Back in civilisation (well, Katherine)

Back in civilisation, if that is what you can call Katherine.

I wrote blog posts each day but couldn't upload, so I might just summarise the last few days.

It was really windy. Blowing road signs out of the ground windy. In the mornings that wind was freezing.

After Barkley Homestead the camps all looked dusty and crap, so I went and found my own dusty patch of dirt that I didn't have to pay for. It was at a place called Lake Woods. I don't know if that means it was a forest named Lake or a Lake named Woods. I suspect it was probably a forest although it shows up blue on the map.


At one point I hit a bird:

When I left Renner Springs I had my first bird strike. Thankfully it wasn't an eagle and it hit the bike, not me. These birds were about to get cleaned up by an oncoming campervan, one turned back straight into me. It hit behind the front wheel somewhere and exploded. Feathers shot up from beneath the handlebars into my face. A lot of feathers. I instinctively tried to blow them away from my face but of course I had a helmet on. It must've been hilarious for the people in the vans that saw it.

It continued being windy.

I went to Larrimah. There is a podcast about it:

I stopped at Larrimah. I saw the Pink Panther Pub and the Devonshire Tea House. The podcast is about a bloke called Paddy who mysteriously disappeared from Larrimah one day. Everyone suspects murder. The town is so small that it is a bit like a game of Cluedo. I think there are only a dozen or so permanent residents and they all have their suspicions. Also, they are all weirdos. It is well worth a listen, but I must warn you, they don't uncover who did it.

Then I went to Mataranka. There are thermal springs there:

Apparently all the places I've been riding since Lawn Hill sit on limestone. Around here it becomes basalt and the aquifer fills up in the limestone and bubbles up here when it can't get through the basalt.

The water was about body temperature and crystal clear with a tinge of blue. So I guess not crystal clear. It was really nice. You get in the water floating on a pool noodle and a gentle current takes you a couple of hundred metres downstream through the bush. It takes maybe 20 minutes to float down. Then you get out and walk back. Getting out is cold which makes it hard not to get back in for one more lap. I did three laps this morning and 7 this afternoon. The spot where everyone gets out is great if you find humour in the struggles of the larger person or want to practise holding in laughter (can someone tell me if that is the correct practice/practise).

Today I came to Katherine. I have 10 litres of sniffable petrol with me so I expect by tomorrow I'll either be killed or rich. It is packed with tourists here so tomorrow I'm heading up to a quiet little beach across the bay from Darwin to hide out until the holidays are over.

Mango on his Harley back in Normanton. 

Ant hills on the road from Normanton to Burketown. 

Panorama out in the middle of nowhere. 

The creek where I camped near Burketown. 

My photo of the moon I took at that camp. 

Where I ran out of petrol. The town is in the distance. 

Pano from up a hill at the fossil site Riverslea. 

My new wallaby friend that came up to me last night. 

Alright, I'm going to call that all caught up. When I left Cooktown I wasn't really expecting to head straight into the outback. That was this long ago!

I'm pretty knackered actually.