Day 46 Yulara

Distance yesterday Curtain Springs to Yulara 85km. Rest day today.

Total distance 3460km. Donations $4616.00. Deserts 3/10. Days remaining 93

Note to new readers: I am travelling with my bike who’s name is Banjo. I often refer to ‘we’ meaning Banjo and I. ‘We’ have an amazing support team of family, friends, sponsors and folk we meet each day. But it’s still up to ‘us’ to face the challenge and tackle each day one peddle at a time.

It’s 750pm on Wednesday the 16 June 2021.

There was 1 bar of reception and I was able to call my partner Dawn to share the moment. It’s one thing to experience a ‘boom’ moment like this but it’s in the sharing that the memory finds a place in my heart that’s imbedded with love.

Welcome to Yulara, the township built around the Ayres Rock Resort on the Red Centre Way.

I had only just arrived yesterday when two familiar faces walked up with miles of smiles and warm welcomes!!!!! It was Claudia and Lothar who I met in Marree and connected so deeply with. They are following our challenge and knew I had arrive in Yulara. I was talking with mum at the time and she loved hearing my squeals of joy and big bear hugs with folk who feel like friends forever. We enjoyed the sunset over Uluru this evening.

Last night Lothar cooked pasta and we all shared an evening of togetherness under the stars. They are staying on at Uluru because of the deep connection and comfort they feel with this land. Lothar lost his father on Friday unexpectedly, and they’re grieving. But Claudia and Lothar are holding their family’s loss with a love that is deeply grounded and beautiful. I am so privileged to share this time and am inspired by their courageous hearts. Their hearts sing openly with the joy of gratitude at a time of loss. Claudia and Lothar’s souls are rooted in nature and they express their loss as a deepening experience closer to love. With solid roots the heart can find strength to be open to all experience, without judgement and grow. It’s a natural law that they live to the full. I recall the impact of Claudias note when I reflected in the Marla post about my day of reckoning on the Oodnadatta track. A heart that’s open is connected to an ocean of strength that’s limitless. This energy is so tangible. I feel closer to that place of ‘digging deeper’ through our connection. The timing is uncanny knowing there will be many more days of reckoning when I take on the Great Central Road from Yulara to Laverton on Friday 18 June 2021. I have allowed 15 days for the 1108km.

Yesterday morning started early with a radio interview on the ABC breakfast show in Brisbane.

Check out the interview Here

This is my second interview with Craig and Loretta and am so grateful for the opportunity to promote the cause and help Beyond Blue. Donation were boosted with the coverage.

I enjoyed breakfast with Deb and Tony in Curtain Springs before finally getting underway on the road to Yulara. Deb sent an image from their walk round Kata Tjuka today.

It was 85km of slow gradient incline into a south westerly headwind. The central plateau of Australia has an elevation of around 600 metres. Uluru/Ayers Rock rises 1,142 feet (348 metres) above the surrounding desert plain and reaches a height 2,831 feet (863 metres) above sea level. It was a hard ride.

I took lots of breaks to break up the push and appreciate some of mother nature’s ‘little things big’

Finally all the hard work was rewarded with unbroken views out over Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). Yay!!!!

So the next couple of days I’m taking my time to rest and reset for stage 5. Today I was able to pick up my postal pack from the post office, talk to the local police and info centre about the track and clean and repack Banjo. He’s shiny and excited and we will finish our preparations tomorrow to be ready, set, go for Friday.

I can’t finish tonight’s post without acknowledging the loss of Nigel Harris from Canberra.

Nigel and his brother-in-law, Peter from Canberra, are the gentlemen who rescued Banjo and I when we had tyre problems on the Birdsville Track. It was Nigels compressor extension that did the trick and he sent us safe on our travels with fresh pineapple pieces and muslei bars. I remember him saying ‘helping you has made our day too.’ My heart is with his family.