Clermont to Charters Towers part 2

Continuing on with our journey from Clermont to Charters Towers ...

So it was a pretty warm night on night 2 and since it was a cool night we found that the ants weren't around at brekky.  We woke a little later this morning (we overslept) and had brekky in the dark to start until the sun came up.  There was only one other unpowered camper and that was an elderly couple in a camper van.  While we were leaving the man came over to chat to us and Neil recognised him as Tim Bowden a retired ABC presenter.  I didn't recognise the name but the voice and face looked vaguely familiar.  So he was very interested in us and took photo of us and Kouta.  I wanted to take a photo of him but Neil and I were a bit shy to ask.  So we didn't leave until 7.30.  It was a cloudy morning at the start and we hoped it would stay for the day but by 9am it was a completely cloudless day and the sun came out and was hot again.

At our first break we came across this sign ... we were over half way!!!

 We continued on and it was an easterly wind so it was blowing across us.  It is a very dry area and there is no grass anywhere even the trees looked like they were struggling ...

 We came across some people working on the road and Neil was happy to chat to them as was the guy holding the stop and go sign.  He couldn't believe we were on bikes and we find out later in the day that there is a Belgium guy with an artifical lower leg one day behind us and also a couple on a Tandem behind him and another woman with them .... not sure how far behind they are behind us but definitely somewhere between Clermont and Charters Towers.
At one of our breaks we pulled over alongside the road and we saw some emus and a few kangaroos and they all took off but these 3 emus were very interested in us and made there way back ...

 By the 87km mark we had passed the Cape River crossing and were at the Rest area.  It has a toiled, table with shade and water (which is not potable).  Neil loved the area even though the parking area for vans was small but we were the only ones there so we decided to have a cuppa first.  While having our cuppa a couple turns up and they park up so we think that maybe we should try and claim our spot so Neil puts his bike in our spot, then another caravan came and they park their car right next to Neils bike so we decide before anyone else turns up we should claim another spot ... so this is where we pitched our tent ...

 LOL no chance of someone taking that spot!!!  It was parked there when we got there and it was the only spot left that gave any shade.  By staying here it meant that our last day was going to be a big day but Neil liked it here because of the big shade over the table ...

 So I personally would have liked to have continued to make the last day a little smaller .... 110km is a big day.  So I give in and we stay.   Lets just say this is Neils last decision he will make where we stop!!!  This maybe a rest area but it is also a truck stop and I said that the trucks could be a little noisy during the night but Neil seem to think that it would be okay.  Well we woke just after midnight with the sound of 2 trucks with their air conditioning units on their trailers roaring away.  One leaves but one stays until about 5am .... so we got very little sleep.
Since we were awake we got up and had brekky and managed to get away at 6.40am ... the earliest ever!!!
It was a cool morning and nice to be on the road with no one else.  Since the traffic was still asleep we could ride anywhere on the road so we choose all the smooth spots and some of the smooth spots were on the opposite side of the road!!!  I noticed that there were alot of fermenting dead carcasses on the road and the smell was putrid sometimes although there were alot of kites around enjoying their feast alongside the roadside ...

 No wind for the first few hours since the wind doesn't start until around 9-10am.  It is very flat the ride which means if this keeps up the butt will definitely become sore ... the ideal day would be to have a little bit of climbing so the down hill gives you a little reprieve to get out of the saddle but alas this flat road continued for most of the day ... it wasn't until the 80km mark that the road became rolling.  Lucky because by then at 80km I was beginning to become sore and thinking that I might not make the final 30km in a good mood!
We had a cuppa at 80km and Neil finds all sorts of things along the roadside and some things I agree and we should take but I draw the line at this ...

 a damn big wrench that weighs at least 3kg.
Since we only have 30km to go we break it into 2 15km sections.  The road swings more north east so the wind is a little bit of a head wind.  The leg muscles are good and feel they will make it.  Lucky it is a little rolling as I get to get out of the saddle a bit.
I was happy to see this sign ...

 nearly there!  It is hot and as we got closer to Charters the traffic picked up and I could feel the bakery mark downs were within reach!  We get to the caravan park and it is only $18 for us as we are Top Tourist members so camping is cheap.  We have a nice spot amongst the trees ...

