The penultimate day of the end of the cycling part, the last day till arriving in Darwin. They left this morning without saying hi or goodbye, when I rolled my bike over to the toilet they were already gone.
Had a puncture again today, this time it was the rear wheel. It happened at around 12 o'clock just like the last flat, but this time it only took my 45 minutes to fix it. Didn't really feel bad or frustrated, guess if I was the I couple of years ago I would probably just freak out. After I got the problem solved and 5 minutes on the bike, a car with a caravan pulled over and, lo, they were the old couple (the Great Normads, as they call them here in Australia) that I met in the campsite in Jabiru (in Kakadu National Park)! What a pleasant surprise! They refilled my already emptied water bottles and handed me a life saving can of coke.
After about an hour and a half I got to Bark Hut, the supposed destination for the night, but it was only around 3 o'clock in the afternoon and Corroboree was just 27k away so I decided to keep going, and I felt quite fit anyway, besides with 27k less tomorrow to Darwin would be an supposed easy one, only 89k.
On the last stretch a school of armoured vehicles past through me, lots of tanks, jeez, that was really unexpected. The sound of their fast approaches was like the sound made by the bees, at least extra super gigantic bees. At first I didn't expected them to be tanks, was just wondering what kind of wheels could make such a strange sound, but when the first one whipped past through me, I was totally shocked (not in the sense of being frightened by the sudden burst of sound or appearances of things like some asshole on the road would sneak up behind ya quitely and then without warning speed up and try to give you the fright), a tank! And then another one and another one and... Hurriedly I whipped out my Canon and between waving madly like a little child and holding the camera I finally got some great shots.
Back to the trip. I thought I would see them in Corroboree, but they weren't there (the next day when we met on the road, one of them asked me why I didn't show up in Bark Hut, she said "I thought we already had that discussed". No, sweetheart, we didn't, YOU TWO discussed in German and then RELAY the information to me and expect me to do the same. Sorry mate, I'm not your servant, but of course, you're always right and I'm always the one to blame, so I guess I should knee down and beg for your forgiveness, your mercifulness). The mere sight of them just piss me off, but curiously, now that they're not here, I kinda miss them. Is it because I'm used to having dinner with them or is it because I miss the people I met on the road, Rob the old guy from Coventry, the friendly chicks from UK who gave me the chocolates, John and Pat I met in Pootnoura rest area at the end of the day, Emily and Melissa in Jamestown, Kirs, Warren, Ari, Finn and Errol in Gawler, Paul and Beck in Mawson Lakes, doc Danny in Port Augusta, the owners in Radeka's in Coober Pedy, the Austrian bitch, fellow cyclists Matrin and Nadine I met in Kulgera, Dutch family met in Erldunda, the night beside the bonfire in Mt Ebenezer, German waitress in Curtin Springs, Mark in Aileron, the swiss father and son who were roller-blading and cycling, the nice girl behind the counter in Renner Springs, Sandra and Warren with whom we went on a little 4WD day trip packed with lateral movements, and the many people not mentioned here, or is it because it's almost the end of the ride and that I'm leaving the cold, hot, harsh, rugged, not pretentious, huge, loosely populated yet 53.5 long roadtrains inhibited outback?
Could be all of them. Don't want to go to Darwin, it's hard work cycling here, when under the big red sun and the tropical climate you just can't help sweating and when there's no wind you feel like you are ready to serve in 5 minutes (just remember to pluck the body hairs off, customers don't like the hairs), topped with the omnipresent mozzies, it's plain torture sometimes. But I really like it. It's simple life, but I'm just travelling, can't be travelling all the time. Think maybe I really should start commuting by bike when I get back. I like looking at the road and contemplating over the moving pictures drawn by the sun that resembles me on my fully loaded bike. I like looking up and staring at the starry sky, stars only visible from the southern hemisphere.
Why get upset or angry over trifle things?
But there're important issues in life that poeple should care and worry about.
Let it be, take it easy and all will be fine.
The troublesome organ won't allow me to.
In the pub there're lots of people laughing and drinking, the music is hammering at the wall behind me, the atmosphere is red hot in the cool night. I just hope that they can spare some mood.
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