Round Australia by bike - Day 020 & Half of 021 - Victoria River to Warmun

Day:	020 & Half of 021
Date:	Wednesday & Thursday, 8 & 9 August 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Warmun (Turkey Creek)
Summary	Riding from Victoria River Roadhouse to Warmun
Start Time:	5:00am on Wednesday
Finish Time:	7:30am (WA Time) on Thursday
Daily Map Kms:	515
Total Map Kms:	5,666
Map Kms To Go:	8,745
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:
Daily Odometer Kms:	518.4
Daily Average Speed:	23.81kph
Weather:	Cool to cold mornings and very warm and sunny days.  Negligible wind.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast.  Sandwiches for lunch.  Pizza and ice-cream for dinner.  Big Brekky for second breakfast.
Encounters:	Saw quite a few kangaroos.  Had a couple from Singleton who stopped their campervan near where I had stopped for a break on the side of the road to tell me that this was the third time they had seen me since Camooweal and did I have a double?  Met a Japanese guy with a broken bike hitching on the road near Kununurra who was riding round Australia in the opposite direction to me, but much more slowly.
Highlights:	Fabulous scenery in the Kimberley.
Lowlights:	Bad chafing from hot weather during day meant that I rode the entire night standing on the pedals to avoid incurring further pain and to let the chafing repair itself.
Daily Pictures:
Daily Podcasts:	Here and here and here and here
Journal:	I set out a little later from Victoria River Roadhouse than planned and immediately began to climb in the cold morning air.  However, as the sun rose the day rapidly warmed and I was soon stripped down to my T-shirt. I stopped in at the Roadhouse in Timber Creek and ordered a big breakfast which seemed a very long time being prepared.  It later turned out that my order had been given to someone else who arrived later.  I sat at a bench outside the Roadhouse and sent off my diary, etc., while waiting for my meal, given that I had wireless reception.  I also chatted with a NZ couple who were travelling the world for a few years. I didn’t leave Timber Creek until 10:30am, which was much later than planned with 225km to ride to Kununurra, the next habitation.  The road passed close to the big Victoria River which must house more than a few crocodiles before it travelled across a vast flood plain in what had become a very hot day.  There were long straight stretches and the road was very exposed.  I got very warm and sweaty and was drinking lots.  It was not until late afternoon that the road climbed away from the floodplain and into the hills to the west.  The scenery became more interesting with brown/orange rocky crags and bluffs overlooking desert like valleys populated with scrub, eucalypts and distinctive baobab trees with huge white bloated trunks and “bad hair day”-like branches on top. The higher I climbed the more pasture-like became the countryside and soon plenty of well-fed cattle were in evidence.  As the sun set, I reached the Western Australian border and was interrogated by the WA Quarantine officer who wanted to know if I was carrying any live animals (they were looking for cane toads)!  From there it was 43km to Kununurra which I reached at 7:00pm, local time, having gained 90 minutes by crossing into the WA time zone.  I found a huge roadhouse/supermarket and had a pizza for dinner while watching the cross-section of life that visits such establishments at night. Having failed to fine a room when I telephoned a few places two nights ago, I resolved to keep riding given it was 359km to my next target town, Hall’s Creek.  By this time, my backside was badly chafed from the hot sweaty ride earlier in the day and no amount of Vaseline would relieve the pain.  It became obvious that if I wanted to continue riding I would not be able to sit down on the saddle, so I spent pretty much the whole night cimbing into the Kimberleys without sitting down on the saddle.  It was hard work and my knees became sore, but by daybreak the chafing pain was more tolerable. Dawn broke over fabulous mountain and valley scenery in the Kimberleys but the prospect of another hot day and a still-sensitive backside, decided me to stop at Warmun (Turkey Creek) and book into the motel there for the day with the intention of beginning riding again at night and continuing all the way through to Fitzroy Crossing, 450km away by tomorrow night, which would leave me on schedule.  I had breakfast at the roadhouse, did some washing and had a sleep.

