Km's: 25
Time: 4 1/2 hours
Temperature: 43 degrees (Very Humid)
Today we were taking it easy all morning. After the massive day we had yesterday we were both buggered. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my blog entry yesterday, however the humidity had become a lot more intense about 40km before Tennant Creek. It felt like we had been slapped in the face, as our body's were already suffering in the heat and this just made it worse. There is no room at all for the sweat to escape.
The caravan park where we have stayed in Tennant Creek has a pool and we took full advantage of that this morning, having used it on two different occasions. I also used the foam roller to do a lot of stretches, however I'm still in a lot of pain. I believe right now it's not the physical toll but more the heat and humidity.
On the way to Tennant Creek yesterday we saw a Blue Tongue lizard, a completely different looking specie to the one we have in Victoria. It had been hit by a car, and it had about five baby's still inside her. Her stomach had exploded from when the car hit her and you could see all the babies inside. All babies except one had died. It was a real miracle because the mum had been ran over, every baby had been ran over and there was one on the edge of the stomach that had just survived. This lizard looked completely lost though, and must of been waiting for his mum to help him. We took him out of the stomach and let him close to his mum, and he just licked the skin and attempted to walk close to her. I'm not sure how far of giving birth she was, but I assume she must of been very close to it. We decided to take the baby with us in the hope to find a animal shelter for it. Davi, doing veterinarian studies, became particularly attached to it. Since being in Tennant Creek we have had no luck finding an animal shelter and most people have just told us to let it go near a river. We decided to let him go next to the pool today. When Davi put it down he walked back to us and laid next to us, licking our arms and resting against us. It must of thought we were its carers, it was a beautiful site indeed. We just hope it's alright!
We left Tennant Creek around 3pm in the hope to do about 75 km. About 7-8 km out Davis tyre had exploded due to the heat. At this moment I, and I imagine Davi too, thought the trip was over. I didn't thing we'd be able to find a tyre until Darwin. I jumped on my phone quickly, and fortunately having Internet reception I searched for a sports store in Tennant Creek. I found one, have them a call and was informed they had bigger tyres for more hybrid bikes. Davi's bike is more a road bike but I thought it was worth having a look. We changed a tube on Davi's bike but it soon after burst again. After this I told Davi to walk with the bike towards town and I would cycle there to make it before they closed. When I arrived and had a chat to the man in the shop, he said he'd drive back to pick Davi up. Seemed like a nice guy. It was funny though, as when he returned to the shop an aboriginal lady had walked in to have a look. He said to her "bugger off, we don't sell any water" she responded by saying "I'm not after water, I support North Melbourne and wanna have a look at that jumper" he then said to her "well have a look then get out". It was an awkward moment, as I could tell his actions were racially motivated. I stayed out of it, but have the lady a smile as if I was on her side, she did seem pretty thick skinned though so she must had it before. It is interesting these moments though, as to an average out-of-towner you don't understand the pretext for these types of incidences. One things for sure though, the way white people go about there business out here isn't the right way, and the way aboriginal people maintain themselves isn't the right way either.
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