NQ 2 NT Journal Entry
Day 16
Doomadgee to Wollogorang
Northern Territory/Qld border
Passing through Hells Gates
By: Mark "Sharky" Smoothy
Daily statistics
Cars sighted: 12
Distance: 144km's
Accumulated Distance: 2587km's
Average speed: 20kmph
Metres Climbed: Until further notice cancelled, everything is dead flat out here.
Riding time: 7:32
Air Temperature: 37.8 degrees
Humidity: 28%
Wind direction: Headwind for entire day.
Thank you to Falcon for giving me a night off from writing the journal for day 15. Because of this I was able to read a few of my emails and even reply to a few. I really appreciate all the messages of support and to see that people have been donating via my everyday hero web page. Falcon was a bit sad today; he has been working his butt off for 16 days now and only one person has made a donation to his everyday hero site since this stage began eight days ago in Innisfail. Please make him happy and make a donation.
I understand these daily reports can become a bit repetitive, so for today I am going to try something a little different. I will break up the day into objects and how those objects affected my mood as the day progressed. As you can see it was another huge day on the dirt of 144km's. We left the aboriginal community today at 7:20am and rolled into our campsite beside a croc infested creek called Flagstone, it was just on sunset at 7pm. The dirt was good at times but mostly crap and extremely slow and hard going. Yesterday I had my first good consistent day where I actually rode and felt well all day. I awoke today in high spirits and felt I could handle anything the road threw at us today. So here we go...
The big blue sky: Just 10km's into today's stage I happened to notice -I mean really notice- the sky today. How immense, how powerful, how grandiose it was. I remember thinking -all suffering aside- how lucky I am to be here. Mood: Immense joy.
Cattle grids: Believe it or not to cross a cattle grid presents a degree of excitement due to that it's something different from a dirt road. Mood: Very mild excitement.
Bum: Never from the very first moment that my butt comes into contact with the saddle are there ever any thoughts other than different levels of discomfort. Mood: Great sadness at the thought that I may be killing my bum!
Inside my mouth: No matter how much you drink nothing saturates your thirst. Mood: Mild frustration.
Range: After five days of seeing nothing but flat dusty treeless countryside we came upon a view in the far distance of a small mountain range. Mood: Visual excitement correlated to immense joy, although shortly lived due to range disappearing from view almost immediately due to the nature of the terrain.
Flies: Since day 11 the good old Aussie fly has made its presence felt on every unexposed part of my body, in particular my face. Mood: Extreme frustration and I also blame the flies for my sore neck; as when riding on bumpy roads it is not possible to take hands off the handlebars to chase stupid flies away, especially the ones that get in my ears or underneath my sunglasses. Therefore I shake my head from side to side, at the same time blowing out through my mouth, think of the sound a horse makes and that is me. Resulting casualty from this action- a sore neck. Damn flies!
Road crew cars by the side of the road: When sighted this can mean many things, first and foremost FOOD. Then moral support, then cheekiness, bad jokes, water bottle fights and where Kevvy and Shano are concerned the odd moon is known to pop out from time to time. Mood: Incredible relief and joy, definitely a lift when you need it the most.
My hands: Sore since day six and just get worse each day. Virtually impossible to find a position on the bars, no matter how many ways you come up with to hold them, to relieve the pressure bruising. Mood: Mild anger as it is a pain that only goes away as soon as you let go of the bars.
Cars: Two types of drivers out here, the ones that see you and slow down, limiting the dust storm that envelopes Scotty and I. And the drivers that seemingly speed up when they see us, covering us in a dust cloud so thick that momentarily it is like being inside a tornado. Mood: Pissed off or happy, depending on the drivers speed.
Wildlife: Croc's, kangaroos, emu's, pigs, cattle, wild horses, snakes, thousands of grasshoppers, multitude of birds including the black cockatoo, to name but a few, are part of this unique experience of being in the Australian outback. Mood: Incredulous joy.
Sunset: Today we got to experience this while finishing our ride. Kevvy drove us in under the car headlights. The sunset today was life changing and I felt like it was meant for just the six of us. Mood: Spiritual fulfilment and incredible relief that we made it to our campsite finally.
Headwinds, corrugations and bulldust: One alone is hard enough but when you get a day like today, where you get all three, it is depressing. Mood: Anger and frustration.
Camp: To arrive at camp and to see the vehicles unloaded and tents erected and food being cooked is like going on a holiday that lasts a year. Our road crew rock and I love then to bits. Mood: Extreme relief and joy.
To finish with I would like to share the story of Hells Gates. It is the only roadhouse or any civilization for 100's of kilometres. For days I have had visions of what Hells Gates looked like and I was not disappointed. As far as I'm concerned we entered Hell a few days ago when we first started on the dirt; it just gets worse from here. Hells Gates was originally given this name because of the small gap that you pass through via the road. With an escarpment on either side it really does resemble an opening, or an exit to somewhere you'd rather not be. In the 1800's unruly outlaws were lead to this gate, set loose through it and never to be seen again. I couldn't believe we were voluntary going through it. Maybe this is my last journal, maybe this is a good thing for all my friends too polite to unsubscribe!
Crime in Hells Gates is not taken lightly, as we crossed the NT/Qld border a huge 10mtr by 10mtr sign stated it was illegal to bring alcohol and pornography into the state. Good thing none of those 12 cars today we sighted today were law enforcement as the road crew have enough supplies to last the rest of the year! Just a quick story to illustrate the lengths the law will go to here to get justice. Wentworth D'Arcy Uhr is responsible for this. Back in 1866 Wentworth was an up and coming ready-to-impress young lieutenant, who had a penchant for catching the bad guys. At just 21 years of age he chased a horse thief that stole three horses, not just for a few miles or for a few days, but for 2000 miles and many months. Along the way he took in the sights of Burketown and then down into Castlereagh River in NSW. So I would suggest you hand over any grog or porn if you are up this way doing a bit of shopping!
Camp tonight was once again next to a crocodile infested river, Shane has the greatest knack for finding these awesome campsites that scare the hell out of my poor sister Kim. We were spoilt tonight with Rita's home-made pasta sauce and Shane took some credit for cooking the pasta and mixing it in. Thanks Rita, it was so nice I went back five times for more. I was so full I could only fit in three Weetbix after dinner.
Before I go I wanted to say a big hi and congratulations to all my tri squad members who competed at the world triathlon champs on the Gold Coast a week back. I was thinking of you guys. Emma I saw your message that you finished 9th. That is just so awesome, 9th in the world for your age division, I am so proud of you. Please let me know how everyone else went via face book please?
Until tomorrow
Sharky
Added by Falcon - some links for your interest:
• If you've joined the journal email list late, you can find the earlier journals here
• You can find Sharky's Everyday Hero site here
• You can find Falcon's Everyday Hero site here