Day 15: Daly Waters to Mataranka

I was up really early this morning because  of some drama we are having with Collis' email. Someone hacked into it and so we put a block on it but were unable to reuse it or retrieve all of our contacts or any electronic files. This morning I had a go at getting back but ended up putting a message on FB and sent imessages to all cyclists on our FB pages. The new email is cycleacrossoz15@hotmail.com
We are mainly concerned about the most recent people who have contacted us via our webpage and have decided to join the ride at a later date. Hopefully contact details on the web page will be updated today or Monday.

Today is the longest day for this leg and everyone is quietly nervous about it. The increase in temperature is also a concern for them. The wind is minimal but favourable.

We had morning tea at the Alexander Forrest. Ingrid saved a turtle from the middle of the road. Mark is doing a horror movie and is constantly looking for interesting roadkill subjects- so he didn't photograph the turtle for Ingrid as it was still alive.

Lunch was at Larrimah and the Pink Panther Pub (the highest hotel in NT). Really rundown and not much else other than the museum. Afternoon tea and it's getting hotter with 34 degrees in the car, 39.8 degress on Mark's garmin and something in the 40's on Jerry's. Everyone is struggling but still in reasonable spirits. We squirted them with water and sent them on their way.

All arrived safely at Mataranka with 4 riders breaking their greatest distance in one day record. Gareth, Jane, Ingrid & Jeanette. Jerry rode straight onto Bitter Springs for a swim before coming in.

A group went down to the pub for dinner but didn't like the vibe or the surrounds so they came back. Half of them went to the caravn park restaurant and the other half cooked for themselves.