Day 185 | hey, I’m in Darwin: now what?
67 km | Heading west total: 8,274 km
Well, finally here in Darwin after 6 months of riding but it’s always seemed just a vague orientation rather than some specific destination.
Clearly I’m more Journey than Destination.
One of the funniest moments of the trip was when I was sitting in the Coward Springs spa pool with the South Australian policeman. Someone else jumped in and asked me: what is your final destination?
Well, I said, death I s’pose, but I’m not pedalling too quickly.
It was apt I was listening to a Radio National podcast as I headed up the Stuart Highway today over the last, longest, 35km stretch: the subject was that great Victorian adventurer and explorer Sir Richard Burton. An eloquent and perceptive writer he had a few words to say on achieving your goals: although his travels were clearly far more ambitious than mine.
“How melancholy a thing is success, while failure enspirits a man. Attainment reads the sad prosy lesson that all our glories are shadows and not substantial things. Truly disappointment is the spice of life, the salutary bitter that strengthens the mind for a fresh exertion and gives a double value to the prize.”
To be continued …