Day 136, Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Distance travelled – 101.9 km
Avg speed – 19.7 kph
Max speed – 38.5 kph

Katherine to Mathison Rest Area

A very hot day today and a rather tedious ride through low woodlands for most of the day with no real outlook from either side of the road. Due to the heat we took a longer than normal afternoon tea break and had a snooze in the shade of a tree. As we approached the Mathison Rest Area we began to look for bush camp alternatives for a camp spot but there did not seem to be anywhere that appealing, so we decided to join the caravans already in place at the rest area.

We must have looked hot as a couple from one of the caravans came over with an offer of ice for our drink bottles, which was very much appreciated. At the moment a fridge is the one item we really miss and I suspect if there was a small fridge on the market suitable for pushbike touring in remote areas we probably would be ordering one.

It was a hard day today.

This evening we met, Geoff, a fellow in his 70’s travelling around Australia by himself in a motor home Toyota Hilux combination. He is an Australian living in New Zealand and each year he spends nearly 6 months touring Australia in his motor home. He then puts the motor home in storage and returns home for 2 months to prune the “plants that cannot read their labels” before touring around New Zealand for another 4 months. He recalled meeting two cyclists raising funds for CP at Banka Banka last year and we suspect it was Peter and John from Canberra. He then met them again crossing the Nullarbor.

Zoom into the map and use the 'Satellite' layer to see our new location.

View from Victoria Highway

Taking a snooze!

Mathison Rest Area

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