It is lovely to have a hot shower and when I come back Neil goes off to Woolies and comes back happy as larry ... everything he got was a markdown - yoghurt, chicken, fruit turkish bread,  a fantastic chocolate pull apart bread (which was my favourite), orange juice (which went down a treat as I was sick of water!) and blade steak meat for Kouta.
We are here until for 3 nights and will leave Sunday morning.

Clermont to Charters Towers

Clermont to Charters Towers = 374km (day 1=105km, day 2=72km, day 3=87km and day 4=110km)
Cummlative totals = 3180km and 23,181km

We get up at just after 5am and it is really dark!  Just as well with the long walk to the toilets and kitchen and we still left at 7am.  There is a shoulder on the road all the way to Blair Athol and then the shoulder either doesn't exist or narrows ... but that doesn't matter as there is considerably less traffic after the bulk of the mines.
We did come across a wide load with a police escort just out of Clermont and I think they may have bungled it a bit with us as they didn't quite get to us before a bridge that was at least 100m long and we all know with bridges that they are narrower compared to the road and also they have no shoulder so there is no where for us to pull over ... just at the end of the bridge the first police car mutters something to us and by now it is safe and there is room for us to pull over off the shoulder as the wide load comes                          

We are using an older map for this leg of the trip and funny enough they have moved the Mackay turnoff, on our old map it is 10km out of Clermont ....now it is about 17km out of Clermont!!!  We did come across this conveyor belt on our side of the road and it started just before the turnoff to Mackay and goes to Blair Athol Mine we think and it is transporting the coal down to the intersection, under the highway and to the railway connections not far from the Mackay intersection.

So we are merrily riding along and the traffic is not too bad and Neil has decided to count the amount of vans and caravans going in the same direction as us.  The road is pretty good and the traffic is light.  This is a long stretch of road with nothing much in between so we expect traffic to be in the morning and very sporadic for the rest of the day.  It is rolling for the first 65km, not hard hills, but enough to remind you that you are carrying alot of extra gear.  Once past 65km it becomes relatively flat for the next 40km.  We calculated that between us we have around 27 litres of water!  It is hot at the moment so we are carrying extra as we expect to be guzzling it down!  Along the way we came across this upturned car on a very straight stretch of road 

Looking at its' tracks off the road we think that the driver fell asleep.  I am no car accident expert but there is a nice curve of the road to the upturned car.  I am assuming if it swerved to avoid hitting something then it would have a more wiggly curve off the road!

We have our first coffee break at 45km then a bread break at 70km and a cup of tea at 90km at a truck stop that was full of rubbish so we went to the end and perched on an embankment where there was shade

While there a very long road train came and parked on the other side of the road ... I haven't seen one with 4 trailers (I have seen petrol ones with 4 trailers years ago) 

It is hot now but the legs feel okay, we have a slight cross tailwind that pushes us along so we continue on to hit the 100km mark and then we will start looking for a bush camp.  We find one at 105km and it is a track that has been bulldozed to clear bush under a power line.  Both sides of the road are fenced but there is so little traffic that it doesn't matter if we are close to the road.

But this spot is behind some low lying shrubs and we can get our pegs in the ground

It is a little on the dusty side and we are covered in red dust ... even kouta is ... Mum and Sharon you would hate this spot ... no sooner was I washed that my feet were covered in red dust again and Kouta was walking in and out of the tent so all our bedding and floor has little red paw prints everywhere.

Dinner is hokkien noodles, Heinz Spicy Pumpkin soup and dehydrated peas

easy to cook and minimal water used.

Tonights sunset was lovely.

