Conflicting emotions

After skating 70km yesterday and reaching the end of the Great Eastern Highway, saying goodbye to the Golden Pipeline that has been with us for so long and earning a well needed rest day, I'm now sat in an internet cafe in Kalgoorlie, some 40km north of Coolgardie, updating the website and feeling quite sad.

About six years ago I was watching TV and was fascinated by this gregarious Australian man who jumped into rivers and wrestled crocodiles, crawled on all fours to within inches of the world's most poisonous snakes and was an all-round nice guy as he did it. Steve Irwin may have been an easy Aussie stereotype to some but to me he defined a happy person. Someone who loved what he did so much his personality was infectious, he lived life to the full. I heard a couple of hours ago that he had died whilst filming a documentary about sealife off the Cairns coastline. Steve Irwin summed up Australia for many people around the world and he will be sorely missed.