Weather: 41 degrees (entering humid country)
Day: 192km
Time: 10hours 25minutes
Probably the hardest day I've had in my life since the last ride going up the north west coast past Canarvon. My body seems to be in shock to this weather, and doesn't seem to be adapting any time quick.
We left the camp area just after 8am, I was ready to go at about 7:30 however Davi was still getting his things together. I wanted to help get all his gear ready but on the bike you pack everything the way you like so that you know where to access everything. Due to this I sat around, as the air got even hotter and the sun started to set in. I was annoyed to do nothing as I was desperate to take off. As the wind built into a solid headwind against us and Davi was ready than we left. I was a fair bit in front of Davi at the start, and there was one point where I could no longer see him behind me. I waited for a bit, turned around to have a look and managed to see him in a distance. When I could see he was on his way I kept going.
There was a roadhouse about 50km past where we camped, so we were eager to get there by midday, to sit back a bit and get something cold. The name of it was Wycliffe Well, an interesting roadhouse covered in alien and UFO paraphernalia. When we got there the people working claimed to have seen UFOs in the area, a thought you would actually not consider insane if you saw how crystal clear the night sky is out here. We put our bottles in the ice cream freezer of the roadhouse, joking that we would of melted everything in the freezer as our bottles would of been close to 50degrees in heat. We knew however, that as soon as we took the bottles out they would heat up with in a few minutes anyway.
We were in immense pain as we took off. Our bums are very sore from the seat and our arms and shoulders are in extreme pain due to controlling the bikes with all the weight. Last but not least our legs are feeling tight as well. It made me forgot how much pain I endured during the last ride.
The next stop after the roadhouse was Tennant Creek, which was 135km further. Due to the heat and isolation I was very eager to make it there. This was partly due to water but also getting out of the sun. I've been drinking local water along the way, however due to high salt content and to what I was informed yesterday of uranium traces as well, I'm not keen on drinking more of this especially when it's full of BPA from cheap plastic bottles. The problem is it costs 5$ per litre of clean water, and I've been drinking 10litres a day on the bike. It's a hard decision I pay for it when I can get it for free. It's a funny situation though, as back in Melbourne I would never have this type of water or drink from hot BPA plastic bottles, but out here I just switch off and go in survival mode.
I told Davi I was keen to make Tennant Creek. We rode together for a bit and after about 15km he had dropped right back. I rode past a rest area about 90km short of Tennant Creek and I was hoping to god that Davi wouldn't stop in there for a break. It was about 3:30 and we had a slight tailwind. I knew if we kept at that pace we might of got into town by 8pm. As I looked back in the distance I realised I could no longer see Davi. I was about 3 or 4 km ahead, and I became very very frustrated. It was no position to stop and take a break as we needed to take advantage of the wind and get into town. I turned around and rode back, into the head wind now, and saw Davi coming back out of the rest area. I explained to him that there's no issue setting our tent up in the dark and for our own good we need to get into town. I said that if he can't see me in front, just to keep riding and I will meet him at the BP petrol station after I try to find a place to set up the tent. Fortunately however, we both maintained the same pace and pushed each other all the way to the end. I was absolutely buggered and so was Davi. We passed the 400km mark in the morning and 500km in the evening. In total we rode over 10hours in heavy heat and headwinds, only having boiling hot yuck tasting water out of crappy plastic bottles.
We pulled into town around 9:30pm and went straight to a servo for a cold drink. We asked if there was a supermarket but was informed that it already closed. Davi and I were both annoyed with this news, as it meant we would have to spend double on some cold drinks in the servo.
The servo closed up so we decided to sit at the front on the concrete while we had our cold drinks. While we were there an older aboriginal man walked up. I offered him some chips and he sat down next to me. I asked a few questions, such as what the name of Country was where we were sitting. The gentleman informed me that it was "Wirangmu country" or at least that was the way it sounded. He had a strong accent and spoke half of each sentence in his own language. I learnt a few words off him, and he also told me that there were a number of spirits in the area and on the country. It was obvious he was connected to something on a higher level, as he was staring and focusing on things around him. He told me there were "Them women over there" standing in the dark. They were his ancestors and he felt sorry for them because they only come out sometimes and live under the ground. He then looked at me in the face, and then got real close and stared into my eyes and whispered loudly "MungaMungaa". This from what I gathered is the name of the spirits or ancestral women, or women in general. After he said it he had got into a big coughing fit, and responded by saying that the spirits are too powerful and it makes him sick when he engages with them. If I'd never studied traditional culture or dreaming stories than I probably wouldn't blame a person for calling this man schizophrenic, but the knowledge he had was far too great to make that statement. I could see Davi wasn't too comfortable with him sitting there and was eager to get going to the caravan park down the road to set up the tent. Davi left and I stayed back for a minute finishing up our conversation and saying my goodbyes to the Aborigibal man. As I went to take of I fell, along with the bike, on the ground. The man helped me up and then he looked to see where Davi was. Davi was down the road on the bike and the Aboriginal man became angry. He yelled out "NgintaBuka" "Your meant to work as a team, not ride off". I'm pretty certain NgintaBuka meant something in the middle of idiot, dickhead, get lost and maybe another meaning as well. Davi came back and tried to help but the man was not being so friendly to him. I calmed the situation down, but this situation reminded me of something our friend from Red Dust said in Alice Springs. He said to me, once your accepted into a mob, your than a part of that mob and they'll stand up and fight or you no matter what. This man right there was about to get in a fight to make a point for me. This was a good insight into the way certain cultural traits are different, and why Aboriginal communities appear to people in the city to be so backwards. I have learnt to notice that many issues within a community are cultural, and these cultural differences for mesh well with western cultural influences. From what Ive been informed this is also one of the reasons why Liam Jurrah from Melbourne football club went to prison. The man offered to give me some money and I refused to accept.
Davi and I cycled back to the caravan park set up the tents and went to sleep. We didn't eat dinner or drink too much water, as the tap water tasted pretty bad. We sculled the drinks we bought from the shop so I figured they were enough to get us to sleep. Just before sleep however, I started vomiting and feeling very nauseous. I think, or I suppose I hope, this was a result of fatigue and exhaustion. It reminded me of Jobe Watson after a game of footy and seeing him vomit everywhere. I'm hoping after. Good sleep and some food tomorrow we can recover. Davi seems to be good which is great. I haven't even thought about where we're going tomorrow.