Round Australia by bike - Day 019 - Mataranka to Victoria River

Day:	019
Date:	Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Accommodation	Motel room at Victoria River Roadhouse
Summary	Riding from Mataranka to Victoria River Roadhouse and visiting Casuarina Street Primary School in Katherine.
Start Time:	3:50am
Finish Time:	7:10pm
Daily Map Kms:	300
Total Map Kms:	5,151
Map Kms To Go:	9,261
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	0
Daily Odometer Kms:	306.0
Daily Average Speed:	24.50kph
Weather:	Cold early.  Very warm and sunny later.  SW winds.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast.  Snacks during day.  Schnitzel Parmigiana for dinner.
Encounters:	Visiting the students of Rod Gregg’s class at Casuarina Street Primary School to talk about my trip and answer their questions.  They were interested and well-behaved children and I very much enjoyed the visit.  This was followed by a photo session in front of the school.  Rod plans to write an article for the Katherine newspaper and will e-mail the report and photographs to me later.
Highlights:	Despite fatigue, the last hour riding through the valleys of Gregory National Park surrounded by high craggy bluffs at sunset.
Lowlights:	The last 100km was very hard work on a hot afternoon against a moderate headwind.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:
Journal:	I rose at 3:00am and left at 3:50am to ride into Katherine and my appointment with Rod Gregg’s class.  I miscalculated how long it would take me for the 100km trip, compounded by residual fatigue meant that I ran behind time and called Rod to say that I wouldn’t get there until about 8:15am when school was due to start.  He didn’t seem to mind and the visit was a lot of fun. I left the school and rode into downtown Katherine where I decided that I needed to have a good breakfast given there were no other towns between Katherine and Victoria River my goal for the day.  I ate at a roadhouse, then did a bit of shopping before leaving town about 10:30am heading southwest towards Western Australia. The day had become very warm and I heard it reached 29C in Katherine later in the day.  Compounding the heat was a slight headwind and some gradual hills, which meant that progress was hard work and a little slow.  The countryside was predominantly lightly-timbered cattle grazing country with lots of Brahmin cattle around a good covering of brown grass. As I grew more fatigued I increased my break frequency to every 30km and found I was drinking lots.  The tedium of the afternoon was broken by seeing a cattle drive of a several hundred cattle and eight or ten drovers parallel with the road.  A little while later I got a wave from a small helicopter whizzing along about 50 metres above the road. The last part of the ride was through Gregory National Park was scenically spectacular with the sun setting over craggy mesas and dappling the valleys.  I finally reached my destination of the Victoria River Roadhouse which looked like it might be an attractive place, but I won’t see it in daylight. I tried booking a room at Kununurra for tomorrow night while having breakfast in Katherine but had no luck.  Therefore I will aim to reach Kununurra (316km) around dusk tomorrow and if there’s nowhere obvious to stay will continue on towards Hall’s Creek grabbing a nap somewhere along the way. One downer today was discovering that the two podcasts I had recorded had not worked.  I messed around with the Voice Recorder for a while and seem to have managed to reset it.  Hopefully it will work tomorrow.

