DAY 238: Day 9 off in Darwin

Weds 18th June 2008
Sunny, 31 deg C
Elevation of destination 37 m
Distance to date 14251 km (8907 miles)
Same procedure - lie-in, breakfast, cycle to post office, and whooppee - the parcel has arrived. I opened it tentatively - will it be third time lucky? And yes, it looks like the right one this time, phew....
I went to celebrate with bacon and egg sandwich, latte, and almond croissant. In the knowledge that I’ll be departing Darwin tomorrow I sat in the cafe for a couple of hours to finish Cloudstreet, then took it to the Book Exchange in the Mall to choose another Tim Winton - Shallows. Hope it’s as good as Cloudstreet; it was excellent.
It was also opportune to do a big food shop while in a big town, as it’s so much cheaper compared to smaller places.
Once back at camp I had a go at changing the transmission, but the tricky part of removing the rear sprocket using only the old chain instead of a proper chain whip was beyond me. The old chain broke before the sprocket loosened and I then had to repair it as best I could, and ring up Kingsley (the Warmshowers host I stayed with last week) to see if he would be around tomorrow morning, whereupon I could borrow his chain whip to complete the overhaul. Luckily he will be there, so hopefully the repaired chain will last for the 35km or so to his house.
Had another good blather with Chris about cycling in the Outback - he has a lot of knowledge about survival skills as well as bicycle stuff - such as which foods are edible.