Day 34 136 days to go. Distance: today 85km total 2424km. It’s 7.00pm Thursday 9/8/12 Matarinka. I’m sitting at the campgrounds yet another freebie, and enjoying the distant live country music coming from the restaurant attached. I can do country music in the right place and this is one of them. Nice background tunes to do up our post for the day. How are you all? I am squeaky clean again but not from showering but floating in the Bitter Thermal Springs. After setting up this arv Rube and I cycled the two k’s there and slid into the warm water creek that runs through reeds and flowering lilies. Yep!!!!!! I let out this sigh of ecstasy and the lady beside me laughed saying, ‘is that good?’And it was……. Families were there floating down the creek on ‘noodles.’ Rube of course wanted to get in on the act. She wanted me to give her goggles and a snorkel so she could float upside down using her tyres as noodles. ‘But darling you don’t have a mouth.’ SEE I TOLD YOU I NEEDED A MOUTH!!!!!’ One of our very few points of contention 😉 The body feels great tonight and on the right side of sleepy. I have been talking to the two families camped next to us and they have donated $50 each with Dean and Lawry each making an oath. The conversation was very interesting about relationship dynamics and healthy conflict management stuff. The lads openly shared their thoughts and personal experiences and it was a very cool conversation to be part of. Thanks lads for your honesty and donations and oaths xx
We started this morning sharing a cuppa with a couple of fellas attached to the Hotel, ‘Wingnut’ and ‘Dave.’ They were so the genuine Aussie male valuing stuff like ‘Do right by your mates,’ ‘Love your country and family and ‘know ones heritage.’ Dave works as a welder both locally and on oil rigs and Wingnut is the caretaker for the hotel. I got a really great photo with them before we headed. We had a water break at the rest stop 40km down the road and gotto talking with Ross and Robyn from Toowoomba traveling also to Darwin. They donated $5 thank you fine folk and may see you again up the road. Rube and I crossed a river of reeds and water fowl and the perfect place for a cuppa and some pickies. Full of beans again we were on our last leg to Mataranka when a van pulled up ahead of us and we crossed paths again with Bev and Bruce who we met at Winton. They have been following our blogg and were so happy to see us. They have since been up and back from Kakadu National Park and loved loved loved it. Bruce said he was genuinely sad to be leaving and we agreed it must have been something something special for them. Bev and I were talking phones and she reckons that it’s only the later models that will pick up Telstra’s 3G+ reception that operates in the smaller dot towns. Very interesting and I’m going to make some more inquiries in Darwin. It was really great to see them again and to know they have been inspired to follow our travels yay that counts to me big.
Matiranka is a bigger dot town than I had imagined and we have phone reception tonight which is great to catch up on phone messages. We were also able to stock up on supplies to get us through to Darwin. On our way out we were approached by a family very interested in our story and who donated $5 thank you Olivia and clan xxxx. We saw them again at the springs and one of the kids called out ‘hey mum there’s the bike lady!!’ Very funny. My craving for this shop was fruitcake and yum yum yum burp yum. Outside the food grocer shop were a bunch of local indigenous fellas. I loved chatting with the lads but really struggled understanding the slang so I have to work on that because they were cool and cheeky and very supportive of our challenge. I got a photo with Daniel and he said we must come back to Matiranka again one day, ‘take care and come back see me again hey!!!’ I’ll definitely look out for ya Daniel if I’m back through this way.
I’m sitting in the camp kitchen area and some folk have arrived cooking their steak and sausages and the smell is making my stomoch want to leave home and go hang out with them. OK already!!! Apparently it’s time for dinner fine fine folk. Hey no sign of Igor today bugga but he won’t be too far away. I’ll have to ask vanners tomorrow if and where they have seen him.
Fundraising totals with today’s $110 and 2 oaths are $979.35 with 34 oaths in 34days. A good day indeedy. Talk soon x
shecyclesolo 