Day 71 - Resting in Planet Roper

Finding a positive in the situation - the boys enjoy Austar (cable TV) whilst resting up in Roper Bar.

The view from the end of the airstrip behind the store

RACQ is contacted and will put them up in a hotel at Katherine. Glad they arranged that coverage! So they will back track to Katherine to fix Ulick's bike there. They ring around trying to find a replacement headstock and talk to the mechanics they've already dealt with in the major cities along the way. The advise is consistent, it will be a challenging task to replace it. Not impossible - just hard work.

As we weren't going anywhere in a hurry, Glynn gave us a tour of the area.

Often the only way across to the community is by boat, but now in the dry, a 4WD can cross the causeway

Yes, salties do live here in the Roper River

Alex, one of the girls working at the store hadn't even seen what was around her since she started working at the store, so she came along for the tour.

They still need to consider the route home. They'd always had a buffer of a few days built into the route just in case they encountered a problem like this. So, at this point they are still on track to ride into Brisbane on the 11th of September.

The remains of the old police station. During the goldrush era, the populations in these isolated communities were much larger and the law accompanied them.

Mobile phone coverage is only available in small pockets and you have to be standing on a railing on the top of a hill above the small run way. Torsten and Ulick updated the relevant loved ones with collect calls.

That's all the news for now.....more to come.