Up and on the bikes by about 8 am. Christine and Linda headed off, I found that after two weeks of riding my tyres were down at 30 psi (200kPa) so took a few minutes (150 pump strokes per tyre) to get them up to bitumen pressure of 80 psi (550 kPa). C & L were long gone which suited me as I could potter along, having breaks every 15-20 kms to rest my foot.

C & L kindly waited for me at the entrance to the Mowanjum Community about 10 km out of Derby proper. The community was closed to outsiders because of Covid although the inhabitants were happily travelling to and from Derby by taxi and community bus. Linda offered me her last peanut butter sandwich which I couldn’t eat because of the vomiting I get when hot.

The Great Northern Highway is the official end of the Gibb River Road and we took time taking photos of ourselves at the road sign to prove we had made it. From there we headed south on the highway for a kilometre to the famous Derby Prison Tree (a big boab originally sacred to aborigines)

and the nearby 100 yard long stock trough used by drovers to water cattle being driven to the port at Derby.

From there the girls again rode off much faster than I could keep up and I followed the 8 km to the centre of old Derby. We hadn’t booked accommodation in Derby mainly because we didn’t know exactly when we would be getting there. Unfortunately we got there two days before the Derby Rodeo, the biggest event on the Derby annual social calendar. Every hotel and caravan park was booked solid. C & L asked around and found that the Country Womens Association had a hostel (an old fibro house) in the centre of town where we could get a room for two nights. Diana of the Derby CWA was fantastic getting us organised and booked in. Unfortunately the usual station families had booked it for the weekend so our time there was limited.