May 27th: Daly Water to Dunmarra – 51 km
Day 226
Alcohol goes straight to your head when you only have it every once in a while, but we had a short day planned.
Extravagant lunch in the bush
Not much changed over the next 50km and we arrived early at a nice little grassy spot. There we immediately spotted another cyclist. Like the nomads, when you see another cyclist it’s best to stop and trade information and if you’re lucky they came from the direction that you’re going.
Chince, we learned was cycling solo around Australia for about 8 months. We wouldn’t have guessed it if he hadn’t told us that he’s 58 years old. He prefers to sleep in the bush and carries 25 liters of water and a little cooler for fresh fruit and vegetables. Chince is an intense individual and his penetrating stare was a bit intimidating at first. But after we warmed up we found him to be a warm, and exceptionally positive replying to everything I said with “alright big brother,” event though he’s 22 years older.
He warned us about the lack of water ahead, and encouraged us to carry more water than our current 7 liters. We chatted for at least a couple of hours, and although I don’t remember a lot of what we said, he left us upbeat and ready to take on whatever the next long lonely stretches had for us.