Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 068 - Mataranka to Daly Waters

Day:  068

Date: Monday, 07 September 2020

Start:  Mataranka

Finish:  Daly Waters

Daily Kilometres:  168 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  6929

Weather:  Hot! Damned hot! (and sunny and windy)

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Bread rolls & apricot jam

  Lunch:  Bread rolls & apricot jam/peanut butter

  Dinner:  Bangers & mash/Beef schnitzel, chips & salad, ice-creams

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Riding out of Mataranka by moonlight in cool and calm conditions to the sound of waking birdlife in the trees along the road.

Lowlight:  The wind wasn't as bad as yesterday, but still made life difficult at times.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

With a long day ahead of us, we got up at 4:30am and were on the moonlit road about 5:20am.  There was no sign of the sunrise, but there were plenty of birds singing in the trees as we pedalled out of Mataranka.  Our plan was to ride 37km to a rest stop where we would have breakfast, but when we got there the only table was occupied by campervan driver, so we continued on a little further and found a spot by the road.

Our next stop was Fran's Tea House in Larrimah, 40km later, where we had fresh scones, jam and cream for morning tea.  We had stopped here on our way north three weeks ago, and Fran's grandson, who is running the place, was very happy to see us again.  We had a nice chat and the scones were excellent.

It was heating up by the time we left at 10am, with 93km to go to Daly Waters, our goal for the day.  We put our heads down and just got on with it, taking two further breaks along the way.  The wind was either against us or across us, and the heat seemed to radiate up from the road as well as beating down from above.  For almost the entire day, the vegetation on both sides of the road was arid woodland, and although there were a couple of roads signposted for cattle stations, I didn't see any cattle (but Julie says she did).  The endless woodland likely continued for many kilometres to our left and right, emphasising the vastness of the country.  The traffic was predominantly caravans and campervans, with a sprinking of road trains and other vehicles, but it wasn't busy.  One couple in a vehicle slowed and drove alongside Julie for a while chatting through the passenger window.

At 3:30pm, we finally arrived at the historic (1930, so not that historic) Daly Waters Pub which has turned itself into an outback tourist attraction (there's not really anything here apart from the pub and its associated caravan park and other accommodation).  We went to the bar and checked into our motel room which was in an adjacent building.  We were both hot and tired and Julie quickly headed for the nearby pool, while I chose to shower and watch some TV current affairs in our air-conditioned room.

We went to the pub for dinner, along with everybody else staying here.  It was all a bit cute, with humorous risqué signs everywhere and collections of bras, number plates, hats, thongs, etc, inside, but it had atmosphere, and the live entertainment and food was excellent, so it was a good night.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 067 - Katherine to Mataranka

Day:  067

Date: Sunday, 06 September 2020

Start:  Katherine

Finish:  Mataranka

Daily Kilometres:  115 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  6761

Weather:  Hot, sunny and windy

Accommodation:  Cabin

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Chicken, bacon & avocado sandwiches

  Lunch:  Pie/Sausage roll, chocolate brownies

  Dinner:  Tuna mornay/Veal cordon bleu & vegetables, custard slice

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  A refreshing swim (even though the water temperature was 33°C) at the Bitter Springs thermal pools in mid-afternoon.

Lowlight:  The relentless south-easterly wind that sprang up around 7:30am and persisted until we reached Mataranka which was, of course, in a south-easterly direction.  It was not lost on us that if we had turned towards Western Australia from Katherine, as originally intended, it would have been a very nice tailwind.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

It was another day for which the weather forecast included heat and headwinds, so we left early (6am) in the hope of avoiding at least some of both.  However, by 7:30am, the wind was already a factor and cycling required constant applied effort, with no chances to roll and get a rest.  We didn't have a long day in prospect, just 106km to Mataranka, so decided to aim for the only highway rest stop on our route, 46km from Katherine for our breakfast break.

We got there about 8:15am, which wasn't bad considering the wind, and headed for the only unoccupied (of two) shaded picnic table for breakfast, only to see a couple emerge from a caravan and take it as we rode in.  Instead, we sat at a picnic table in the sun nearby and ended up chatting to them while we ate.  They were from Lara, near Geelong, on their way home from a few months in Darwin to COVID-19 Stage 3 lockdown in Victoria.

