Duck a la lame.

An Eastern Brown Snake (with thanks to
Wikipedia for the pic - I'm not that mental)

Day 24. 3/10/11: Wonoka Rd to Hawker

Well today was a bit of a mixed bag! We had a lovely morning hanging out at Mayo Gorge. Scrummy scrambled egg breakfast with 'barbequed' mushrooms and baked beans, then laptops out for a bit of writing and editing. Tim went for a walk down to the gorge and saw a snake! Eek hiss! He said it was beautiful, about 4 foot long, a silver-grey colour. It slithered along beside him for a few metres, going about its business, not too concerned that Tim was there at all. Quite an experience! Snakes generally don't keep human company. They'll normally keep themselves well-hidden unless you venture too close and then they'll strike out at you. Chomp! But not today. We think it was an Eastern Brown Snake (which can also be silver-grey). Highly venomous. Can kill.

We packed up and left for the Flinders Ranges Caravan Park in Hawker where we'll spend the next couple of days.  Funny place with a rather grouchy owner. It's one of those places with signs everywhere telling you what not to do (Don't do anything faster than walking pace. Don't be 8 years old. Don't use any water. Shut the door. Go away. Leave us alone.). It's all very drab and treeless, a bit soulless really, especially after having spent a night in such an amazing place. But forward we must go, and Hawker it is.

Much of the afternoon was spent doing more study and writing, but at 4.30 we got ourselves ready to run back to Wonoka to pick up the bikes. Today's run was only about 11kms and we were really looking forward to getting out into the bush to have a good stretch of the legs after sitting about in the caravan park all day. In my head I felt like I could run and run and run, but my body said 'nooooo Lily! You've done quite a bit of that sort of thing lately and I'd like a rest please'. Pah!

I started out having breathing difficulties from the cut grass (hayfever NOT asthma!) and my achilles on my left foot (the one I rolled a bit the other day) was a bit sore. That soreness turned into proper pain about 7 kms in and I started to hobble.  We decided it was best for me to have a little sit down while Tim finished the run and brought both bikes back. So off he ran, enjoying the bush and the setting sun while I lay about taking photos with flies and ants kindly keeping me company. 

Some prickly bushes

Most of the tracks we run on are through bush with different types of prickly shrubs. They have thorns from a couple of millimetres to an inch or so long, so if you step on or brush against one, or get one of their burrs stuck in your undies, it's a bit ouchy. They come in all different sizes and colours from red, blue, white, green and when set against the red sand or yellow grit and seen en masse - a hillside of them, or a field of them - they're really beautiful. Well, those were the photos I tried to get as I sat nursing my achilles.

Some time later, Tim appeared around the corner, riding his own bike and pushing mine, carrying my helmet and bike gear too. What a hero! The road he'd left me on was ok for this, but he'd had to start out on a pretty rough track. Try getting on your bike and starting off with one hand with the other on another bike. Not easy, especially when you have to get on and off a few times trying to get around corners and through dry creek beds! Hero!

The journey back was lovely! We normally do all our riding and running in the morning, so it was a change to be riding into the setting sun and my achilles wasn't fussed by pedalling, yay! A quick brush up, and a slow hobble to the local pub for dinner.

No vegetarian option? No problem! Chips, salad and garlic bread will do me nicely! Ah and a couple of glasses of shiraz, please...

Ride

Time (hr:min:sec): 00:35:00

Speed (kph):

Distance (km): 11

Run

Time (hr:min:sec):

Speed (kph):

Distance (km): 11