Round Australia by bike - Day 018 - Elliott to Mataranka

Day:	018
Date:	Monday, 6 August 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Mataranka
Summary	Riding from Elliott to Mataranka
Start Time:	3:50am
Finish Time:	5:50pm
Daily Map Kms:	316
Total Map Kms:	4,851
Map Kms To Go:	9,560
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	-105
Daily Odometer Kms:	314.5
Daily Average Speed:	26.75kph
Weather:	Cold early.  Warm and sunny later. E/NE winds.
Nutrition:	A very Big Brekky for breakfast, gourmet pie and pastie for lunch,
Encounters:	None really.
Highlights:	None really.
Lowlights:	None really.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here
Journal:	I woke at 3:00am, and managed to leave the motel compound without being bitten by the Rottweiler, Shadow, and his German Shepherd mate (who I hadn’t been told about).  However, they did give me a rousing send-off, so everybody in the neighbourhood was well aware of my departure. It was quite cold again and I was wearing an extra sweater and my Goretex gloves to keep warm for the first few hours.  It was breezy but not as windy as yesterday and the wind direction had swung round to be an easterly (cross) wind.  There was a half moon and plenty of stars to admire in the clear skies as I headed north.  Around 4:50am I passed the entrance to the famous Newcastle Waters Cattle Station and could see the lights off to the left.  Opposite the entrance was a rest area where a friend, Greg Tegart, who had passed through on holidays a week earlier, had stuck up a sign wishing me well (he had e-mailed me a photo).  I looked for the sign but couldn’t find it, despite cycling around the rest area that was packed with sleeping grey nomads in their caravans and campervans. I continued on and stopped at the Dunmarra Roadhouse (109km) around 8:30am for what turned out to be a very big breakfast.  As usual the cook was very friendly and interested in my trip.  On a full stomach I headed north but stopped at 11:00 when I passed the Daly Waters Roadhouse for a quick muffin and coffee milk. By now the day was warming up and there was more traffic around.  Of particular interest were a number of escorted oversize trucks heading south with battle tanks on their trailers, presumably following exercises further north.  I presume these were some of the new tanks Australia has just purchased to replace their ageing German Leopard tanks.  As a sign of my own ageing I can remember them road-testing the braking ability of the Leopard tanks prior to purchase back in 1972.  I was in the army (National Service) stationed at Puckapunyal in Victoria and the braking test consisted of the tank rumbling up to near top speed along a road that passed by my office and then hitting the brakes just outside my office, multiple times.  I can still remember the ominous rumbling that crescendoed to an earthquake as the tank arrived and braked hard. At 237km for the day I reached Larrimah, a tiny sleepy little settlement where the main excitement seemed to be a competition between Di’s and Fran’s homemade pies and pastries in a series of signs visible as you approached town.  In the end I opted for Di’s and enjoyed a very tasty pie and pastie for a late lunch. Then it was on to Mataranka, 79km further on.  The countryside was becoming more tropical bushland with more trees, water in some creeks, lots of burnt undergrowth (controlled burns to reduce the risk of bushfires), lots of large termite mounds, and deep red soil.  It also became more undulating as the day wore on, although not really hilly. I arrived in Mataranka just before 6:00pm, checked into the motel and enjoyed a meal at the attached hotel for dinner.  I called Rod from the Casuarina Primary School in Katherine and arranged to meet him at the school on my way through Katherine tomorrow morning to meet the kids.  I hope to make Victoria River tomorrow night, making it a 300km day, and have to do a little bit of shopping in Katherine (running out of antiseptic cream and Vaseline for treating my backside!), so it could be a long day.  Depending on how I feel, I may push on through tomorrow night with the aim of getting to Kununurra earlier on Wednesday, so that I can get a good sleep and early start to the following day’s 359km trek to Halls Creek.

Round Australia by bike - Day 017 - Three Ways to Elliott

Day:	017
Date:	Sunday, 5 August 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Elliott
Summary	Riding from Three Ways to Elliott
Start Time:	4:20am
Finish Time:	2:00pm
Daily Map Kms:	242
Total Map Kms:	4,535
Map Kms To Go:	9,876
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	-145
Daily Odometer Kms:	230
Daily Average Speed:	28.00kph
Weather:	Cold early, warm and sunny later.  Gusty SE wind.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast, pie and sausage roll for lunch, fish and chips and an ice-cream for dinner.
Encounters:	Missed hitting a startled kangaroo by about a metre when it bounded across the road in front of me in the pre-dawn darkness.
Highlights:	Nice strong tailwind most of the day.
Lowlights:	None really.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:
Journal:	Given the relatively modest target distance for the day, I decided that a 4:20am start (3:30am get up) would be sufficient.  There was a brisk and cold wind blowing from behind as I set out north along the Stuart Highway, and it wasn’t long before I stopped to put on my Goretex gloves. There was little traffic, the road was mostly flat and the wind made it easy riding.  However, a narrow miss with a startled kangaroo, improved my concentration.  As the sun rose I had some great views across the Barkly Tablelands.  They are impressive more for the vast vistas of plains and scrub that for spectacular topography.  The country is now more rocky, with occasional low craggy bluffs, and the soil is a deeper and darker red. The hills aren’t steep, but they are there.  Much of the time you are riding up or down these long gradual grades.  Sometimes you are not even aware that you are climbing, just that your speed has dropped a little.  You can see a crest in the far distance and gradullay climb to pass over it.  Then you are into a long gradual descent followed by a flat stretch across a floodplain, then another climb.  The road has very long straight stretches so you can see many kilometres ahead. I stopped in for breakfast at the Renner Springs Roadhouse and chatted with the driver of a semi-trailer carrying explosives, who had passed me earlier.  He apparently does a round Australia trip once a month from his home at Toowoomba (near Brisbane) stopping off at various mining operations to deliver their explosives order. After breakfast I continued on making good time although the wind occasionally blew from the side, making it hard to ride in a straight line.  I reached Elliott (242km) my target for the day at around 2:00pm.  I probably could have continued on another 109km to Dunmarra Roadhouse, but had talked myself into having an overdue easy day and a rest. The motel rooms behind the Elliott Hotel weren’t particularly inviting, but I took one and enjoyed watching the football on TV as I had a relaxing afternoon.  The early morning departure could be exciting as there is a large Rottweiler roaming the grounds who I discovered on arrival doesn’t like bikes. Barring the unforeseen (and attacks by Rottweilers), I should be able to get back onto my 53-Day schedule by Wednesday night.  But I’m still only one-third of the way around Australia, so there’s plenty of work to do yet.

