Fun in the sun!

Backblipped 5th March

An orchestra of snoring last night so a pretty rubbish sleep - though must have slept at some point as didn't hear Mandy, one of the leaders, leave at 5.30am - she was heading back to the start to lead another group starting on the following day!

Set off though the Iriki Salt Pan - had been dammed in the 70's and has led to dreadful drought in the area - which made for long, flat, hot walking and amazing mirages.

At lunch they'd set up the mess tent and one toilet as there was no handy tree to shelter under and it was baking! And we had lots of fun taking advantage of the flatness and the optical illusion pictures that were possible! And we all had a camel ride too!

Also discovered the very first red patch on my foot with only 2 hours of walking left in the Challenge! So the doc put a bit of dressing on it as a precaution.

Final afternoon was quite strange - lots of mixed emotions going on. However we soon approached a rocky outcrop and were told to wait for 5 minutes whilst Larsen, Hayley and Alice went on ahead. Anna then led us on the final stretch and as we rounded the corner we could hear the crew drumming and saw the MacMillan banner stretched over the finish line.

We joined hands and all of us crossed the line together. Quite an incredible (and very emotional) moment and one I don't think I'll ever forget.

Lots of hugging, congratulations and photos later it was our final tea and biscuits before our final wet wipe wash.

Watched the sun go done on my own and had a bit of quiet contemplation and returned to an amazing dinner. Chicken and chips! And they've never tasted so good! And actually pushed the boat out and shared a bottle of wine with 2 of the other girls. Then Alice brought out condensed milk to have with our tinned fruit. What a feast!

The crew then gave us another drumming and singing rendition though our response of Kookaburra was a bit rubbish as hardly any of us knew the words!

Then the landcruisers that were going to take us out of the desert arrived just as we were finishing dinner.

Another early night as we were having to get up at 4.30am tomorrow.

Day Six Stats:
12 miles/8 hours 16 mins
Ascent/descent 266/316 feet
Calories 2467
Map