NQ 2 NT Journal Entry
Day 18
‘Kevvy’ Camp to Borroloola
By: Mark “Sharky” Smoothy
Daily statistics
Cars sighted: 11
Distance: 123km’s
Accumulated Distance: 2850 km’s
Average speed: 20.9 kmph
Riding time: 5:54
Air Temperature: 35.7 degrees
Humidity: 24%
Wind direction: South/tailwind cross
Hi there, here we are at day 18 and getting closer to our objective in Darwin by yet another day. The days seem to drag on but at the same time are flying by too fast. I want to reach the end but as my health has improved I am really starting to appreciate the journey to date and the enormity of what we have achieved so far. This afternoon in Borroloola awaited an amazing display of hospitality courtesy of the lads at Cairns Industries Pty Ltd, a building construction and machinery hire business, but first we had to get there with a final slog of 123km’s of dirt. After the last two days over 140km we were looking forward to a slightly smaller day.
Yesterday we were still 12km’s from our camp spot as darkness rapidly approached, so some tape was strung up in the trees to mark our spot and bikes and riders were thrown into both vehicles and driven the remaining distance to camp. Last night in camp was to be our last one in the bush with Shano and Gordo, so after some good old Aussie bush tucker and a wash in the creek, again a very quick one, with a croc look out in the way of Gordon, who with his torch would scan the waters as we bathed, Kevvy proceeded to pull out the first bottle of Jacobs Creek red. It was dangerous times! Sure enough the boys, Kevo, Shano, Falconio and Gordo settled in for a night that did not end until 1:30am and along the way four bottles of red, a dozen beers and a few cans of rum were demolished. I took some incriminating photos and quietly slinked away to my swag at 11:30pm. Kim was out of there and happy for me to keep her awake as I did my journal, as she likes having someone by her side to protect her from the monsters of the night. She said to me; “Marky I want to see a croc before this trip ends but I just don’t wish to see the inside of one!” Fair comment.
I just need to add something about my beautiful sister Kim. When she first joined this trip she was a little lost and felt a tad out of place, as you would coming from Toowoomba and ending up in one of the most inhospitable places in Australia. You should see her now, sets up camp, cooks food, takes no shit from Kevvy, pulls faces at me every time she drives past, laughs at all my great jokes invented a fly thingy that wraps around her face to keep the flies out of all her orifices, tends to all our needs and besides all that she wrestles crocodiles in her spare time. If I try to do something to help as I roll in for a food stop, she points her finger to the folding chair and forcefully says “Marky sit down and eat.” Kim has a bad back and hates the heat. She has to sleep on the hard ground on a swag with a thin mattress, and has to contend with heat in the high 30’s and beyond. I have watched her grow as a person these past two weeks; confident in her abilities, takes control of situations that arise every day, always first to talk to the locals, (bit of a race between her and Kevvy) never complains, always smiling and happy and literally a bundle of joy to be around. She fits right in with the Smiddy morals of life and I could not be prouder of her.
Anyway back to the next morning saga. Today, all the lads, except for Kevo, were looking pretty ordinary. It was a good idea not to get too close to the exhalation of their breaths for fear of getting high on the vapours. I jumped on Shano to wake him up and his breath smelt like he had been eating road kill! Kevvy has a cast iron gut and he was outrageously happy upon waking today. I suspect he secretly loves to see his mates suffer, which would explain why he volunteers for me each year as well. Shano’s Dad, Gordo was not a well man and for a whole 90 minutes disappeared into the bush. We thought he had gone to dig his own grave. It was so funny throughout the day seeing Shane’s 4WD go past and there would be Gordo, pillow up against the passenger window and his head buried deep within it. Anyway after breakfast Shano threw the bikes in the car and drove Falcon and I back to continue from where we finished. We are both very particular about riding the entire way, under our own steam and we never accept anything but.
I was worried about Falcon today because of his big night and lack of sleep but like I have said before, the guy is a machine and is like a moving juggernaut that once gets going is hard to stop. Besides being a little on the quiet side, Falcon once again performed faultlessly today. I actually had a little agenda of my own today, which I did not share with anyone, mainly out of fear of not knowing if I could achieve it. That was to go an entire day without once sitting on Falcon’s ‘freight-train-express’ back wheel. When we rolled into Borroloola at 4:30pm, after another hard day on the road, I am happy to write that I achieved my objective. The road today threw everything it had at us; it was as though it knew this was to be our final day on the dirt. The remaining 30km’s was horrendous with corrugations, loose bulldust and headwinds. We did see some beautiful flowing streams that we got to ride through and some we even stopped to lie down in, letting the cool running water wash gentle over our hot dusty limbs and torso, before continuing on our way and drying out completely within 10 minutes.
Borroloola is a fully service town of around 700 people, mainly aboriginal heritage. It is home to four main indigenous groups. The Yanuwa, Mara, Kurdanji and Karawa and all have their own very distinct language. We have found the aboriginals extremely friendly and always happy to wave and offer a smile. Fishing on the McArthur River is another huge drawcard to Borroloola, and as a tourist destination you just have to visit the old police station, now a mind blowing museum that was originally built in 1886. It was restored in 1998 after falling into disarray and is now managed by the National Trust. Well worth a visit if ever up this way.
To finish with I really need to give a huge wrap to Shaun and Allan Cairns (Son and Father) of Cairns Industries. Shaun is just 29 years of age and in a few short years has built up a very successful business in Borroloola. These guys not only gave all six of us a couple of air-conditioned donga’s for the night to sleep in, but invited us to join them for a home cooked meal of barbecue steak and salad. In the morning we were able to help ourselves to breakfast in their ample and amazingly stocked kitchen. Shaun then turned around and donated $150.00 to our cause. A big thank you guys and also thanks to your awesome chef, Cathie McKay, surely Borroloola’s friendliest and lovely lady.
It was a Thursday night but the lads seemed excited about having some company and organised a pool comp. Gordo and Shano were getting amongst it, while Kevvy and Falcon were telling entertaining stories to all the other workers who lived there. Smiddy riders you would have loved the vending machine near the pool table that dispensed cans of beer for $2.00 a pop. There were enough pops that night to fill a garbage can full of tinnies. I clambered into bed, having impressed the lads by drinking a whole can of VB Gold -without any lemonade in it- in a record 20 minutes!
Well guys I have moved my watch back half an hour to move into line with NT time which now makes it 12:30. Best I get my sleepy head to bed. We are back on the tar today and I could not be happier. I am extremely sad about losing Shano and Gordo. What an amazing asset they were to the team; joining us for the roughest five days of our journey on the dirt, seeing us safely through and now having a 2000 plus kilometre journey in front of them to get there tired butts home. Shano I know you will be reading this at some stage, just need you to know you are a legend buddy.
Falcon’s turn tomorrow to do a journal, so until day 20 all the best and thank you all so very much for your support.
Sharky
PS: I have had no phone coverage on my phone since leaving Brisbane. My apologies if you have left message son my voice mail and got no reply. Also l was able to download my emails and so many of my great friends have sent messages of support. Those messages are a life line and a mental energy boost when we need it the most. So please keep them coming, here are our email addresses sharky41@optusnet.com.au and scott@smartdata.com.au I intend to read them out to the crew tomorrow night. Love you guys for sure.
Thank you kindly.
Sharky.