Round Australia by bike - Day 015 & 016 - Mount Isa to Three Ways

Day:	015 & 016
Date:	Friday & Saturday, 3 & 4 August 2007
Accommodation	Motel at Three Ways
Summary	Riding from Mount Isa to Three Ways
Start Time:	1:30am Friday
Finish Time:	3:30pm Saturday (Central Time)
Daily Map Kms:	641
Total Map Kms:	4,293
Map Kms To Go:	10,118
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	-150
Daily Odometer Kms:	638.8
Daily Average Speed:	24.58kph
Weather:	Cool to cold nights, warm and sunny days.  Gusty southerly winds.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky, sausage roll & ice-cream for brunch on Friday.  Big Brekky for breakfast on Saturday.  Pie and milkshake for lunch.  Roast of the Day for dinner.
Encounters:	At breakfast early on Saturday morning at Barkly Homestead Roadhouse I was chatting with a number of guys who turned out to be part of the film crew for the new Nichole Kidman/Baz Luhrmann movie “Australia” who were midway through moving all of the film gear from Byron Bay on the east coast to Kununurra on the north-west coast in a convoy of trucks.
Highlights:	Cycling right through a surreal Friday night out on a very dark, cold and windswept savannah with almost no other signs of life.
Lowlights:	The last 100km into Three Ways was really hard work as I was exhausted.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here & Here & Here & Here
Journal:	I left Mount Isa reluctantly and with little motivation at 1:30am on Friday morning with the prospect of two long days in front of me.  It was cool and breezy with a slight headwind, but at least the winds weren’t as strong as yesterday afternoon.  The road climbed a bit, but then opened out onto a vast plain with occasional small rises and a creek crossing every so often.  The further I went the less tress there were and sometimes it just seemed to be brown grassland as far as the eye could see in any direction. I made reasonable progress and reached Camooweal (189km), a stereotypical Australian outback town with some very run-down old buildings and stores, two roadhouses, a pub, a very wide main street, lots of vacant rubbish strewn vacant lots and a few dilapidated houses with bright red earth visible through the scant brown grass covering. I had a breakfast at the roadhouse and then, as I was leaving still a bit hungry and realising I was not going to see another store until tomorrow morning, I returned to the roadhouse and bought a large sausage roll, and ice-cream and a big coffee milk.  I left about 1pm heading directly west back out onto the brown grassy plains.  After 12km I crossed the border from Queensland to the Northern Territory. There was a cool strong crosswind.  I rode until about 5pm when I reached the Avon Downs Police Station, a small green oasis in the brown desert, and stopped in the rest area across the road.  I decided to have a 90 minute nap while the weather was still warm, before trying to ride through the night to the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse.  I found a concrete picnic bench and stretched out and had a fitful nap, before crossing the road to get a cup of coffee from the unmanned “Driver Reviver” (gold coin donation) stall outside the police station, and eating one of the pieces of carrot cake I had bought at Camooweal. As the sun set, traffic became rare and I soon found myself battling the strong crosswind, zig-zagging across the road, in near complete darkness as clouds had now rolled in with the southerly change.  The night took on a surreal feel with me battling the elements, fatigue and the endless kilometres in the isolated darkness.  To break up the long haul (265km from Camooweal to Barkly) I began stopping briefly every 20km to have a snack and drink and just kept soldiering on in between.  Eventually, I rolled into the seemingly deserted Barkly Homestead Roadhouse at 3:00am and saw that it opened at 6:30am.  I wandered around and found my self a corner on the concrete flooring of the verandah where I was somewhat protected from the icy wind and had a sleep for three hours.  It was cold and I woke up shivering several times, but 3was tired enough to go back to sleep. At opening time I went to the café and ordered breakfast along with a number of other chatty travellers.  They were very interested in my trip.  After stocking up on some more snacks and drink, I left at 8:00am for the 187km haul to Three Ways.  The wind was now predominantly a tailwind which made for fast initial progress, but I soon got tired and the last 100km, during which the wind often switched to cross/headwind was a long drag. I got to Three Ways, the junction with the Stuart Highway (from Adelaide to Darwin), turned north and pulled into the Three Ways Roadhouse at 3:30pm where I got a motel room for the night.  I was in time to do a load of washing and look forward to a good night’s sleep and a relatively easy day tomorrow (242km to Elliott).

