The last day into Tennant Creek
At 04:10 my watch has failed to go off, and I'm dozing on blissfully unaware that I'm late, when a bang on the door and "Get up you two" is shouted unceremoniously. Luckily Scrivs watch is working properly and he is up and pulling on his lycras. Without wasting any time we pack up, and hurry down a cereal breakfast, making ready to leave. Thinking that our door is unlocked I pull it shut to stop flies swarming in. Unbeknown to me the latch is on, and it clunks firmly shut - not to be reopened. Unfortunately Andrew's hat and sunnies are still inside. At just after 4 am we don't really want to get a spare key, and yet neither do we want to wait until the staff get up. We push a note under the door and ask if the cleaner will pass on our belongings to a southbound traveler in the morning.

We ride out into the last hour of darkness. Cool refreshing air makes a pleasant change from the daytime heat, and we move along easily. Light shades of purple begin to brighten the edges of the sky. These in turn give way to dark blue and then the first shades of warm orange strike up from the horizon. We are surrounded by a stunning panorama. The sunrise radiates thru almost a full 180 degrees, and the sky is a wonderful kaleidoscope of rapidly blending and changing colours. Almost unnoticed the night has covertly become day, and we now find ourselves riding on into the morning. We manage our first 100 k's in record time this morning. At 10:30 we have just 60 more to ride, and we're feeling pretty pleased with our progress.

As we reach Threeways Junction we congratulate each other on a job well done. Just 25 k's until Christmas, and here we are at our first Australian milestone - the joining of the Barkly Highway and the Stuart. It is here that we shall be heading Eastwards on the night of Boxing Day. After our drink and greasy lunch stop we ride past the left turn and glance down it. Impossible to get any kind of idea of what lies ahead down that road - but we know whatever is there is going to be tough. Legendary in Australian motoring as a road that most people won't even drive down, it extends for some 640 km with just a single village, one cattle station, one remote Police Station, and The Barkly Roadhouse itself. For us it marks our last serious physical hurdle before the East Coast, and for that matter before Sydney. As we have been informed over the last few days, The Georgina River just before Camooweal is under a metre of water. A yellow information board tells us that the road is closed. Will we take this route or will we head south. We have just 2 days to make our decision. The lines of streetlights, shop fronts and bottle-shops and parked cars tell us that we have reached Tenant Creek. The gold mining town - Australia's Golden Heart welcomes us in. We shall spend Christmas here - just 2 days off the bikes before we head out again on Boxing Day.