Friday 16th June  HAYES CREEK to PINE CREEK.   56km

Left much earlier at 7.15am.  It's cooler and there's no traffic.  Fortunately it remained fairly overcast so the hot sun wasn't a problem.  Lots more hills today.  Stopped at Emerald Springs, 22km South.  A Pilipino lady made us beautiful sandwiches using home-cooked corned beef.  The lady told us that Hayes Creek closed down a month ago.  The people have gone broke.  We arrived in Pine Creek at midday and tried our first mango smoothie for lunch.  Len's to ring the bike shop in Katherine to see if they have a part for his bike or whether they would have the part by Monday, in which case we'll have a rest day in Katherine.  No luck in contacting the bike shop.  The tent was in the sun so we took our mattresses and lay on the grass in the shade of a tree for a couple of hours.  We dined at the pub.  When we went to bed we were serenaded by beautiful classical guitar music (the German fellow in the next tent) and after that finished we heard partying, dogs barking, fights, dogs barking, and Curlews calling, all night.!

Saturday 17th June  PINE CREEK to KATHERINE.   93KM

Hilly again.  Riding time - 5 hours 45 minutes.  Started the day at 5.20am and were on the road at 6.55am just in time to see the sun rise.  There was no traffic for a long time, which was great. Overcast and cool - just lovely.  The cloud cover overnight made it a very warm night.  It stayed overcast almost all the way which kept the ride cooler.   We arrived at the halfway mark, Edith River, but it was not suitable for camping.  We felt good so we soldiered on, up and down the hills, into the wind.  At the top of one hill a van had stopped and there was a chap holding out two cans of cold diet Coke - could've kissed him!  Lee(M) and Lindsay(F) from Newcastle are bike riders too and had thoughtfully stopped at the top of the hill.  We chatted to them for about 10 minutes then continued on.  Rode around the Katherine shops on arrival and eventually found the bike shop only to find a sign saying that the shop is shut until he returns from the soccer World Cup in Germany.

Sunday 18th June  REST DAY IN KATHERINE.

It was luxurious waking up in the cabin well after sunup.  Len swapped his pedal for mine and we rode to the shops for food and new sunglasses for me.  Swapping pedals didn't improve anything with the noise in his bike.  He took the cranks off and found that the bottom bracket bearing was obviously breaking up.  He doesn't think it'll make it to Kununurra so he tried another shop which had some bike gear here in Katherine, Rods and Rifles.  We decided to try the Katherine hot springs which are only about 800 metres from the Red Gum caravan park.  They are very picturesque with small falls which create spa-like bubbles.  The water was just body temperature and delightful.  We spent a good half hour in the water with other "grey nomads" and young aboriginal children.

Monday 19TH June  ENFORCED REST KATHERINE

Len spent a lot of time on the mobile phone organizing a part for the bike.  We went to Rods and Rifles and had some success there.  Hopefully the part will arrive tomorrow, if not, Wednesday.  The young chap there can help to remove and replace the bottom bracket.  We rode to the thermal spa for another dip - delightful.  After that we went to the Internet Café and caught up on e-mails prior to sending one.

Tuesday 20th June  KATHERINE

Rode to Rods and Rifles at 10.30am but the part hadn't arrived so Len rang the Darwin bike shop.  The order was not yet in but they would ring as soon as it arrived.  The phone rang while we were grocery shopping.  The part had arrived in Darwin.  Len had already consulted with the Post Office and told them that if they posted the part before lunch it would be in Katherine by the morning.  Here's hoping.  We'll have a spare for my bike now when the other arrives in Katherine.  We may have to ask them to hold it until we come through Katherine on our return in the car.  If the part does get here early morning we're considering getting on the road to get halfway to the 62 Mile Rest Area (100km).  We rode out to the low level bridge.  The river and park there are beautiful.  There were rapids in the river.

Wednesday 21st June  KATHERINE to LIMESTONE REST AREA   57KM

It was a relaxed start and preparation as the PO doesn't open till 9.00am.  Len crossed his fingers hoping that the bike part was there.  Amazingly it was.  Rode straight round to Rods and Rifles where he'd also ordered the part.  It wasn't there so he asked the lad to put in this one and to hold the other one when it comes so we can collect it on our way back from Darwin.  It will be the replacement part for my bike.  Left Katherine at 10.00am and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.There was a cross wind, coolish, which occasionally pushed us along, a few low hills, and the road surface was smooth.  The best part was the lack of traffic - wonderful.  After 3hours 10 mins. we set up amongst several other vans at Limestone Rest Area which has a water tank and shade trees.  A lovely German couple, from East Germany, joined us round the campfire.  Yvonne and Marcus are on a 7-month trip around Australia.  They have worked on a couple of organic farms, one near Morgan SA.  They gave Len a beer.

Thursday 22nd June  LIMESTONE REST AREA to BUSH CAMP   79KM

4 hours and 42 minutes on the bike seat today.  Marcus and Yvonne farewelled us at 8.00am.  It was a cool morning.  We lunched at the 62Mile Rest.  We had two cups of tea because a fire was going at the rest area and 2 kettles were boiling.  We filled our water bottles at the tank and set off to reduce the distance of tomorrow's ride.  The only problem was that the trees became sparse with the fence close to the road on both sides.  After 30km we eventually found a gate so we went into a paddock.  We had just wheeled our bikes a short distance inside when a 4-wheeldrive pulled up and the driver got out and wanted to know what we were doing.  Said we just wanted to camp under some shade and was it his property?  He said it wasn't and that he had his boss from Brunei with him and it would be OK to camp there.  We had to trample down long, waist-high grass for a shady spot for our tent.  Just hope the cattle don't walk into us in the night.  A large Brahmin bull eyed us off before moving slowly away.

Friday 23rd June  BUSH CAMP to VICTORIA RIVER ROADHOUSE   59KM

We really enjoyed the ride today.  The countryside was beautiful with rugged cliffs and lots of creeks.  Good wind, good surface, green spinifex and trees added to our enjoyment.  We left at 7.30am, lunched at 10.45am and arrived at 2.30pm.

We lunched at Sullivan Creek National Park camping ground in the Gregory National Park. Saw hundreds more Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, a new finch, a Blue-winged Kookaburra, and a kingfisher.  We were passed by the people who let us use their boiling kettle for a cuppa.  We also caught up with the white lady married to an aboriginal.  We have seen them twice before, in Katherine and at a memorial.  Chatted to them both for a while.  We walked to the Victoria River.  It is wide and very pretty with escarpment in the background, some rapids and crocodiles.  We didn't see one!