Distance today 112km at 18km/hr average
TOTALS: Distance 8378km. Donations $10,145.09. Days remaining 11. 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 7.30pm on Tuesday the 31 August 2021
It’s such a big sky night tonight and we’re loving it under the stars. Bugs have crashed the party but they’re good dancers and putting on a show!! I got the SkyView app out to check out the other party of stars and planets going on. The debating teams are Venus, Mercury and Mars to the west and Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune to the east. The topic is who’s the brightest threesome in the sky. It’s close. Old Man Emu is adjudicating and accepting bribes. Jupiter takes out the best and fairest that’s for sure!!! What a show. No wonder the bugs are in party mode!!!
It was an awesome start to the day. I packed up first and got some footage of the facility we stayed at last night.
Once we were good to go it was time to call the folks and have a decent catch-up. An hour later I had my fix of family and we were all up to date from the last days. It was wonderful having wifi. What a surprise and treat for all of us!! Dylan was doing some fathers day shopping at the school store this morning and they dropped round later for him to give grandad his pressie. Everyone loved the visit and last farewells before Dawn and Dylan get underway tomorrow. I checked in with them before and dawn doing the last bits and pieces of packing but otherwise they’re ready and very excited for their adventure out to Birdsville. I’ll call you from Boulia darlings and see how you’re travelling on your first day xx
It was a later start after 9.30am but all good indeedy. The crews were driving back in camp after days off. They were all curious about this lady on a bike at their facility. There were a lots of aboriginal workers which was great to see; all smiles and thumbs up with us experiencing the beauty of their country.
It’s so flat, so sparse, so desolate. But it’s raw and beautiful and inspiring.
I was thinking about Frank from Yuendumu today “nowhere is somewhere.” It’s a challenging concept in this part of country.
But then I see a turn off sign to one of the stations out here and realise nowhere is an important somewhere for others.
Its easy for my thoughts to get lost in the expanse. I quite like that feeling. But Banjo and and I were keen to stay focused for the next 30kms and keep his tyres safe from sharp rocks until the sealed road.
The countryside remained the same for the best part of the remaining unsealed road.
We passed a yard with some cows in. It was sad to see them without anything to graze. But that’s my city perspective. There are lots of cattle yards by the roadside where cattle are held and moved onwards to greener pastures literally. They just look very wan in transit amongst this seemingly empty landscape.
We welcomed a visit from Brian and Sharon from Redlands. They stopped further ahead of us and got out their camera and drone to take some footage of us approaching. We had a chat and exchanged details so they can email me the video and photos of Banjo and I in action. Yay!!!
By lunchtime we hit sealed road and celebrated with a cuppa break under a shady tree.
The countryside also change with vegetation bringing a sense of relief. Roadside bushes also mean ‘beep beeps’ and they kept us company again for the afternoon. It makes for a lighter feel and more relaxed ride with their liveliness and interaction.
We managed to push through a bunch of kms for the afternoon without any debacles which is always a bonus 🤣 The weather was sociable and we were able to ride into long shadow o’clock. It was a beautiful time of day to enjoy the last kms and find a camp for the night.
With just over 50kms Boulia, we found a camp behind shrubbery along a floodway. The ground is red dirt and clear of dreaded burrs. So Banjos happy and resting with his tyres intact. We were set up to enjoy the colours around camp over sunset o’clock.
All going well we should get into Boulia by later morning. It’ll be good to have time to do some have tos and prepare for our next stint to Bedourie. Time for dinner and bed. Night talk soon xx
The 10 desert challenge 