Day 2 saw us getting up at 5.30am with a cool morning.  the night was warm but we both slept okay.
We had a little visitor this morning ... an echidna but I was too slow with the camera and it was walking to fast across the campsite.  But Kouta loved it and wanted to go and visit it when it entered the long grass and that dog refused to listen to us and Neil and I are both yelling and growling at the deaf mutt to get out of the grass and stop hunting for the echidna as if he found it and tried to take it on Kouta will come off second best and all we needed was a deaf mutt with thorns coming out of him in the middle of no where!!!  An Echidna is an oversized hedgehog (for the kiwis!)
We get away at 7am and the road is very quiet with not much traffic this early.  The wind is blowing (it has been blowing all night) and was blowing from the east and followed the progression of the sun so that what started as a crosswind became a cross headwind by 9am.  Lucky we did the extra kms yesterday!  The road is still flat for the next 40km so the butt is beginning to feel it as there is no free wheeling!
Not too many caravans today compared to yesterday.  Neil counted 41 caravans going in the same direction as us day one and today only about 20 by the time we got to Belyando Crossing at 12.30ish.  We are hot, sore and dusty.  We have only travelled 72km today but the legs feel good just the butt is not fairing up!
The roadhouse charges to use the toilets - $2 if no purchase or free if you purchase something from the shop.
We take unpowered and try to set up a spot that is ant free ... they are everywhere and really where they put the unpowered is just a dust bowl with very little shade and more ants than dust particles!  I get fed up with trying to find an ant free site, I am hot and angry and Neil is keeping his distance.  I am stewing as there is no shade, hard ground and f#%ken ants!!!  We set up a spot regardless of the ants and I decide to keep the food on the bike trailer.  To make matters worse the showers are cold and apparently there is a problem with the hot water service!  Really I am thinking we should have paid the $15 filled up with drinking water and continued on up the road!

We were suppose to have a rest day here but we decided to move on tomorrow as even Kouta can't settle as the ants are annoying him and it is hot for him.

Look Mum I have my feet on the table as even I can't get away from the ants that crawl all over your feet while they are on the ground

The night was extremely hot and even Kouta didn't sleep that well due to the heat.  It didn't cool down until well after midnight.

I will continue tomorrow with day 3 & 4 ...

no reception this week!

Hi all, just letting you know the leg from Clermont to Charters Towers is about 390km long and it is along the Gregory Development hwy and there is no internet reception out there.  I will blog at Charters Towers on Friday night or Saturday.  See you all then!

Capella to Clermont

 Capella to Clermont = 57km
Cummulative totals =2806km and 22,807km
Clermont Caravan park = $23 unpowered

It was another hot day today - in the high 20's or early 30's.  We only had 50 odd kms to do today but we still left early to beat the heat.
We walked Kouta last night around part of Capella and it has alot of new accomodation for the mining, so it has sort of donga style accomodation with meals included.  Now last night most of these were empty.  It would have to be close to 500 accomodation units available as there are heaps of corrugated pop up type motels that look very tasteful and nice on the outside but most of them are empty.  We are assuming the mining has finished in this area for the moment.  These accomodations look relatively new (in the past few years) so you would hope that whoever built them made a quick buck and can still carry all this empty accomodation until the next mining boom.
The road to Clermont is relatively flat, a little bit rolling but no real dramas.  Lots of fields here of Sorghum and maybe other crop that has recently been harvest.  We did come across this not so healthy sorghum field and it was full of these birds, I think they are Brolgas.  At first they kept flying off whenever I tried to get close to them along the road.  so I stopped and told Neil to continue so I could get a photo of them flying off ...

The traffic is pretty light along here and if it wasn't for the carnival folk leaving Capella and making their way to Clermont then you could say therre would be next to no traffic along here!  Eventually the caravaners started to come through and a few trucks.
We did see the Peak Down Rangers a bit until they disappeared on us and I managed to get this photo - although it is not great quality as it is taken facing the sun...

We get to Clermont around 11.30am and find the IGA closes at 4pm and isn't open tomorrow so we set up tent and have something to eat and I go off to shop for food for the next week!
1 and 1/2 hours later I finally return ... Neil was getting worried and thought something had happened to me ... I was touched by his thoughtfulness and then he informs me he needs to go to take a dump and was happy that I am back!!!
So loaded up with food and in the end I got myself all mixed up with dinners and the number of brekkies I am buying that Neil makes me sit down and I draw up a table to check list items off to make sure I have enough brekkies, lunches and dinners.  I forgot we will buy one dinner at Belyando Crossing and this mucked up the amount of brekkies I have so I am short 2 pieces of fruit and a third packed of wraps.
The campground is big, the unpowered section is a massive area at the end of the park with very little trees for shade but we are early enough and select a spot that will give us shade from 11am onwards tomorrow.  We are about 200m from the toilets and 150m from the camp kitchen!  It doesn't matter we need the exercise!  The only other place to camp is next to the main camp kitchen which is in amongst all the caravaners and it has happy hour each night ... no thanks!  I am happy to be miles away from anyone so that Kouta can roam .... here is our spot ...

and another view looking back towards the main part of the camp ground.

