9th Nov - Mary River to Yellow Water

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Up at 7ish and backed up - getting a bit faster at it each time. I love my little separate bags to sort different things. Hair bobbles are very useful for tying up cables, food packages and anything else.... I am getting used to putting each item back in exactly the same place so that I do not lose it.

I don't think I can stomach another day of porridge....

I left the campsite a bit later than I had planned as I got chatting with some people. I decided that I still wanted to try to do a wetlands cruise at Yellow Water (160km away - the cruise up the road that I missed yesterday is not running today or tomorrow) and so I biked down the road to the petrol station and got chatting with customers until I found a nice person to give me a lift some of the way (it took 7 mins :-)). Paul, who works for a flour distribution company, was going to Jabaru for business and was happy to give me a lift. It is always good to meet new people and have company and natter on the way.

We got into Jabaru before midday and Paul kindly bought me a pie and a cup of coffee at bakery at Jabaru. I then pottered round Jabaru for a couple of hours, exploring the very small town and walking round the lake.





I headed out for Yellow Water about 1.30. The route from Jabaru to Yellow Water is 60km. Again it was slow going and hot but the roads are awesome and quite. I am very much enjoying my audio books and music.





To split the journey took a turning off and hiked up to Mirral look out. It was amazing to get above the tree line and see all of the region. Absolutely beautiful. There were trees as far as I could see.






Yellow Water itself (where there is a resort and petrol station) is about 6km off the main highway. I needed to go there for more water. The free camping is 6km back to the hi-way and then a further 2km down the main road. The lovely guys at the resort let me put my tent up by the resort and use all the facilities :-) Perfect as that is where my tour goes from tomorrow morning at 6.30 - so it meant I did not have to pack up everything and bike 8km before 6.30.


I used the facilities and went for a swim for 1 hour in the big pool and chatted with other people staying in the resort. Used the BBQ facilities to cook my exciting stew and noodles. Chilled evening. I have to say the restaurant looked very lovely and I felt a little disappointed with my stew....



Over all the day worked out really well as when I woke up I had no idea whether I would be able to get to Yellow Water or on a cruise. As my bus ride back to Darwin leaves tomorrow at 4.30pm, the 6.30am cruise is the only opportunity I will have to do a wetlands cruise - and I managed to get there, on the cruise and to stay in the resort.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikenz2uk/sets/72157625344495717/