Day 23: Cooinda to Ubirr

I got up around 6.15 am to find Jerry had gone already. He apparently got up earlier than usual and couldn't cope with the mozzies so packed up and told Jane to tell us that he had left. Jane then left around 6.30 am , Lew at 6.45 and the rest in dribs and drabs until Kirsten and Gareth leaving last around 8.15 am. They are so spread out today, it will be difficult to support them all.

We met at Jabiru for morning tea, hoping the bakery would be open but alas it did not open on Sundays. So off we went to find a nice park to sit at, hopefully with toilets. Lovely park down by the lake. I went and shopped for the bush camp tonight. It was a bit of hit and miss and I will have to cook according to the food availability. Gareth and Kirsten were a mile behind everyone else and so we made phone contact to find out what their plans were. They had stopped at the Information Centre and have decided to be self supportive today.

We arrived at Merl campground around 1.30 pm. Most riders decided to ride on a bit further to a general store they had heard about. Unfortunately the store closed down around 2 years ago so they rode back to Merl. Mark did a bit of his own exploring so didn't see him until after dark. While waiting for them to arrive, I cooked up a big pot of spaghetti bolognese.

Kirsten and Gareth arrived around 4 pm having coped quite well out there on their own. Everyone went out to Ubirr for the sunset viewing and rock paintings. Collis led them out on the bike. Lew decided to remain in camp as he has seen plenty of rock paintings before. I stayed behind to keep preparing dinner and mind the camp. Surprisingly they came back early with only Mark, Jeanette and Ingrid remaining for the sunset. They are glad they did and I'm pleased some of them did.

Dinner was rudely interrupted by swarms of mozzies trying to eat our dinner and us. It was not a nice experience and everyone was in bed by 7.30- straight after dinner. Jerry even tipped his dessert over the ground trying to scare off a biting mozzie (I gave him my dessert). Around 10.30 pm Collis woke me with a call to arms as there seemed to be somebody wandering around the bush near our truck. When I shone the torch outside there was nothing to be seen but definitely something moving around out there. I was nearly back to sleep when I heard something running very fast towards the truck again but still couldn't see anything and whatever it was moved away when I shone the torch. Then we heard dogs barking and it sounded like they were then attacked by something. Needless to say it was a restless night.