Well I should have drunk more water! And taken more electrolytes probably. Last night at our first truly bush camp on the bank of a nearly dry creek I cooked the spaghetti and tuna diner and then while eating the same. I projectile vomited on the riders sitting around the stove. Linda and Christine took the appalling situation in their stride, wiped off their clothes and kept on eating.
Also while here both Christine and I had to use hose clamps to re-attached one of our front pannier racks that had broken its mount on the first rough day out.
During the day we unloaded our bikes over another two locked gates. That was getting tiresome.
The Track got very rough after leaving the mudflats as it dived down in to and then climbed out of every washed out creek. At the last gate between Diggers Rest and El Questro we thought we had lost Bruce but he eventually caught up explaining that he had stopped to get water but that the extra weight meant that he had to unload his bike to get it up out of a particularly bad crossing.
We found out later that there is a well known 3.5m salt water crocodile in the small, water lilly covered dam where he got the water. But not to worry, apparently a bigger 4.5 m croc comes up the half kilometer from the Pentecost River every now and then to keep junior in line! The story relates the owner of Diggers Rest coming past one day to see Mum and Dad preparing lunch on the bank of the dam while the kids and dog played in the water. We were told the exchange went something like;
‘G’day, enjoying the water? ‘
‘Yeah? Is there a problem?’
‘Well, the kids and the dog are in the water’
‘So?’
‘Well, you might get the kids out while the croc in there takes the dog, but then you might not’.
‘Kids, get out of the water, NOW!’
That night I kept most of my dinner down but not before leaving camp to have a quiet spew on my own. I should have been more aware of the developing heat exhaustion but I wanted to keep up with the other riders and kept pushing on. Even one or two kilometres an hour faster than your ‘natural’ speed in these situations can badly affect your endurance.
