Day 29 Charters Towers Rest Day 0 kms

We love our rest days!! Everyone, except Robbo & Peter, slept in past 6.30 am. Robbo & Peter took off at 4.30 am to watch the sunrise at Tower Hill, they saw lots of rock wallabies at sunrise and then went to McDonalds for breakfast before heading off to the weir. No-one heard them leave so we weren't too sure where they had got to but assumed they were safe & together. They returned later after lunch and Robbo laid down in the middle of the camp kitchen area and slept for an hour & a half. The rest of us went to town to do some shopping and laze around. A few went to breakfast, then the museum and a few of the other attractions.

In the afternoon we spent the day lazing around the pool, swimming, sleeping and catching up on chores. Tonight we had an extraordinary meeting with the riders to discuss the amount of luggage everyone has with them and warned them that we will be weighing their luggage before the next leg and they will have to decide what things they can manage without and send it home or onto their destination. The riders have a limit of 15 kgs for their clothing and their camping gear but because this has not been regulated on any of the previous rides, the riders have increased their amounts and we are not coping with the amounts. The next ride has an increase of riders and we will not be able to fit in any more luggage as things are at the moment. We will be doing a weigh in before the beginning of Cairns ride.

We also discussed the riders concerns of the water shortage over the bush camp. The experienced riders were not concerned at all but the new riders were slightly panicked. We explained that we have never run out of water and we do not expect this to ever happen. Collis is very experienced with amounts required.

Most riders ate at home tonight as the meals in Charters Towers were all pretty ordinary. We had some champagne to celebrate the birth of Georg's first grand daughter last night- her name is Clara and she weighed around 3900 gms.