After breakfast, we only had 60km to go, and took another break halfway. The wind dominated our ride and it was hard to appreciate the arid woodland and birdlife alongside us, though we continued to average faster than 20kph.  I think our endurance has improved and we can tolerate adverse conditions for longer.  It's the same with the heat, which has become a constant in our cycling lives up here, but does not really slow us down these days.  (I shaved my head during our day off in Katherine, and I have distinct brown stripes on my skull from where the sun comes through the ventilation gaps in my bike helmet.)

We rolled into Mataranka at 12:30pm and checked into the roadhouse where we had booked a cabin.  We were early, and it wasn't ready, so we ate lunch on the roadhouse's shady verandah before going to the now-ready cabin.  There, we unloaded our bikes and changed into our swimming gear before riding 3km to the Bitter Springs thermal pools in Elsey National Park.  When we were in Mataranka just over two weeks ago, we stayed near the Mataranka thermal pools in a different part of the park, so this time we decided to visit the other local pools.  They were exotic and beautiful, with warm clear water flowing from the artesian basin below to form the Little Roper River, a mostly sandy-bottomed channel through the tropical vegetation.  After cycling slowly around a short loop trail we locked the bikes and swam slowly down the channel.  Mostly, the water depth was over our heads, and the majority of other swimmers were using noodles for buoyancy.  It was an idyllic scene and very welcome after our labours of the morning.

We returned to our cabin in time for me to watch my team win an AFL game on TV, to cap an excellent afternoon.  Later, we bought microwaveable dinner along with supplies for tomorrow from the roadhouse and will have another early night, ready for another day of forecast heat and headwinds.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 066 - Katherine

Day:  066

Date: Saturday, 05 September 2020

Start:  Katherine

Finish:  Katherine 

Daily Kilometres:  0 (but click here for Julie's Strava and photos from our walk)

Total Kilometres:  6646

Weather:  Hot and sunny

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cooked breakfast

  Lunch:  Egg & lettuce sandwich/Chicken salad roll, frozen mango

  Dinner:  Curried sausages & vegetables/Beef & bacon pasta, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  The Katherine thermal pools (see below)

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

With a day off in prospect, we slept in then walked over to the motel restaurant at 7:30am for a treat - a cooked buffet breakfast.  Energised (well, sort of), we then set out to walk the 4km to the Katherine thermal pools on the other side of town via the river walk, a long scenic path along the Katherine River on the north side of town.  The river itself wasn't visible, but the treed valley was full of birdlife and the walk surrounds were well maintained, though everything was extremely dry.  There was even a small grass fire being put out by the local fire brigade in one place.  The path also passed two interesting heritage buildings that dated from WW2 when they were built as officers' messes.

The thermal pools were also very well maintained, with clear warmish water running in a narrow channel between a series of pools, of varying depths, surrounded by jungle-like vegetation.  Although there were a score or more of people in the pools, it wasn't at all crowded, and Julie joined them while I enjoyed the shade.  Adjacent to, and above, the pools, there was a beautiful grassed park area and a mobile cafe busy with people chatting over Saturday brunch at tables beneath the trees.  A very pleasant scene.

From the pools we walked back to our motel via the busy Katherine shopping area and purchased a few things we needed as well as lunch which we ate back at the motel.  The afternoon was spent doing a few chores and relaxing.  There were signs advertising rugby league matches at the local ground this afternoon, and I did toy with the idea of walking across to have a look, but sitting outside in the high 30°s C lost its appeal when the time arrived.

Around 5pm we walked back to the main street to get supplies for dinner and tomorrow, passing a showground where the Katherine Junk Art Festival had just opened.  We thought about detouring for a look, but it seemed there was an entry fee and neither of us was that enthused, so we gave it a miss.  Lazy, I know.

We had the usual microwaved dinner back at the motel, prepared for tomorrow's ride, and had an early night.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 065 - Pine Creek to Katherine

Day:  065

Date: Friday, 04 September 2020

Start:  Pine Creek

Finish:  Katherine

Daily Kilometres:  91 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  6646

Weather:  Hot, sunny & breezy

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & lettuce sandwich/Egg & cheese sandwich

  Lunch:  Chicken salad roll

  Dinner:  Tuna mornay/Beef pasta, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  A short day's ride, given the heat.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

With temperatures of 40°C and brisk (head) winds forecast, we were happy that our goal for the day, Katherine, was only 90km away.  We left Pine Creek at 6:30am and headed south on the Stuart Highway, pedalling in the opposite direction along the same road we had travelled two weeks ago.

