My world walk blog - Australia 80 - Thanks so much to the Pine Creek Railway Resort for a wonderful stay

Thanks so much to the Pine Creek Railway Resort for a wonderful stay

Thanks a million to Sandie, the manager at the Pine Creek Railway Resort for a lovely room in their luxurious resort

It's always so nice to have a comfortable bed after a hard day on the road!

Well, it wasn't a tough day, still my body is playing a great game of catch. Today, Sunday was just a leisurely 19-kilometre, four-hour  stroll from where I finished yesterday to the Railway Resort. I didn't even have to push Karma and had a lovely cooling headwind.

At thirty-two degrees Celcius and high humidity its been a bit of an effort this last month as I walk further north and closer to the equator. Since I started walking on this continent fourteen-months ago the temperature has rarely dropped below thirty degrees C. Even now, and this is the winter. By contrast in the south of the country current temperatures are typically twenty-degrees lower and even below zero overnight. Also I have only experienced two rainy days in the fourteen months. One was in South Australia and the other was in New Zealand. I can't imagine rain again, but I'm sure I will have to face it, perhaps back in asia.

I mentioned in my last post that my great friend Terry Cleary and Gabby, his wife came out to check on me yesterday. Terry walked about ten kilometres with me. They had booked cabins for Saturday night at the Railway Resort. When we were done walking we marked my finishing spot for my return the following morning. I only go forward under the strict condition that I will return to the exact same spot so as I will have no road gaps in this walk. I never go forward without returning, to me that's cheating.

Just then Gabby came out to commute us the remaining 19-kilometres to the hotel. While we were walking Terry mentioned that he knows the owner of the next roadhouse in Emerald Springs and he would surely look after me when I arrive. Only trouble was it is a little more than fifty-kilometres from where I stopped on Saturday. So, it seemed sensible to stop at the Railway Resort another night, tonight, Sunday.

Naturally, I was delighted when Sandie, the manager of the resort offered to sponsor me for that night! Another night of luxury and the pool

Tomorrow, Monday I will walk the thirty-something kilometres to Emerald Springs. I will also have a lighter load as I gave Terry my baggage that I don't need at the moment.

As I close in on Darwin the roadhouses are getting closer to each other and the traffic has picked up a few notches this last couple of weeks. From where I am tonight, I'm 230 kilometres from Darwin, the state capital and my final destination on this continent.

Oceania is the smallest of the worlds seven continents and needless-to-say with just over thirty million inhabitants it's also the most sparcely populated continent.

That Sunday, July 1 was also the Northern Territories state day. Also known as Territory Day, and there were impressive fireworks in the village park and the fun continued with some terrific live music in the Lazy Lizard bar.

Pine Creek with it's population of 300 is the fourth largest community on the Stuart Hjghway between Alice Springs and Darwin, it's 1,500 plus kilometres away.

I asked Terry what the Territory Day is all about and what the state was before. This is his reply:

"Prior to that NT was fully governed from Canberra. Forty years ago got state like government. Australia is a federation of colony states that at 1900 they agreed on having a national government with a constitution that defines Commonwealth and state responsibility. It's a problem that needs to change but too difficult to alter the constitution..."

Prior to that NT was fully governed from Canberra. Forty years ago got state like government. Australia is a federation of colony states that at 1900 they agreed on having a national government with a constitution that defines Commonwealth and state responsibility. It's a problem that needs to change but too difficult to alter the constitution..."

Please remember: Life is precious a d early cancer screening saves lives.