Notes: Day 14

Day 14: Sunday July 24
On the road at 8am, with a cold 9 degree tailwind. Needed gilet until lunch. I was averaging more than 20 kph for most of the day which is very fast for this rig.

I bought veggie juice for Vitamin C,  and…  fresh bread rolls at Erldunda.

20 kilometres north of Erldunda I met a shopping trolley with a modified suspension. The bloke is doing 35 kilometres a day from Darwin to Adelaide. He had spoken earlier with a bloke towing a bob trailer like mine with an eBike! I have not caught up to him.

He’d been having lunch and reading when I arrived

  A long way out from Palmer River

It's stunning country, with beautiful desert oak on from Erldunda.

I've forgotten how beautiful the hills are between the Palmer River and the Finke.

 Palmer River Country

Palmer River Country

Down into the Finke.

The Finke

The Finke

Not to mention the glorious red of the Finke Hills.

Finke Red

It's a big river. I'm not sure how Wendy and I survived swimming in the thing when it was flowing a banker in the main channel! We had a young bloke from UNE with us, who wouldn't go in because he reckoned it smelled of cattle dung. He was right. We smelled like faint cow shit for hours afterwards.

I’d forgotten Maloney Creek all together. It was a slow climb out of there as I am a bit short winded from the cold, so I went very gently. Took lots of photos.

Down to Maloney Creek

I'm camped just short of the Hugh River and got sprung tonight. I had congratulated myself on the way I had well placed myself behind a few trees and shrubs, pretty sure most traffic had not seen me. But there's an outstation gate across the highway, and when a bloke pulled up to open the gate his wife spotted tent. So we yarned awhile and swapped names and it's all good.

The cold is slowly improving, but telling me it's still a force to respect, so I'm about to list photos and hit the sack.

I got to speak to Wendy this morning, but could only leave a message on Kev’s phone.