Given that we cannot enter Western Australia, this is what we will be doing until we reach Daly Waters, 365km away.  All of that will be on the relatively busy Stuart Highway, and for much of today we were frequently checking our rearview mirrors for approaching road trains, taking evasive action when necessary.  There are not really any viable route alternatives, but that's OK.

We took a break in the shade of a roadside tree after 40km for breakfast, having enjoyed the cooler temperatures and lighter winds of our first two hours riding.  After breakfast, the heat rapidly increased, as did the strength of the headwind.  Although the elevation profile showed an undulating downward trend for the day, we could swear most of the time we were riding gradually uphill.  Nevertheless, we maintained a reasonable pace, probably due to the good surface and reasonable grades of the highway.  Both of us still felt tired in the legs from the exertions of a couple of days ago and are looking forward to a recovery day off tomorrow.

For our second, and last, break for the morning, we found some nice shade-giving trees just inside the gates of Charles Darwin University campus 17km north of Katherine.  Then, it was on to Katherine, where we arrived around noon, by which time it had become a very hot day.  We were too early to check in to our motel, so we bought some rolls for lunch from the small town mall and ate them in some shade in an adjacent park.

Around 1:30pm, we checked into our motel, giving plenty of time for the pool for Julie, and to get laundry done.  Later, we bought some food from the supermarket and microwaved dinner.

It has been a bit of a nothing day, after the action of the last two weeks, but you have to have those to get to the bigger attractions, and we still got to experience another bush dawn in the outback along with the tropical heat communities up here live with for much of the year.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 064 - Adelaide River to Pine Creek

Day:  064

Date: Thursday, 03 September 2020

Start:  Adelaide River crossing on Daly River Road

Finish:  Pine Creek

Daily Kilometres:  105 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  6555

Weather:  Hot, sunny and breezy

Accommodation:  Cabin

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Muesli

  Lunch:  Ham, cheese & tomato sandwich/Ham salad sandwich

  Dinner:  Slow-cooked lamb & vegetables/Chicken parmigiana & vegetables, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Finding the Emerald Springs Roadhouse open after 73km.  

Lowlight:  Finding the Hayes Creek Roadhouse closed after 51km.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We packed up and left our nice, if somewhat dusty, campsite a little before 7am, on a slightly misty morning with a large setting full moon visible to the west.  The Daly River Road was very quiet as we pedalled eastwards on the undulating road through hilly woodland.  When we turned to the south-east onto Dorat Road, there was even less traffic, and we had that feeling of riding along our own private bike path through the waking bush.  Magic.

The road became more hilly the further we went, and I soon felt yesterday's tired legs returning as we laboured up the hills.  Even a breakfast stop at the top of a long hill didn't refresh me much, and I was very glad we only had a relatively short day in prospect.  From breakfast, we had 12km until we rejoined the Stuart Highway, and on the map, 6km beyond that, was the Hayes Creek Roadhouse.  Even though I suspected it might be closed (from previous Googling), we fervently hoped it would be open so we could get some refreshing cold drinks.

Alas, when we got there it was closed, and we continued riding south-east on the hilly highway.  The headwind had increased as the sun rose, which made the riding hard.  Even downhill we had to pedal, which is a little demoralising.  I think one of the rules of Northern Territory cycling is that you can have either flies or a headwind.  You can't have both, nor can you have neither!

We had an unscheduled longish break at some roadworks where we had a chance to have a long chat with the young female Irish traffic controller.  We could hear the radio chatter for the roadworks crew while talking to her, and it all seemed a bit chaotic.  She said you wouldn't believe the abuse she received yesterday when she had to go back along the queuing vehicles to tell them that the wait would be 20 minutes.  When we were finally allowed to proceed, we had almost 3km of gradually uphill to negotiate through the roadworks, which we did as fast as our tired legs would let us, not wanting to hold up the waiting northbound traffic too much.

When we passed the closed Hayes Creek Roadhouse, we had seen a sign saying that the Emerald Creek Roadhouse was 22km ahead, but didn't want to get our hopes up.  There have been too many closed roadhouses in the NT for us to be confident it would be open.  Even when we got there, it looked dark and closed, despite an old "Open" sign outside, but it was indeed open.  It was just before noon, so we ordered some sandwiches and purchased very welcome drinks, all of which we consumed at an inside table in air-conditioned comfort on another hot day.

