Day 122 Mains Road Facility 160km to Boulia

Distance today 93kms at 18km/hr average

TOTALS: Distance 8265km. Donations $10,145.09. Days remaining 12. Deserts: Sturt Stony, Strzelecki, Tirari, Pedirka, Gibson, Great Victorian, Little Sandy Desert, Great Sandy Desert, Tanami Desert Tracks: Birdsville Development Road, Birdsville Track, Oodnadatta Track, Red Centre Way, Great Central Road, Goldfields Highway, Wiluna North Road, Marble Bar Road, Great Northern Highway, Tanami Road, Plenty Highway (current)

Note to new readers: I am travelling with my bike who’s name is Banjo. I often refer to ‘we’ meaning Banjo and I. ‘We’ have an amazing support team of family, friends, sponsors and folk we meet each day. But it’s still up to ‘us’ to face the challenge and tackle each day one peddle at a time.

It’s 8.15pm on Monday the 30 August 2021

We woke this morning to galah o’clock!!! Oh my goodness, nature’s alarm clock went off ⏰ It was time to pack up and get our backsides into Queensland!!!

Two Brolgas turned up to wave us off from Tobermorey Station. Thanks for having us!!!

5km into our ride, we were met by a cow patrolling the border crossing. It looked like Queensland Government has taken the next level in budget cuts.

My sister Katie suggested she may have been self isolating and to check if she had a mask on! 🤣

Mrs Cow was doing a fine job nonetheless and checked we had done our border declaration!! Well my partner did it for me as we’ve had no reception since leaving Gem Tree. Thanks darling!!

We had no ‘Bananas, Mangos or Sugar cane” on board so the cow let us pass over the cattle grid and back into Queensland. It’s so nice to be on home soil again!!!!

We were welcomed to the Shire of Boulia, home of the Min Min lights. Min Min is a light phenomenon that has often been reported in the Boulia Shire. We’ll keep ours eyes open for Mim Min spotting over the next 120kms.

The countryside over the border continued to be vast with an intense remote feel. We saw very few cars in our travels aside from the occasional road train mustering cattle. The horizons are flat and it’s very arid and desolate .

There was a short stretch of sealed road over the border but otherwise it’s been gravel. The roads in good condition and we had a particularly strong hot northerly blowing. It gave us a side tail wind for the morning and we had smashed out 80kms by mid afternoon.

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I was hoping to do another 40kms but unfortunately Banjo got a flat on the sharp rocks. He doesn’t like those sharp granite stones on gravel that’s for sure.

I disassembled him and checked out the tyre but couldn’t find any gashes. My first thought was that it just needed to be pumped up and let the sealant do it’s thing. Mmmmm wrong call!!! I spent the next hours stopping and pumping up his tyre again. Then the foot pump stopped working. Bugga!!! By this stage we were both over it and covered in red dust from the wind. Katie texted the right advice!!!!

I took a deep breath and reset to change his tube and use the hand pump to get enough air into the back tyre. A fella from a nearby cattle station stopped and said there was a mains road facility 5kms down the road where we could get access do a compressor. Good plan!!!

By this stage it was close to 6pm. We arrived at their facility and asked if we could pitch our tent and use their compressor. I met Pete, one of the workers. He offered me one of the dongers to stay in. Oh yay!!! His compressor did the job and Banjos set for tomorrow. There’s only 30kms left of gravel before we hit sealed road so here’s hoping I don’t have to use the hand pump again 🤞🏻

I’ve been able to wash off the red dust from the day and upload my posts using their wifi.

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I was also able to call Dawn and had a great chat with her and Dylan to catch up on the last days. What a wonderful bonus!! They leave now for their road trip to meet us in Birdsville so it was perfect timing before they head off Wednesday. Talk to you from Boulia my darlings!!! Safe travels when you get underway xx Time now for some dinner and bed in my cosy donger!! Thanks Pete!!! The perfect imperfections of this challenge strikes again!!!!