Movie Stage II

Rule of thumb - start slow and you'll be better at the end. Especially when new biomedical skill, a different type of transport is just introduced - give the body time to adapt, let it used to it.
        
After recharging my mental batteries in Humalin Pool, I assembled my baby stroller, but this time instead of my son, I put all my equipment into it. I rolled the machine onto the bitumen. The plan for today is 33km to the Overlander Roadhouse, where I will spend the night.

I started jogging, pushing the cart in front of me, more and more confident, faster and faster. After a whil the car passing me turned back and the passenger hands me over money through the window. Surprised, I refused and politely explained that I was not homeless.
I wanted to do the running part right at the beginning of the expedition, as long as my legs are used to such an effort. For this reason, before leaving Sydney, I ran over 100 km a week so that the body would not be shocked by the increased training volume.

Already at lunchtime I ran to the roadhouse. After the meal I checked the campsite - it would make virtually no difference if I slept in the wild, and tomorrow it is going to rain. So I broke the rule of "let's not force the first day" and moved on, running, then walking, for the next five hours.

The next day I got wet, but having extra mileage from the day before, I was able to push another whole day to reach Wooramel Retreats by nightfall. There were only prons waiting for me over there: the owner did not charge me for the night; I had the company of other travelers; bathing in artesian pools with warm water containing iron and magnesium (which was very soothing to my aching muscles); most of all, however, I had a roof over my head, because a powerful storm was raging at night. So big that in the morning there was a lake instead of the campsite.

I waited when one downpour occurred after another one and it went on for hours, so I was warming myself up in the artesian wells until finally I decided to move on - admittedly, the gravel road now turned into a river-swamp, and the main national road was flooded every few kilometers - fortunately only to the height of my calves. I rushed as fast as possible, hiding under a parking picnic roof for the night.

I was in shock following morning - no truck passed me for more than three hours, which proves that the road was closed. So I was walking in the middle of the national main road, enjoying the moment. After 1 p.m. in the heat over 30 degrees, I had to take break hiding in the shadow of the pram. At the end of the day, I wanted to pitch a tent, but suddenly I felt that I was walking in the water - in the dark I did not notice that the road was flooded. So I stretched in soaked shoes as far as I could, from exhaustion already more walking than running, only to cross as many floodways as possible, because the water level may rise and the roads could be closed later again. In that way I covered 66 km (including 36 running), being on the move from 6 am to 8:30 pm

This time my intuition did not disappoint me and the decision to push hard at the beginning of the stage paid off. The body withstood the load, and thanks to this I spent the rainy nights protected and managed to escape the roads closure. At Carnarvon I had a day off, I deserved it! I was hosted by top-class globetrotters, so I had a lot of stories to listen to.

If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans. When I finally got to the Doorawarrah farm everything was fine - the wheelbarrow I had sent earlier was already there, and the owners and ranch staff were pretty nice. For the first time in two weeks I slept in a bed, I was well fed, Dave additionally helped to improve the construction of the wheelbarrow, but one problem remained - the river. It was flowing, though it shouldn't have been. If I had been there 5 days earlier, or two weeks later, I could have walked over to the other side with a dry foot. Dave even remembers the times when there was no water in the riverbed for 29 months, but the cyclone messed up and today we have over 100m wide river in April. Unfortunately, there is no boat to cross, so I had to change my plans - I ran further to the first bridge, 95km east in 37 degrees heat (I drank 8l of water that day) and Dave brought I my wheelbarrow there two days later. It's a pity, because in this way I lost the opportunity to stand on top of the phenomenal Kennedy Range cliffs - but you can't beat the nature.

  As usual I encounter wild animals. Apart from kangaroos, it was time for goats, cows, snakes, emus, eagles, foxes, and recently I encountered a beautiful endemic lizard called thorny devil, which I saw alive for the first time in my life. The photo session was inevitable.

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