Tomorrow is a rest day and the campground is pretty full.  Apparently alot are here for the gold prospecting.  I will post tomorrow with some photos of the mural on a train.

Emerald to Capella

 Emerald to Capella = 54km
Cummulative totals = 2749km and 22,750km
Capella Van park = $25 powered

Today was probably one of those days where every little thing that could go wrong ... does go wrong ... nothing big just small things.  Firstly I have a small ant invasion going on in one of the food bags ... they were after Neils honey, so that put me behind on Brekky, Neil had the coffee and toast done and I had barely got anything out of the bags for brekky instead I had everything out and on the table looking for ants.  So brekky was a little delayed.
Secondly, just about to leave and Neil notices my back tyre is a little flat (considering I pumped up all the tyres yesterday that shouldn't be!) so we unloaded my bike and replaced the tube as it is perishing rather than an actual puncture.  So that put us about 20mins behind our departure time.
When we finally did depart it was difficult getting across the road ... it wasn't busy just one way was clear but the other wasn't and there was no where to sit in the middle of the road .... so we had to wait longer than we have every had to wait to cross a busy road!
We get to the end of the road to join up with the Gregory Highway and we can't turn right onto it, we can only turn left so we had to turn left and cross at a set of lights.
So by now I thinking crikey it is always the little things that drive ya nuts!
Finally we are out of here and on the road.  It is a very warm day with a very slight head cross wind but we are going along okay.  We are sucking back the water as it is hot.  The going is pretty flat but not all that scenic.  You catch the odd glimpse of some peaks in the distance and I just assume they are coal slag heaps (I find out later it actually is a genuine mountain range!!!)
So we stop for a pit stop and there is no town between here and Capella and also no rest stops, so we pull over at some parking bay on the other side of the road and I need to go to the toilet.  Now sometimes I get a realy bee in my bonnet over being a girl and having to hide behind a damn bush and squatting where Neil just whips it out anywhere and anytime, where as my toilet stops are alway a major drama - I have to look for shrubs and cover to hide behind so no one from either direction can see me, then I have also consider digging a wee small hole (I detest leaving my toilet paper out in the open) so if the ground is hard I have dig hard, so here I am with my toilet paper in one hand and Koutas poopa scoopa in the other to dig my hole I cross the busy highway and everyone is looking knowing exactly what I am going to do .... really it is the little things today!!!
But wait I haven't finished!  yesterday Neil worked on my brakes and today my front brakes aren't really working .... in fact I am doing a bit of a Fred Flinstone thing with my brakes and using my feet more than my wheel brakes so we have to pull over and Neil works on them.  It only takes about 10mins to fix.  Sort of better now so I will give them a few days as they are new pads and they just need the shine taken off them to work more efficiently.
In between all these little things I managed to get a nice picture of some of the peaks I have been seeing ....

 Now in a few blog posts back I was complaining that Australia doesn't provide any lookout points when it comes to photos of scenic views ... well they must have read the blog and gone out and created this spot just for me ...
about 4km out from Capella is a scenic lookout for what I mistook for coal slag heaps as the Peak Down Ranges ... it is difficult to get the whole range in (I don't have that sort of camera!) but the plaque named each peak ...

 It was difficult to get the peaks in as the trees were in the way at this scenic spot so I continued on and just further down the road there was a much better spot with no big tees in the way ...

 so there was a little positive thing for today.
We get to Capella and everything is closed as it is their Showday today and tomorrow so it is a public holiday.  We are riding along and even the small general store is closed so we get to the van park thinking all we have for tea is some of Koutas mince and mushroom soup with lots of bread!!!  Crikey I think what next ... well we knew this park was $25 for unpowered but since Geelong are playing tonight we thought what the heck lets just get powered for an extra $3 ... well was I suprised that he gave us our powered site for the unpowered rate of $25 and it is a good one, he considered that we won't have an airconditioner so he put us in a drive thru site that has a shaded annexe and grass on the other side of it ...

 normally a van would park to the left of the shaded annexe and when we arrived that was in sun so we pitched on the other side on the grass and had sun for about 15mins and then we were in shade for the rest of the afternoon ... I was just so happy that finally and wee small positive had happened today ... it is the little things really!
Here is Neil enjoying the shade while all the tablets, batteries etc are charging up!

