After a very cold night – which was quite refreshing because you could curl up in your sleeping bag a have a nice sleep – there was a flurry of activity around the kitchen area while the boys took care of breakfast and the girls prepared our lunch ...
... one of our boys' teams started by heading back out of town to finish 40 kilometres into Katherine, as time and energy did not permit us to make it all the way yesterday ...
... both time and energy were in plentiful supply today though ...
... while we were waiting for our runner in Katherine we met with Hayley (grey sweater) and Fiona Walker (sunglasses) who told us very excitedly that they had been following us up the highway. They were glowing with joy when we told them about the Peace Run ...
... shortly afterwards we met Nicki who had just biked 1000km ...
... our girls team meanwhile had set off from Katherine in the company of Linda, who had attended the Peace Run’s Opening Ceremony in Canberra a couple of months ago. Linda ran the first 5km out of Katherine with Helena ...
... Linda brought along her own support crew consisting of her daughter Siobhan, Siobhan's partner Kayne, and their beautiful four-week-old son Faolan ...
... thank you so much for joining the Peace Run Linda, it was great fun meeting you and we look forward to seeing you again at the Closing Ceremony in Canberra!
It was another hot and dusty day in the Northern Territory ...
... it seemed to be much warmer, probably because of the lack of wind ...
... while we wait for our runners in the van, we use the time to sign certificates ...
... cut up the rolls of stickers ...
... and admire the fruit bats just hanging around in the tree ...
The Ghan is a famous train which runs from top to bottom of the continent, Darwin to Adelaide. Today our trans-continental paths crossed ...
... our second boys' team had meanwhile driven ahead and were now ...
... running into Pine Creek, about 90km north of Katherine ...
... Pine Creek was a gold mining town going back to the early 1930s when the first mine was established by an Austrian engineer, then later on a open cut mine opened for greater production (according to the plaque we are reading here). They now mine a type of iron ore and have a population of around 600, of which over half are fly-in, fly-out ...
... with time before our meeting in Pine Creek, what are boys going to do?
... how about, phone home to Mongolia?
We were fortunate to meet and offer a presentation on the Peace Run to members of the Victoria Daly Shire Council ...
Councillor Veronica Birrell and Administrator Officer Lindy Woods met us when we arrived and immediately made us feel at home with their very friendly and warm manner ...
... Council's Sport and Recreation Officer, Dwayne, who turned 22 recently was also in attendance ...
... and enjoyed holding the Peace Torch ...
... after a cup of tea and some bickies and quite a long chat, we were on our way again ...
... heading out of town we bumped into Bazza and Caron on a four-wheel run around ...
... by now, back along the road ...
... our girls are nearly done with their running for the day ...
... so after we drove over the section the boys were running, we were the first to reach ...
... our accommodation, Mary River Roadhouse, inside Kakadu National Park, where we are camping tonight. Thank you so much to Tony and Sally (pictured here with her daughter Mia), who also offered us free water from the Roadhouse shop and gave us some local knowledge on where to go swimming ...
... she told us not to worry about the sign – locals say crocodiles are not here ...
... on the way down the track to the swimming hole we came across a snake sunbathing on the dirt road!
... he was very cute, but not knowing what kind of snake he was, we gave him a wide berth – just in case he was one of Australia’s many venomous varieties!
... the swimming spot, called “Rock Hole” had a beautiful waterfall ...
... and the pool was amazing to swim in (though we had someone watching out at all times for crocodiles!) ...
... by now the boys who had been to Pine Creek were closing in fast ...
... probably already thinking of the water hole and a refreshing swim ...
... we noticed a few bushfires further along our route to Mary River Roadhouse ...
... the grass is tinder-dry all around, so we decide, out of respect for the countryside, we will extinguish the flame on the Torch until we reach a less fire risk area ...
... Sarankhuu tried to take a short cut to Darwin, so we had to retrieve him and get him running again on the road to Jabiru ...
... everyone in the team runs well today ...
... team morale is high ...
... especially after we finish for the day and go ...
... along the same track where, unbeknownst to us, the girls had encountered their snake a short time ago ...
... to the secret local swimming hole, which is nestled in an oasis-like garden a few km from the main road ...
... we swam, crocodile free, jumped from the rocks ...
... and enjoyed the nice fresh clear water ...
... tonight we are staying in our most 'Out Back Destination' under the stars without too many campers around – no phone reception, no internet, no botheration from the outside world :-) ...
Dinner time!
(must go) ...
Cheers,
Prabuddha.
