillow is made of plastic with a felt material glued on to it. This prevented me from being able to seal it with a tube patch.

I used my spare clothes as a pillow during the night.

Last night I had filled up my 2 x 6ltr water bladders as I wasn't sure if there would be water at today's destination.

This morning one of them was a bit lower than the other so I topped it up with about 2ltrs.

It was possible that I didn't fill it up properly last night.

I went to a cafe and had a cooked breakfast. It was okay but not photo worthy.

When I returned to my bike there was a small puddle of water underneath the water bladder that I had topped up.

I wasn't too concerned as I wasn't riding far and the extra water was for a good wash.

Bike path leading north out of Katherine.

It only lasted a few kms.

And then I was back on my small shoulder with the zooming traffic.

I was riding along thinking about my leaking water bladder when I realised I might be able to fix it with a tyre tube patch.

The water bladder is made from a foil type material and the outer layer is a thin canvas.

I patched them and then found another 5 holes. I can't explain why the holes are there. Maybe thorns did it or a bird landed on it?

Anyway my tube patches held and there were no more leaks. They are small and lightweight so I left home with 18 of them. I also have 6 tyre patches.

I'm fortunate to be close to Darwin to replace the pillow and water bladder.

After 46kms of gently undulating terrain I arrived at the Edith River.

There is no sign here to name the river. It's a tributary of the Ferguson River and this is what google maps calls it.

I think locally it is known as Edith River as it leads to the Edith Falls.

This country belongs to the Jawoyn people.

The next town is Pine Creek, a further 50kms. Serena will arrive in Darwin on the 24th which means I can take my time getting there.

So I'll stay here tonight.

I washed myself and my clothes here in between two shallow rocky sections. Hopefully that will deter crocodiles from eating me.

On the east coast in north Queensland there were crocodile signs at almost every river. Since I've left the east coast and here in the NT I've seen maybe only three signs.

It makes me awfully uncertain about collecting water or swimming.

When I posted the yellow kapok flower a couple days ago, Bill found a link stating they are edible.

The link says it's meant to have a slightly spicy taste. The two I ate tasted quite plain. It was a little bit juicy. Similar in taste and texture to baby spinach leaves. It was fun eating them. I felt like a bush tucker man. Thank you Bill.

I saw this beautiful guy by the water's edge.

He's a scarlet percher dragonfly.

He's a blue river damsel.

It took me about 15 minutes to get this pic. He would land on the stick briefly and then fly around for a bit before landing again.

I made camp under lots of shade on top of a big flattish rock.

I'm away from the road a bit and away from where other campers are. One good thing about being on the bike is that I can walk it to places where caravans and cars can't get to.

This gives me my own space at the popular places like this one is. There were 3 other vans when I arrived. I'm guessing there might be lots more by morning.

This couple were gold prospecting with a metal detector.

They were very excited because they had found something. It turned out to be a 2 cent coin.

These two leaves came from the same gum tree.

There is a tiny amount of phone reception here. Not enough to use the internet for my journal.

Tonight I will use my water bladder as a pillow. I should have thought of that last night.

This evening ash started falling from the sky.

There must be a fuel reduction burn occurring on the other side of the highway.

Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 6,239 km (3,874 miles)

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