It is a nicely kept park, has a basic kitchen of bbq and fridge .  The amenities are spotless and the grounds are well kept.  It isn't crowded but a few vans have turned up.
Tomorrow is Clermont.

Blackwater to Emerald

Blackwater to Emerald = 78km

Cummulative totals = 2695km and 22,696km

Emerald Cabin and Caravan park = $27 unpowered

Today is Neils birthday and he has to ride!  There was no special birthday brekky just the usual weetbix, yoghurt, banana, dried fruit and nuts and bread with honey!  It was a cooler night last night and this morning we woke to a bright clear day ... the past 3 days has been very cloudy and overcast.

As we were packing up and leaving we noticed these 2 locals watching us and probably wonder just who we are and what we are doing there!

They bounded off as soon as we tried to pass them.  The breeze is very light today and is blowing from the south east direction so it is coming across the shoulders.  We noticed that there was a marked decrease in the amount of traffic today ... especially trucks and mining vehicles.  We sort of noticed it after Dingo as the trucks turn off there to go to the Middlemount and Dysart mines but today it was really obvious just the odd truck and wide vehicle every now and then.  There was therefore an increase in 'normal' colour car traffic - no white utes with black and yellow numbers!

Just as well there was no heavy traffic as our shoulder turned into a very narrow strip that need tending to with a lawn mower!  we also noticed the the road condition wasn't as great as it was at the start of this highway ... maybe because we are running out of mines along this way and instead north and south of us have better roads as that is where the mines are!

since it is not cloudy the sun is shining and it is really hot today - 28 degrees is Emeralds high.  You can really feel it riding along, fortunately I sweat so there is a bit of a breeze for me but I think Neil really felt it as he is not a sweater!

So amongst all his birthday texts we did a little riding ... Jude your second one came through while we were going through roadworks and Neil was going to stop and read it and I trying to tell him that he can't stop and read it as the oncoming traffic has been stopped for the traffic in our direction going through ... I don't think they would appreciate having to wait for you even if it is your birthday !!!  I don't think they waited for us anyway as we take too long to get through and they always let the cars go through while we are still coming through!

So it was a long days ride, relatively flattish and with a slight tailwind we made good time and got here just on 2pm ... this is the face of a 55 year old man who has just ridden 80km ...

and this is the face of a man cutting his birthday cake!!!

and tonights dinner of pizza from Dominos was delicious and we polished of 2 between the 3 of us ... we think we could have eaten a third pizza!

Tomorrow is a rest day here at Emerald.  This park is chokkas and there are even vans and the like at the free camping down by the river ... but that fills up before the van parks fill up as it is right on the edge of town!

Just as we were coming into Emerald from Rockhampton they have built a brand new shopping center called Central Highlands and it has a woolies and big W as well as other retail shops.  But that is about 3km back from us and the Coles is just up the road so that is where we will get our supplies from tomorrow.  No pancake brekky for Neil tomorrow as the bbq is $1.  Out of principle I refuse to pay for the bbq when the cost of camping is so high!  They do have a hot plate and microwave so I will try to make Neil a cake tomorrow.

Duaringa to Blackwater

Duaringa to Blackwater = 93km
Cummulative totals = 2617km and 22,618km
Blackwater showgrounds = free!

It has been a long day and we are so lucky! more on that later.  First a photo of the campspot we had last night at Duaringa...

 It was a full spot last night!
We had a good nights sleep and even the bats that left their trees at Dusk didn't wake us during the night.  It was quite spectacular watching them leave (how they don't bang into each other I don't know!)  But they weren't like the ones are Mary River Roadhouse dad ... they were very quiet indeed and even when they returned in the  morning they were very quiet.  We did watch them come back in this morning as we were up.  I wanted to get an early start as it was going to be a long days ride.
We left around 7am and you go down a quick hill and then what I call a never ending hill!  It just went on and on and on.  It was an easy gradient but you knew you were climbing as you couldn't get into the higher gears!  The trade winds which are with us didn't whip up until 8.30am and even then they were light but at least it is with us and not against us!
We get to Dingo 36km on and in good time so we have a cuppa and Neil makes himself at home at the local tennis club ...

 All along the way you get glimpses of this massive tableland but the roadside is lined with trees so it is hard to stop and get a good photo of the Blackdown Tablelands National Park.  They look impressive, a bit like the Grampians in Victoria.  Just on from Dingo I found a clearing with no trees and managed to get this photo ...

