Northern Territory – Page 5 – Simply cycling around

Tennant Creek > Tennant Creek Telegraph Station (14km, 42min)

Today, I’ve spent most of my time in the library. The wind is cold again and this morning was hard to get my hand warm as I woke up early and nothing was open yet. I want to update my blog before I leave Tennant Creek because I’m not sure when I will get another connection. It might be in Katherine. It’s not a big deal :-) I won’t stay here another night as I have planned yesterday. There is too much Aboriginals wandering around and I don’t want to create trouble by sleeping somewhere they would maybe! I will cycle few kilometres out of town and will find a nice spot. I’m not worried about that.

Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) camping area > Tennant Creek (105km, 4h25)

I did start very early this morning. Last night was very windy and I hope strongly that it would be the same today as the wind comes from east/southeast. It shook my tent the whole night! At 6:15am, I’ve started packing. At 6:45am, I was on the road :-) The road towards Tennant Creek is still straight and I’ve seen a lot of campervan overtaking me. Then, one more car overtaken me and this time I knew who it was. I met those guys in Alice Springs less than a week ago front of the library. We left Alice the next day at the same time. They firstly went south to visit Uluru and Kings Canyon. We knew they would pass me on their way to Darwin around yesterday or today.

Taylor Creek rest area > Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) camping area (80km, 3h20)

Pretty quick cycling today as I’ve got no wind to bother me and I’ve started early this morning to avoid the heat. During a long lunch time I got involved with an Aboriginal woman who wanted me to buy alcohol for her (with her money). Another guy came for the same purpose until I found the solution to eclipse myself and hit the road again. I arrived early in Karlu Karlu camping area which is a nice one from what I’ve read online.

Central Mount Stuart rest area > Tailor Creek rest area (108km, 5h15)

Today is another travel through not much. I’ve stopped for lunchtime in the only roadhouse along the way in Barrow Creek. The last few days, people told me about a famous bad story around this area. Years ago, a guy murdered a man and kidnapped his wife. Fortunately the woman escaped and this guy is now in prison. The police never found the man’s body. Good story, isn’t it? I’ve heard that story maybe three times during the last two days. Australians want (even enjoy maybe) to scare backpackers I guess. Anyway, Around 4:30pm, when the sun became smoother, I continued cycling for another 41km to reach the next rest area on Taylor creek.

Promise Gap rest area > Central Mount Stuart rest area (68km, 3h25)

Today is a short day. It was getting pretty hot so I’ve stopped for lunch for 4 hours. Even after that when I was cycling again this late afternoon, the temperature went up to 32 degrees! It does not feel that hot because I’ve got the wind but I was a bit surprised. When I had my break in Ti Tree, I met a woman, Amy, working for the ABC local channel. She is on her way to Darwin and looks for stories along the way. I’ve done a short interview with her for Alice Springs local radio haha. That’s strange. ‘Never done something like this before. Anyway, let’s start the day from the beginning :-)

Tropic of Capricorn rest area > Promise Gap rest area (116km, 5h20)

Wow! Well… I don’t know… I’m not sure… At least this is different again from what I’ve seen previously but the road from Alice to Darwin is not amazing as Port Augusta to Alice. I know from the English cyclist who told me that the road would be different after Tenant Creek which is 500km from Alice. For now, there is very long strech with zero bend and mainly the same landscape. This morning I had a very good tail wind and done more than 60km in 2h30. That’s pretty quick! This afternoon I was a bit slower as the wind came from the side. But I’m on holiday so it doesn’t matter ;-)

Alice Springs > Tropic of Capricorn rest area (31km, 1h30)

Everyone followed his own path yesterday and I’ve spent the night on my own. This morning I’ve been to the library to upload as much picture as I could but it did not work very well. Anyway, I thought about leaving today or tomorrow but I could not wait anymore. So I’ve done a short trip from 4pm to 5:30pm, just enough to reach the first rest area out of Alice. I’m back on track!