Round Australia by bike - Day 013 & 014 - Normanton to Mount Isa

Day:	013 & 014
Date:	Wednesday & Thursday, 1 & 2 August 2007
Accommodation	Slept rough on Wednesday night and motel in Mount Isa for Thursday night.
Summary	Riding from Normanton to Mount Isa
Start Time:	1:20am Wednesday
Finish Time:	11:30am Thursday
Daily Map Kms:	494
Total Map Kms:	3,652
Map Kms To Go:	10,759
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	189
Daily Odometer Kms:	514.8
Daily Average Speed:	23.45
Weather:	Cool to cold nights.  Warm sunny days.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for lunch.  Corn chips and Mars bar to dinner. McDonalds for breakfast.  Salad sandwiches for lunch.
Encounters:	Saw a pair of brolgas close to the road.
Highlights:	Almost getting back on the 53-day schedule.
Lowlights:	Not quite making it.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & here & Here
Journal:	I set out from Normanton at 1:20am in the hope of making it as far as Cloncurry (380km) during the day.  I had only had about six hours sleep after similar amounts the previous few nights, and it caught up with me around 5:00am.  I could not keep my eyes open and was struggling into a cool southerly headwind.  After catching myself twice riding off the road while dozing I walked for a while and even then couldn’t stop from stumbling.  In the end I accepted the inevitable, found a quiet spot about 20 metres off the road, spread out my groundsheet, put on my long cycling pants, and immediately went to sleep. I woke up two hours later bathed in warm early morning sunshine feeling much refreshed.  Even the wind had switched to a north-easterly, and I began riding again making good time across the scrubby flat landscape to the famous Burke & Wills Roadhouse where I arrived at noon and ordered my usual breakfast.  I decided to continue onto Cloncurry and bought some snacks and drinks to sustain me during the 180km trip.  Even though the road began climbing gradually through low hills to a kind of tableland, I continued to make good progress and began toying with the idea of riding through the night and into tomorrow in the hop of getting to Camooweal, my originally scheduled stop for Thursday night. I reached Cloncurry at about 9:30pm and began looking for a roadhouse that I was sure would be open to service the all night truck traffic passing through the town to and from Mount Isa.  I was wrong and the only place I could find open was a hotel bottle shop where I bought a packet of corn chips, some chocolate bars and some Coke for dinner.  I then sat on a bench in the main street which was very quiet apart from very loud Bee Gees music emanating from some hall somewhere and echoing all over town.  The local Justice Department patrol car called by to see whether I was OK and offered to find me somewhere to camp, but I said I was shortly leaving for Mount Isa. I headed out of town at about 11:00pm and immediately began climbing into a range of hills silhouetted by the moonlight.  I began to feel very tired and decided it was time for a nap.  I found a not-very-good spot off the road in the dark and settled down for two hours of fitful sleep lying on rock hard ground in an increasingly cold breeze.  At about 1:00am, I decided I should get moving again with the aim of getting to Mount Isa for an early breakfast.  However, at one of my short breaks, with about 50km to go, at a small roadside picnic area I sat down on a bench, put my head on the table, and decided it was time for another nap.  It got colder and colder (7C in Mount Isa, colder in the hills) and I decided I would stay where I was until the sun rose sufficiently to warm me enough to start riding again. About 7:00am I hit the road again and reached Mount Isa around 9:30am.  I couldn’t find a café, but did find the McDonalds, so had breakfast there and contemplated the remaining 190km to Camooweal.  It was already getting quite hot and north-west (head)winds were forecast.  My best guess was that I would get to Camooweal around 8:30pm (where I had booked a hotel room), all things going well.  As I rode out of Mount Isa, the headwinds grew stronger and, as I passed the last motel on the edge of town, I decided discretion was the better part of valour and changed my plans. I checked into the motel, showered, washed and bought some lunch with the intention of leaving again around midnight and perhaps sleeping rough again tomorrow night rather than stopping short at Camooweal or trying to get to Barkley Roadhouse (another 265km further on).  I’m disappointed that I didn’t get back on the 53-day schedule, but feel that next week there may be other opportunities to catch up, all things going well.

