NQ 2 NT Journal Entry
Day 23
Katherine to Adelaide River
By: Mark “Sharky” Smoothy
Daily statistics
Road trains sighted: 28
Distance: 205km’s
Accumulated Distance: 3851 km’s
Average speed: 30.4 km/h
Riding time: 6:45
Air Temperature: 38 degrees
Humidity: 62%
Wind direction: North east, cross wind.
Tony Munn of the Frontier Bottlemart Motel in Cairns has been busy organising a great welcome for Scotty and I and our road crew in two days time. Tony has already kindly offered a room for the night free of charge and will feed all four of us for dinner and breakfast the next day. We are so excited about finishing and it is nice to know that we have a small reception lined up. Thanks for all your hard work Tony and we all look forward to meeting you soon. It would be remiss of me to not say something about our main sponsor for this trip. Bottlemart being the main sponsor for both the Smiddy Challenge and this extended Darwin leg exemplifies the passion and commitment that this amazing company have when it comes to supporting worthwhile causes. How many naming right sponsors do you know that would go out and fundraise for the charity as well? On the function night at the end of the Smiddy Challenge Bottlemart Qld general manager and Smiddy rider David Gyte, gets up and announces that Bottlemart had secretly been fundraising on our behalf and had a further $120,000 to add to the total! This is a simply amazing total and we are honoured to be associated with them. Can I ask everyone who is reading this a small favour please? When shopping for your alcohol please shop at your local Bottlemart outlet. It is as simple as that, you shop, they donate money, and we help find a cure for cancer through a company that clearly has the same vision as us.
So on to the daily report, which was a cracker of a day, second last day before we get to Darwin, and what a beauty it was at 205km’s. Once again Falcon and I fired up to perform like a well oiled machine taking five minute turns out front with monotonous regularity for nearly seven hours of riding time. To crank out an average speed of just over 30kmph after nearly 4000km’s of riding we were extremely proud of.
The terrain today was outstanding and ever changing and visually exciting. Falcon and I spent the whole day going Wow, Wow, Wow and look at that.
So far we have been extremely lucky with the lack of humidity and today was no different. We are so acclimatised to the dry heat but our one pet hate is drinking the soup like water from our water bottles on our bikes. We fill up from our road crew and the water is palatable, but within 15 minutes the water is so warm that you have to force it down. Although to go without is not an option so down the gullet it goes. We got away an hour earlier than normal today at 7:30am due to the big kilometre day ahead. Kim rang the cow bell ever so softly so as not to wake the entire van park up. We carried extra water in our jersey pockets so Kev could take Kim to see Katherine Gorge, or as it is now known by its Aboriginal name Nitmiluk. We agreed to meet up in three hours time at Pine Creek, about 92km’s out of Katherine.
Kevvy is a master with his timing and as we literally turned into Pine Creek, all water gone from our three bottles, Kevvy pulled in behind us. We had a quick half hour stop there, where I tried the most delicious piece of mango cake, while Scotty went for the ginger beer and ice-cream combo. Pine Creek is now a sleepy little town with a population of 470 people. This was not the case during the gold rush in the 1870’s when the lure of gold turned the town into a madhouse. All the relics of yesteryear are on display around town and well worth a visit; especially if you are into seeing old windmills and mining machinery. The old railway station is in great condition considering it is still in its original condition since 1888 and the lovingly restored steam train is a must see for train lovers.
Tummy’s content with junk food we moved on, with cafe legs always taking five kilometres to get back up to speed. (The term cafe legs are what cyclists call tired legs after stopping for any length of time.) Our next destination was 60km’s down the road at Hayes Creek, which is a roadhouse and bar in one. By the time we reached here it was 1:30pm and as per usual it was brain frying hot and a good time to have an extended break. Our crew made us some great sandwiches and pulled out a treat of mini-muffins that they had bought for us in Katherine. While there Scotty got talking to the locals at the bar and they were horrified when he told them we had been swimming at the so called ‘safe spot’ at Katherine Gorge. According to them a croc was spotted there a month ago and had not been caught. We chose not to believe this story otherwise we would look awfully foolish for swimming there. Let me tell you I am extremely happy to be writing this journal today! After lunch we lay down for a quick 15 minute cat-nap before once again mounting our steeds and riding the remaining 60km’s into Adelaide River without incident.
Not once this entire trip have we had any agro or close calls from cars or trucks. It has been an amazing run of luck and one that I need to continue for just one more day. The other thing worth mentioning is that we have not had one single solitary puncture this entire ride. Both Scotty and I run Maxis Refuse tyres on our road bikes and Maxis Crossmark tyres on our mountain bikes. Now if that aint a plug for Maxis then I don’t know what is.
Adelaide River is the remaining town between here and Darwin and is quite an important town in that it was once an important point in the overland telegraph line and supply depot during world war two. The local cemetery here is witness to the fact that many people lost their lives, 63 civilians and 434 Australian men and women, all from the top end of Australia. It is a sobering reminder of huge personal sacrifices for the freedom that we now enjoy. The sad and humbling view of hundreds of white crosses commemorate these brave souls.
The Adelaide River Inn where we are staying is home to one stuffed water buffalo called Charlie; the very same one from out of the Paul Hogan Crocodile Dundee movie filmed all over in the Northern Territory. And yes we all got our photos taken standing next to Charlie imploring him to lay down with our special Crocodile-Dundee-put-Charlie-to-sleep trick. If you have seen the movie –and what good Australian hasn’t- then you will understand.
Kimmy was brave today and approached the owner and told them what we were doing and was there any chance of securing a discounted room for the night. She came away a little dejected as the owner cut her off mid sentence and said these exact words; “I don’t support charities, if I support one I have to support them all, we have people coming through here all the time asking for freebies.” I felt for Kim but told her that one day if he needs treatment for cancer he may regret having the stance that he stated. The bar lady pulled Kim aside later and said to her; “Don’t worry about him as he is like that with everyone, his wife works at the BP out front and if the till ever comes up short he makes her put it in out of her own pocket.” When Kim asked did they get lots of bike riders through here every year asking for free accommodation the bar lady said, “We get no more than two or three a year. That’s just how he is.”
Kevvy reminded us about how incredibly kind most people have been along the way and so what if we hit one selfish individual, he had his beliefs and right or wrong we had to respect them. Kevvy was right of course and we drank to that insight. We would have stayed elsewhere but the only other place where we could stay was booked out.
Each night we do a personal journal reading and we had fallen behind by about four days, so tonight was catch up time. It was fun hearing out loud what happened just a few days ago and the memories came flashing back. Anything that was funny was met with roars of laughter, especially by Falcon, doing the right thing by our sponsor Bottlemart and drinking his Bottlemart purchased Bundaberg tinnies, and Kevvy of course hooking into the Jacobs red.
Tomorrow is our final day and we are so excited about this journey finally coming to an end, sad but excited. Is is now 12:30am and the words are looking a little blurry, which means I need to sleep.
Falcon and I would really appreciate it if you have been thinking of making a donation and have yet to get around to it to please follow either of the links below to our everyday hero pages.
• You can find Sharky's Everyday Hero site here
• You can find Falcon's Everyday Hero site here
We have loved bringing you a day to day account of our travels and we really appreciate your support these past 16 days.
All the best and take care.
Sharky.