Email from Nikki at 06h58 SA (14h58 Oz)
Yip, the suspense is really getting to me now. I just can’t seem to sit still. Blackheart’s tracker has not been working for a while so no-one
actually knows how far they are from the finish. Orion are really bummed about having to pull so close to the end… but then that is adventure racing and if you don’t look after yourself, you are going to break!
Alpineepic have also bailed. But, to be honest, I am amazed their guy carried on from Mulligan because the infection in his feet was severe. so good on him for actually trying!
The news from one of the photographers who I got a lift with from Mulligan was that when he last saw McCain at around 8am they were flying and in good spirits. They have consistantly been about an hour ahead of Merrell. Man, I just hope that they can maintain that! They have all just been so awesome! i get quite teary when I think about what they have been through the past 7 days. words cannot describe it.
Australia is definitely not a place for sissies! I have seen some insanely big snakes about! The landscape has been incredible and I am lucky to have been able to see a huge amount of the course! Everyone is so friendly and this just adds to the whole vibe! Some of the teams have just been incredible. Team Scar, a four-man team, are just the friendliest bunch of guys and so appreciative; always saying thank you!
Now that I have a bit of a chance I can fill in some of the gaps of what I have been up to!
I went to the start at Dunk Island on a really strange looking rubber duck called ‘Three Legs’. It has three wheels that get lowered as they near the beach and then they drive up the beach so that no-one has to get wet! Insane! It was a very chilled start and we got to swim in the beautiful tropical waters and go for a bit of a wander around the island.
Once we got back, Liz (the lady who I was teamed up with) and I drove on to Tulley Gorge. Man, that place is stunning. Also saw an absolutely enormous snake on the way as well as heaps of cassawaries (think that is how you spell it!). We got to the start of the rafting in the dark. It was pretty hard to get any sleep with the raging sound of water. And between that and teams arriving right through the night, only managed to get about 1.5hrs!
The rafting started a bit late due to the overcast conditions and the light being bad. I got to go on the last raft with Team Goldfish as they send two at a time for safety. Geoff Hunt, Elo and a couple of the other volunteers also went… WOW it was amazing! Pretty hairy at times especially through one particular rock garden where you were guided through by ropes. But an incredible experience and probably the highlight!
From there we drove to Ravenshoe, which is on the table lands. Lovely little town. This is where the teams came in after having crawl through all that stinging tree. The night was insane and I can honestly say that dealing with all those poor teams that got nailed was harder than having to deal with all the emotional and physical stuff of having a baby whilst hanno was at Bull! When they were treating Tatum, I had to leave because I just could not watch. How she didn’t pass out I don’t know. She is one tough cookie! Probably around 1 in 3 competitors passed out when putting on the hydrochloric acid treatment, only to wake up and pass out again when getting waxed, but it worked!
This treatment was only discovered in March. The alternative is to have to deal with intense pain and discomfort for a couple of months after getting hit!
We worked pretty much non-stop till around 4am. I eventually fell into my sleeping bag at about 04h30 only to have to go back onto duty at 6! I managed to get a bit of shuteye on the way to Dimbula though! This is where I left Liz and the next day at sparrows drove to Chillagoe. Don’t blink too long because you really will miss this town – can I actually call it a town?
Anyway, here we went off road – rather interesting in a truck, but we eventually made it to the river, where we got properly stuck! After about an hour of deflating tyres, digging out the axels and a lot of pushing we eventually got it out! The camp site and TA was stunning! Located in part of the Walsh River river bed, it was a great place to spend two days! It took me some time to get used to swimming in a creek with crocs, but i was assured they were only small ones and not really aggressive…. but I am sorry, a croc is a croc! Luckily the water was shallow and very clear. but I just could not get my head around seeing them all scuttle up the banks when we dived in! Hanno had one climb up his leg at one of the portages… eeerrrrrhhh!
Got a bit of sleep at midday and then only had about 2hrs that night. But it was amazing lying under the stars listening to all the night sounds especially the funny purring noise that the baby crocs made!
Can’t remember which day the next day was – they are all just a blur! But I left nine-mile with two photographers on what was to be the most hair-raising drive I have ever experienced. Man, my knuckles still have not returned to their normal colour! Muzza, who was driving was actually a really good driver, but I still crapped myself! We got to Mulligan as the sun was setting – stunning place. The station/farm is a million hectares with an incredible mountain in the middle of it with some insane climbing. The vegetation is similar in a way to Mpumalanga. The nav for the teams was really hard, very often with no landmarks visible. This was a very hard stage. The team were shattered when they evenutally arrived at around 2am.
The hike, which was meant to be 20 hrs max, turned into a very hard 35hrs! I don’t know who was the most broken! Poor Iain fell asleep whilst spooning some spaghetti into his mouth. They were cold and wet and I had a really hard time trying to sleep after they arrived knowing that they were really hungry, wet and cold! Tweet woke me at around 5am looking for Hanno. Eventually we found him amongst a whole bunch of farm equipment in the shed next door! I guess he felt right at home there!
They were in remarkebly better spirits when they woke up and set off on the bike. I opted to go to Lake Tinaroo with another set of photographers, much less stressfull! It is a lovely big lake to the west of Cairns. I had a nice swim and felt alot better once I was a little cleaner! It has been really hot with no chance of a shower anywhere! After Blackheart and Orion checked in I went for a run to see if I could see the team and met them on my way back, which was a luck.
I arrived back in Cairns late last night and spent the night with my cousin. This morning i have spent getting our guest house ready for the guys and also arranging a birthday cake for Tats as well as stocking up with food. Going to make them a nice seafood paella for after their sleep!
Anyway, that is all for now. Will send some more news when I have some!
Nikki