Lunch out of Normanton

We had a tremendous morning. There was a foul head wind but luckily for me and Alice we are both totally tough and fit. Not to mention wholesome early riser sorts.

There were flocks of brolga about 40km out of Normanton. Heaps of them in bunches waiting by the side of the road. As we rolled past they'd take off and it was pretty great. They had about the same trouble flying south as we did riding south so I felt a little solidarity.

We crossed the Flinders River and I collected extra water without being eaten at all by crocodiles. Alice didn't collect any spare water so I anticipate I'll be faced with an ethical dilemma if her life is threatened by dehydration. One thing I've learned out here is that helping people survive doesn't help anyone so I believe it would be best to let her perish nobly with her independence and dignity in tact. Welfare gets you nowhere.

We did about 15kph (slow) throughout the morning and made it to a good rest stop for lunch. There are no shade trees in these parts so finding a shed is rather exciting. We'll probably sit happily under this fellow for quite some hours.



We had something of a spectacular satay pita bread wrap for lunch followed by freshly percolated coffee from my brand new middle-class gadget (or at least I did).



Alice lost some crosswords to a particularly vicious gust of wind. She ran down the road after them and I wondered if I should follow and help. I decided it was too hot so I stayed in the shed. Then I had images of Alice getting lost running around paddocks looking for crosswords and getting heatstroke or something. And it definitely seemed too hot to mount any sort of search and/or rescue if that happened so I was somewhat torn. Eventually Alice came back with most of the crosswords, interrupting my reflection time. She doesn't appear to have suffered any permanent side effects from her ordeal. The scars will be largely emotional.

So the plan us to sit around. Read books. Make more fancy coffee. Perhaps have a siesta.