Revived by the food and drink, we rode the remaining hilly 32km, battling the headwind the whole way, and reached Pine Creek and our booked caravan park cabin around 2:15pm.  We were very pleased to arrive and enjoyed our showers, and a swim in the camp pool in Julie's case, and had time to relax.

Later we microwaved some dinner in the camp kitchen and had an early night.  Now that we are back in Pine Creek, we have completed a Northern Territory loop which included the Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks as well as Darwin.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 063 - Wangi Falls to Adelaide River

Day:  063

Date: Wednesday, 02 September 2020

Start:  Wangi Falls (Litchfield National Park)

Finish:  Adelaide River crossing on Daly River Road

Daily Kilometres:  87 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  6450

Weather:  Hot, humid & sunny

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Peanut butter & pita bread

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Soup, 2-minute noodles

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  It may have been the toughest 44km of our trip, and we spent a lot of time cursing the soft sand and flies, but the Reynolds River Track showed us a great cross-section of Litchfield National Park.  Being a 4WD track, there was no road verge and we felt very close to the surrounding bush.  Much of it was open woodland, with wallabies common, while at the river crossings, it was jungle-like.  Elsewhere, there were open treeless plains dotted with tombstone-like magnetic termite mounds resembling vast graveyards.  The magnetic termite mounds are like large wings or fins, all aligned south-to-north to maintain even temperatures for the termites inside.  And of course, we spent a magic and refreshing hour or so at the Surprise Creek Falls plunge pools along the way.

Lowlight:  The flies were in plague proportions along the Reynolds River Track.  They were constantly landing on our faces or crawling across the front or inside of our glasses.  March flies were biting us on our exposed skin and even through our clothing.  I got many bites through the back of my cycling gloves.  Julie was losing her cool (not often seen).

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We left the campsite a little before 7am, and rode about 6km down the Litchfield Park Road to the start of the Reynolds River Track.  Once again, we had a choice between going a slightly longer route, with sealed road all of the way and passing through some small towns, or taking the 44km 4WD track and back roads (sealed) with no towns until tomorrow night.  We took the 4WD track, but after striking a lot of soft sand in the first kilometre, the thought of returning to the sealed road and going the other way, certainly crossed our minds.  But we persevered, and although the cycling was never easy, there were long sections where we could ride so long as we didn't mind corrugations or rocks, but our speed was very slow.  We had to ford a couple of rivers, one of which involved about 50 metres of wading, but they were knee-deep at worst and clear enough for crocodiles not to be an issue.  Elsewhere, there were long and short sections of soft sand where we had to dismount and walk.  I fell off twice when suddenly hitting soft sand and was covered in sand/dirt by the end of the day.

We detoured off the track a short distance to Surprise Creek Falls at lunchtime, which included wheeling the bikes some distance along a walking track to the first plunge pool. On the advice of a couple just leaving as we arrived, we scrambled up some rocks to get to the top pool, which we had to ourselves, and went for a well-earned refreshing swim (in our cycling gear).  After that, we found a shaded spot next to the pool and ate our lunch.

By the time we hiked back out to the track, we were ready for another swim.  It was another 38C day, with humidity, and most of the time there was no shade.  Under constant assault from the flies (see above), and frequently dismounting to drag our heavy bikes through soft sand was totally exhausting.  Just getting off and on the bikes so often was a work-out.  By the time we finally reached the sealed Daly River Road at the end of the track, both of us were dog-tired, with Julie announcing she had "got nothing" left.

From there we set off on the final 34km of the day, aiming for where the road crossed the Adelaide River, which we believed would be our best chance of finding water.   After a few kilometres along the undulating road, the tables were turned, and I hit the wall, totally running out of energy.  I could barely get up the hills and had to have several short breaks.  Julie had to keep stopping and waiting for me.

We finally reached the Adelaide River, which had plenty of dark deep water under the bridge, and took a dirt track into an adjacent area where we found a place to camp.  We were the only people there, though it had obviously been used for camping in the past.  After setting up our tent, we walked into the forest bordering the river aiming for the sound of running water.  Though I wouldn't have been keen to have a wash in the river we saw from the bridge, I thought we should be safe where water was running over rocks, and so it was.  We found a little pool with a sandy bottom amidst the jungle-like vegetation where we took it in turns to have a good wash, and topped up our water bottles from a small chute (upstream!).

