Short day. Rode the 60kms to Kulgera.
Day started slowly again. Not sure what time we got on the road. 9:30-10:00. Day soon warned up, but no wind to worry us.
The Northern Territory border was coming up. Turned out to be 40kms or so from our stop. We and lots of others stopped at the rest stop for a look. There was water on the ground and a big water tank with good water. Got there about 12:15 and left about 1:00. Rode the 20kms to Kulgera quickly. Arrived about 2:00.
Vero didn't want to go on.
Resting up in the pub a nice young Japanese guy heading south sat with us. Kang from Osaka. Came to the antipodes to escape the pressure of his life in Japan. He was a junior high PE teacher back home. He loved basketball. Spent a year in New Zealand and now nearly another year in Australia. He arrived in NZ not knowing any English, but was now quite proficient.
Despite never having ridden, he bought a bike in Sydney, flew with it to Darwin and headed south to Adelaide. Wanted to ride to Marla the next day; 180kms, a distance we could only dream about. Might not be as comfortable, but no doubt two wheels are quicker. Even though he had made it this far without serious incident he said he would never do anything like this again.
I think our plan is to take 3 days to get to Alice. Stop at the road houses along the way. Relatively short distances each day.
...go to day 16 - May 25
P.S. Spoke to a woman travelling with two dingoes; 13 and 11 years old. Got the older one when the younger one was 6 months old. Didn't originally, but now needs a permit to have them. Had the younger since a pup. They are loyal, but with a mind of their own. She obviously likes them and is involved with a network working to protect dingoes. The story is similar to wolves in North America. She thinks the answer is not to shoot them. Counter intuitively it keeps the numbers down because it protects the alpha pair who normally are the only ones who breed. Mirima dogs also work very well protecting stock. She thought dingoes will need to be completely protected soon.
They didn't mind being touched/patted and followed her quietly on long rope leads. She said they'd be off and never return if she let them off their leads. Nice looking animals. Reminded me of Molly.