Half Day 21 and Day 22

Thursday & Friday, 9 & 10 August 2007

Cabin in Fitzroy Crossing

Riding from Warmun (Turkey Creek) to Fitzroy Crossing

7:00pm Thursday

7:20pm Friday

452

6,118

8,293

0

na (flat battery)

na (flat battery)

Very cold at night and very warm and sunny during the day.  Moderate easterly wind.

Roast chicken and vegetables for dinner.  Sandwiches for brunch.  Chicken Parmigiana for dinner.

Met the couple from Newcastle (unforgiveably, I have forgotten their names) who introduced themselves two days ago after seeing me several times during their campervan travels.  This time they spotted me having a break in a rest area and came over and offered to top up my water bottles and give me a cold can of Coke.  I gratefully accepted both offers.
Also saw plenty of kangaroos hopping across the road in front of me during the night.

Brilliant starry night with meteors, no wind and barely a sound.

Labouring mightily in the last 200km and then not being able to find the motel I had booked.  I set off down the road it was supposed to be in on arrival in Fitzroy Crossing, but after bumping along the sandy and corrugated for about a kilometre with no sign of lights and one carload of hoons racing past yelling at me, I decided to try a different nmore expensive lodge where I got a cabin.

I didn’t feel great when the alarm woke me at 5pm to prepare for my 24 hoour ride to Fitzroy Crossing and, despite a nice meal at the roadhouse, I still had a dull headache as I left hoping it did not grow into a migraine.  I really am operating on very little sleep and heavy workload and am probably on the edge.  My hope was get to Fitzroy Crossing by Friday night which would put me on schedule and then have two relatively low kilometre days to recover from the exertions of the past week.
 
It was already dark as I started cycling, but not very cold.  Happily, my chafed areas seemed to have recovered and I had no problems sitting on the bike saddle.  Despite plenty of long gradual climbs, I felt I was making good time.  There were plenty of kangaroos ambling across the road in front of me and I barely missed hitting one.  It was another brilliant starry night and I enjoyed the quiet time in my rest breaks.
 
After midnight the temperature began dropping rapidly and I made several stops to add more clothing but still got cold, especially whenever travelling fast enoughto generate any wind-chill.  It was the coldest night I had struck so far on the trip.
 
Eventually, I reached Hall’s Creek (162km) at about 3am and cycled quietly through town.  There were still a number of people wandering around town and occasional shouting.  I decided I would be wiser to take my next rest break out of town, which I did.   Around 4:30am I began getting very sleepy, as usual, and after nearly falling off while dozing, decided I had to have a short nap.  I got off the side of the road, spread out my groundsheet and immediately went to sleep despite freezing temperatures.  I woke an hour later to find the sky lightening and quickly packed up and hit the road, still shivering from the cold.  However, around 7am, once the sun had risen a little way the temperatures rose markedly and by 7:30am I was riding in a T-shirt.  It promised to be a warm day.
 
There were less hills after Hall’s Creek and some long flat stretches.  It was scrubby cattle grazing country with occasional rocky outcrops, big escarpments in the distance many red-earth termite mounds of all shapes and sizes.  As the sun rose the easterly wind sprang up and I got some tailwind assistance.  It was just as well, because I was starting to fade again.  I had some sandwiches I had brought with me for lunch at a picnic area on the Mary River and then began the last 180km which turned into a bit of a saga.  Not only was I very sleepy, but my legs were felling very tired and my motivation was low.  I broke the journey into 20km sections, stopping for a brief drink and snack at each.
 
I finally reached Fitzroy Crossing where, after some difficulty, I got a cabin in a sort of resort and ordered a take-out dinner from the bar.  I haven’t been able to buy any food for tomorrow’s 227km trip to Willare Bridge, so will start a bit later, maybe 6:30am, and get breakfast and some supplies at a roadhouse on my way out of town.  It means I won’t get to Willare Bridge until around 7:00pm, but does mean I’ll get a longer sleep tonight.  I’m glad to be right on my 53-day schedule and looking forward to a couple of easier days necessitated by the location of the various roadhouses.