Holland Track - Day Two

Day Two

We were keen to move, got away about 8am, both slept really well, in 15 minute stints, roll left, sleep, roll right, sleep, you get the picture.

We were on gravel road all day and there were a lot of sandy sections. Getting up the long undulations was a bit tedious at times but we got some good downhill runs. Mind you, towing 56 Kg in the sand at speeds of up to 40 kph got, well, interesting. Took a tumble, my first of many it turned out, in actual fact I became quite adept at exiting left (or right for that matter) landing on my feet and running to a stop, much to Phil's amusement. It required an incredible amount of energy to lift the rig onto its wheels. At the end of the day I had to disconnect the trailer to get myself mobile. This was very sapping in the heat.

We stopped for lunch, now this should have happened at 10am but for one reason or another didn't and at 12pm it was so bloody hot we had no choice. We found some very meager shade and shared it with the 600 million flies, had lunch and lay around until 3pm. The afternoon was tough, we had 11 Km to the start of the track and I tell you it was purgatory, we had a couple of stops enroute and 1300m from camp I seriously though Phil was going to collapse, he was in a bad way. I suggested we camp there and then but he wanted to carry on, which we did. Upon arrival at the camp site I put his tent up and got him to lay down with plenty of water beside him, it was 5 pm and after having a good drink he was out of it until 5am the next morning. I slept and rolled, rolled and slept, you know the story. We covered 52Km today - temp hit 47 C.

Doesn't it look great, a bloody loose sand base is what it is.

As we pulled up for lunch, the wheel fell off Phil's trailer; it obviously needed a break as well.

Phil at our first water hole on Victoria Rock.

Camp 2 with Phil practicing dying.

Map of Day Two's route. (Click for larger view)

Next - Day Three