Day 3 Emerald Springs to Katherine 133 kms

Princesses birthday today - Melanie turns 40. We had a lovely breakfast with Melanie, Annie, Peter and Jacquei.

Emerald Springs food is fantastic with 3 poached eggs, 2 tomatoes and I'm not too sure how many slices of toast. I could only eat half of mine so Collis once again got 1.5 meals. Melanie had an egg & bacon roll with a candle in it plus they brought out a box of chocolates and a chocolate muffin with another candle in it so she got to make lots of wishes.We also got her a card which sang "Happy Birthday Princess" along with a tiara for her helmet, a 'fly net' cap with princess Melanie in puff paint and some cosmetics to pamper herself with. What a spoilt princess!!!

Packing the car up was a bit disorganized today as we were still in birthday mode but we did eventually get everything into the trailer and truck. Morning tea was at the 50 km mark with lunch at Edith River ( or the turn off to Edith Falls). The riders have had a head wind for most of the day with the wind starting at 9 am and not really dropping off until after 3 pm. Most of the riders struggled but they all made it in with some detours on the way.

Peter went into Edith Falls which added approximately 40 kms to his day. We ran over a black snake which I hope didn't flick up into the underside of the car and it may visit us in the middle of the night. We found Mark photographing a couple of black cockatoos with the yellow in their tails.

We had a lovely dinner tonight with the girls (Melanie birthday girl, Jacquei & Annie), John and Mark joined us as well- all riders were invited to join the party and some came across to wish her best wishes but others chose not to participate. We really enjoyed the cold meats, cheeses and salad. Annie & Jacquei bought her a nice bottle of Mumm French champagne and we got a bottle of white wine to go along with it. I bought her a princess birthday cake too and the night was very enjoyable.