Back at camp, we cooked dinner and were soon smearing insect repellent over our freshly washed bodies to ward off the mosquitoes.  I was still feeling completely exhausted, and was quickly into bed after eating and went to sleep without updating my blog, a very rare occurrence.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 062 - Darwin to Wangi Falls

Day:  062

Date: Tuesday, 01 September 2020

Start:  Darwin

Finish:  Wangi Falls (Litchfield National Park)

Daily Kilometres:  129 (click for Julie's Strava and photos and here for our walk)

Total Kilometres:  6363

Weather:  Hot, humid, breezy and mostly sunny

Accommodation:  Tent 

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & baxon sandwiches

  Lunch:  Ham, cheese & tomato sandwich/Chicken, cheese & coleslaw sandwich

  Dinner:  Soup, macaroni cheese

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  At the end of a long hot day, our swim in the plunge pool at the base of Wangi Falls was very welcome.  The water, while not cold, was beautifully refreshing, and floating around beneath the majestic falls surrounded by rainforest was just magic.

Lowlight:  Our morning ride south along the Cox Peninsula Road, though scenic and quiet, gradually became tougher as the south-easterly breeze strengthened.  It was hard work in hot humid weather and we were very glad when we turned south-west on Litchfield Park Road and life became much easier.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Our destination for the day was Wangi Falls in Litchfield National Park, and there were two ways to get there.  We could retrace our steps out of Darwin and then go via Batchelor with sealed road the whole way, or we could catch a ferry from Darwin across to Mandorah and then ride down the Cox Peninsula and come in to the Park the back way, knowing we would have to deal with gravel road of unknown quality and length (but less than 25km).

In the end, we opted for the back way and left our hotel at 5:50am with the goal of catching the 6:30am ferry from Cullen Bay, 3km away, with a stop to buy sandwiches for breakfast and lunch at a 24-hour service station en route.  Getting the heavy bikes onto, and especially off, the ferry was challenging, with the latter requiring dragging them up several flights of steps (as we were struggling up, the ferry skipper, who was leaning out of the bridge and enjoying the show, helpfully commented that we were lucky it wasn't low tide).  The ferry trip itself, only took 20 minutes, but gave us a spectacular look at the harbour and coastline as the sun rose.

From the ferry we rode south down the Cox Peninsula through quite beautiful tropical woodland, which was very green in places, and into a growing headwind.  At our breakfast break by the road at 8:30am, we both commented on how humid it felt, and hoped that, as we got further from the coast, it would diminish.  After breakfast, it was another 25km to the Litchfield Park Road turnoff, and those kilometres were very hard into the growing wind on the undulating road (see above).

Once on the Litchfield Park Road, the riding became much easier and very pleasant, as the undulating road wound through pretty woodland and past rocky outcrops.  We were waiting for the road to turn to gravel, and it eventually did as we approached the Finnis River crossing.  For 12km we were on an occasionally rough gravel road paralleling some major road construction.  It was evident that if we had been a year later the whole road would have been sealed, but as it was we were happy with just 12km and it was over fairly quickly.

At our lunch stop, I told Julie I had read there was a kiosk at Wangi Falls that supposedly closed at 2pm or 2:30pm, I couldn't remember which.  With 24km to go, we might just make it in time to score an ice-cream and/or cold drink.  By this time our water and drinks were all at least air temperature, 38C, so that had a lot of appeal.  Despite one granny gear climb, and with the aid of some focused effort, we reached the kiosk at 2:15 to find it still open, though in the process of closing.  We really enjoyed those ice-creams and cold drinks, as we sat on a bench in the shade listening to the unseen Wangi Falls a short distance away, and knowing our riding for the day was done.

We then found a campsite in the nearby campground, set up our tent and walked 300m to the large and inviting plunge pool at the base of the falls.  First, though, we decided to take a short walk to a viewing platform and ended up doing the full 1.7km loop walk that took us up onto the arid plateau through lovely dark rainforest (smelling of bats) and across the top of the falls.  After descending the other side, we went for an overdue and very welcome swim (see above).

We dried by sitting in the sun, and then returned to camp and had dinner, occasionally chatting to two touring motorcyclists camped nearby.  There was a wi-fi hotspot in the falls picnic area set up by the NT government (to gather demographic details of tourists who login) this afternoon, and I wandered over there in the hope of posting this blog update before having an early night.  Alas, it had been removed.  We expect to be roadside camping tomorrow night, so are very unlikely to have internet access again.