I thought the wind was bad yesterday, well today was worse! I cannot tell you how frightening it was. The road from Renner Springs to Elliot sits atop the Barkly Tablelands with a never ending horizon in all directions. There aren't any trees, just very low lying scrub and therefore nothing to stop the wind. I had to ride just on the wrong side of the centre line as the wind would push me all the way over to the edge of the lane. I would push against the wind and then all of sudden get hid by a wind shear and Quiver would get the almighty wobbles. It was terrifying. My terror was further exacerbated by the fact that Sally's friend Damo told me all about his terrible accident in the NT, when he was hit by a wind shear and lost control of his bike, ending up with serious injuries. I would find that I was tensed up as I was holding on to the handlebars for grim death, so would tell myself "think Thunderbirds, think Thunderbirds" a tip Greg Aldis told me a few years ago. Thinking Thunderbirds wasn't really helping, so as I'm a lapsed catholic, I started praying to St Jude, St Anthony and any other saint that was in mum's cupboard and might be listening. I suppose what bothered me the most was the fact there wasn't anywhere to pull over and pull myself together. I did see one intersection to a dirt road, but there was no protection and I was sure if I did pull over the bloody bike would just blow over in the wind. I counted down the kilometres to the next rest area, relief a sign telling me 20klms, then 10 then 5klms. Don't relax Karen, you know accidents happen close to home or in this case close to the end of the ride. I kept my focus and finally arrived in Elliott. To say I was a little shaken up is an understatement.
Elliott is a very sad little town. The indigenous community seems to be totally impoverished and the whites don't seem that much better off. They have a system in the NT where 50% of your dole payment is credited to a "Basics Card". You can buy food, clothing and other essentials on this card. However the only shop in town has an extremely limited range of food and no fresh vegetables. The nearest proper supermarket is in Katherine, more than 400klms away. All in all it is very depressing. An old aboriginal guy, who very obviously had diabetes, unhealed wounds on his feet, hit me up for $10.00 and I coughed it up immediately as I felt so guilty about my quality of life compared to his.
The wind finally died down after Elliott and I continued on my journey north. I saw a sign to Newcastle Waters which Greg had mentioned, so decided to take a ride in and check it out. I'm so glad I did, the road meandered through the scrub and then it dissected a body of water that was teeming with bird life.
Newcastle Waters is on one of the most treacherous stock routes in the NT, there are a few buildings left that are held by the National Trust (suc as the general store below), otherwise it seems to be uninhabited.
The wind had started to die down thankfully (those saints must be working) and I plan on spending the night at Daly Waters as it has been recommended to me by various people along the way.
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