Round Australia by bike - Day 012 - Georgetown to Normanton

Day:	012
Date:	Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Normanton
Summary	Riding from Georgetown to Normanton
Start Time:	1:20am
Finish Time:	3:20pm
Daily Map Kms:	300
Total Map Kms:	3,158
Map Kms To Go:	11,253
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	-192
Daily Odometer Kms:	306.0
Daily Average Speed:	25.43kph
Weather:	Cool at first.  Warm and sunny later.  Light SE/NE winds.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast.  Hamburger, chips and yoghurt for dinner.  Various snacks during the day.
Encounters:	A few kangaroos, a few eagles, and herd of wild boar crossing the road in front of me (having been chased by a wild boar on a previous trip, I did plenty of yelling as I approached and they took off into the bush).
Highlights:	The first three hours riding at night under the full moon on a cloudless and windless night was fantastic.  I only saw two other vehicles and no other lights of any description.  It was like I had the whole world to myself.  The silence was palpable.
Lowlights:	Very sleepy most of the day.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here
Journal:	I got up at 12:30am and was on the road by 1:20am.  It was cool but pleasant and I made good time on what seemed like my private bike path through the brilliantly moonlit bush.  The countryside was mildly undulating savannah with occasional grazing cattle, which I had to watch out for on the road. Around dawn I suddenly started feeling very sleepy, the product of two nights with little sleep and had to struggle to keep awake as I rode over the last low mountain range and descended into the little outback town of Croydon (148km) at 7:45am.  I found a roadhouse and ordered breakfast and two cups of coffee, and bought some drinks and snacks to see me through to the next town, Normanton (152km), my target for the day. With a full stomach and the day rapidly warming up, I was soon dozing while pedalling again.  The countryside had flattened out with long straight stretches and light traffic, mainly grey nomads towing caravans.  There were occasional partly dry creeks and stock waterholes that attracted a variety of birdlife.  The temperature rose into the high 20s Centigrade and I distracted myself by listening to the ABC’s morning talkback show where the recently announced Queensland local government amalgamations was getting plenty of air time. I broke the trip into 30km sections, stopping briefly at the end of each for a drink and snack, and although it seemed to take forever, I made reasonable time and got to the Normanton junction (7km south of Normanton), Eugen’s next checkpoint, just before 3:00pm.  I then rode into Normanton, checked into a motel 2kms south of town and rode into town to get some dinner and supplies for tomorrow. I’ll leave very early again, and won’t see any settlements until the Burke & Wills Roadhouse (192km) so need to be reasonably self-sufficient.  I’m hoping to continue onto Cloncurry, another 181km, but it will depend on how I feel and whether I have favourable riding conditions.  Apart from the need for sleep today, I don’t feel too bad,  but don’t know how I’ll go doing another long day tomorrow.  I feel I’m near the edge.