The latest news as of Thursday, 16 August 2012

We’re stuck in Katherine in the Northern Territory, often referred to as NT.  I’m told NT also means, Not Today, Not Tomorrow.  Which leads to the reason we’re stuck.

Ian’s new belt, installed 12 days and about 4,000km ago, broke on Tuesday about 65km north of Renner Springs.  He got towed to Elliot while I followed behind.  The car mechanic was able to remove the Kevlar threads and fluff remaining but unable to go further.  Our road angel, Allen Drysdale, arranged to send replacement belts to a motorcycle repair shop in Katherine where we were towed Wednesday morning.

Allen sent a text on Wednesday morning saying the belts were sent by overnight mail.  That seems to be a misnomer and the reason NT = not today, not tomorrow.  The fellows at the repair shop here in Katherine, the folks at the post office and pretty much everyone else says we won’t be getting the belts tomorrow (Thursday).  And maybe not Friday.  If not Friday, then Monday… maybe.  So why, if it takes nearly 5 days, do they call it “overnight mail”?!?

We’re safe – that’s the good news.  The scooters will get serviced in Darwin as soon as we can get up there.  It’s only about a 4 hour ride but we can’t get underway without the belts.  And we can’t do it here while we’re waiting because they don’t have parts or the correct sized tires.  *frustrated sigh*  At least there's been time to update the blog.  Will continue to do so as WiFi allows.