 Not the greatest but I was hoping that later on as we get closer to the end of the range that I might get a better view ... yeah right more on that later!
So the terrain is very up and down.  Not steep or hard just no flat ground, you are either going up an incline or going down one so there is no real cycling rhthym.
Between Dingo and Bluff there is massive railway work underway first to put in a 2nd line and then electrifying it, it was already electrified the first line but they seem to have upgraded it.  Although the coal trains running now are still on Diesel but once the 2nd line is up and going they will run the trains on electricity.  And boy will that be a busy line.
We get to a place called Bluff which is 20km before Blackwater or 65km from Duaringa.  This place is nothing but trains and while we were there there were 3 full coal trains ready to go but can't because there is only 1 line for the next 30km they have to wait for the empty train that is coming from the Rockhampton direction before it can go!  I am pretty tired by the time we get here so we take a sandwich break.  At the park there I notice there are heaps of blue monarch butterflies in the trees so I try to sneak up on them and get a photo but they keep fluttering away but they soon resettle ...

 So hoping the terrain is a little less rolling and flattens out so we can take advantage of the tailwind we set off on the last 20km.  No previously I said that I was hoping to get a better shot of the beautiful Blackdown Tablelands ... well boy to I have a whinge today about scenic shots!  One thing that I have noticed while cycling in Australia is the real lack of spots along the road that highlight scenery shots ... in fact it is non existent here in Australia ... I remember commenting to Neil about this while in South Australia - we would get to the top of a hill or range with a fantastic view but there is was no where to pull over and take a photo ... tourists on motorised wheels would also love this too!  There is a distinct lack of enthusiasm by the tourist board here in Australia to fully promote the beauty of the Australian scenery by having small pull over spots where there is a lovely scenery shot to be taken ... instead they put a massive power substation and a railway line to boot in front of the only spot along this highway with a sensational view of the 2 peaks together ...

 at least the second peak sort of has a tree frame around it ... it is a shame about  the massive power pole in the middle of it!

 this one is a good one but unfortunately the sky line is crissed crossed with power lines which I could crop out but now the  photo is very unbalanced!

 So now the terrain has flattened out a bit and about 10km out you come across a facility that is loading up the trains with coal.

 I am super excited as I love this sort of stuff and watching it.  As we get closer you can see the train is being filled up ...

 so Coal is being dumped on the right side of the highway and it is being fed by 3 mines to the north ...

 just as I pass the massive pile I am fortunate enough to catch one of the many trucks that transport the coal from the mine to this dump site ...it has 3 trailers and they are being rotated to dump them ...

 no the truck is not tipping over, each of the 3 trailers revolves to off load the coal.  It is then pushed by a massive dozer onto the conveyer belt which goes across the highway to a funnel which fills up each trailer on the train ...

 lucky we are on bikes and we can pull over to watch all this .... there is no where to pull over if you are in a car!
It is another 5km to Blackwater and it is a gentle down hill towards the township.  From the top of the hill you can see the water tower in the distance and you can tell it is a mining town as when you enter the town there is nothing but new low rise accomodation all with 'no vancancy' signs outside them!  Our park is on the other side of the town and down the hill ... it is full! we sort of guessed that this might happen so we went back to the information center and the 2 ladies in there were useless and were of no help ... for some strange reason they couldn't understand why we didn't have an escort car with our bicycles!  So we went to the council building to see if they allowed camping at the showgrounds.  Neil went in and turned on his charm and came out with a map of the town with the showgrounds highlighted!  They realise that there is no where for tourists to stay here in Blackwater and they are opening up the showgrounds in a few weeks.
So we go to the supermarket and then back to the Showgrounds which is really just the rodeo and speedway.  There is a piece of land between the two and that is where the toilet block is so we pitched our tent there.  We do, however, have a view of the Blackdown Tablelands!

I was just saying to Sharon on Skype that poor Neil - some people go away for their birthdays and wake up on their birthdays in beautiful exotic places with a beach view on one side and the mountain view on the other .... Neils view will be a few 10 gallon tanks on one and the toilet block on the other!!!
This is our 3rd free night and the toilet block is quite nice, no lights though as the power isn't turned on and the showers are cold but that is okay ... it is a bonus that we get to have a shower despite that it is cold.
Tomorrow we got to Emerald.