Jul 14, 2011
Well after leaving Fitzroy Crossing I only made it 30km out of town before crashing in the shade of a tree. It was hot, a head wind, and some hills. Gentle hills, but with the heat and headwind, too much to power over. So was the slow grind up and over.
Before I left, I had lunch with Anton. He's holidaying about and was admiring my bike. We chatted and he offered lunch, so we sat under the tree and ate some sandwiches. Thanks Anton.
It was still a bit of a head wind when I left in the morning, and sometimes it blew hot. Luckily it as cool most of the time. I'd planned a big day, but by lunch time, could only look for shade and rest. From that I
Today was an easy 90km into Derby. Had plans to do so postal stuff, but ended up talking with Mac and Gerrie most of the day. They were going to ride the Gibbs River road, but changed their minds after a day of corrugations,dust and 4x4's. Lots of traffic on the road. There were going by bus to Kununurra to spend their holiday up there.
Broome - Derby road had lots of traffic on it. Surprised me. It was still hot, so I didn't sleep well, Started cycling at 1am.
Cycling at night is cooler, but sometimes the wind is still hot. It cools more towards 3am.. I'd pass through rivers of warm or cool air as I'm riding alone. The stars are all spread out just for me. Currently the moon is rising, but is hidden by midnight. I can tell different areas by their smell or feel. Still lots of bugs at times. Annoying are the ones that crash into you and then hunt about for a spot to bite.
Just made Roebuck Roadhouse this morning at 4am. Faster than I'd planned. The plan was to spend the day here resting and then do two big days to get to Sandfire Roadhouse 300km away. But the weather has cooled. There will not be any 30C or over days. This is good. So will do some more daytime cycling.
Jul 05, 2011
Ended up resting another day in Halls Creek. Washed a few more things. The rotten onion smell is definitely gone from my things now. Basically sat about and ate. Found that I had a lot of food resting in the bottom of my panniers. Started a mission to eat it all as its just extra weight I'm carrying. Reckon I should be getting near the bottom of it by the time I get to Broome.
Did a bolt from Halls Creek at 3:30am. Stratergy to avoid the heat - cycle when its cooler. It worked well. By 8am had done 110km and stopped for breakfast. Stopped again at lunch time and was going to call it a day, but sitting there resting the wind gusted up.. Arrrgghhh.. A tail wind. What could I do.. Jumped back on and did another 50km before calling it quits for the day. 190km all up. Since that was such a success, I repeated it today. The 100km into Fitzroy Crossing was done by 8am. Cycling at night is definitely cooler. Bugger all traffic about and you don't get to see the hills. Well, actually between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing there aren't any. It seemed pretty flat all the way.
The temps are hitting the low 30's. But feels like its a bit less humidity. I'm looking longingly at Port Hedland - their max is about 25.
Jul 02, 2011
Ow, ow, ow... Answering the early morning call of nature, I'd forgotten the ant trail near my tent. The ants, although small, were not happy and let me know it. Jumping about trying to get them off, I stumbled into the patch of grass like needles. I'm now very awake.
I stayed around Kununurra for the two days, and then had to get south. It was so hot and humid. My plan to ride the Duncan Highway went out the window for an easy way to get as far south as possible - down the tar.
Along the way I met Max, Margarita and (not sure of the spellling) Gioragio (George). They were travelling towards Kununurra and stopped. Kindly they gave me some apples and garlic. Those apples sure tasted good. They're travelling around Australia and are currently looking for work. Maybe I'll see them down south ways..
It did feel cooler as I rode south, but its only a matter of degrees. Sitting here in Halls Creek its just below 30C and not so humid. Certainly an improvement. The best I can do until I'm past Port Hedland in another two weeks time. Water consumption has been running about 6 to 8 liters a day in drinking. I'm sweating so much. Luckily the sun has been behind clouds the last two days. The road has been hilly -look at the map and see all the ranges about here. I wonder if a head wind would have made it cooler as I'm not travelling fast in the hills. I'm not doing so well in the heat and humidity..
Have you seen the Bungle Bungles? I have. There was a good poster for them at the Doon Doon roadhouse :) In my mission to find somewhere cooler, I didn't detour into the park. The prices for a day trip were truely jaw droppping. There are lots of things I'm never going to see in the world - the Bungle Bungles in person, are in that list..
Halls Creek is a nice rest stop. It has an IGA and the caravan park is quiet. Yep - I'm in a van park. Decided it was washing time. I'd bought some veges in Kununurra and left them in the plastic bag. But in the heat they turned into a soup in my pannier. I sure wished the plastic bags hadn't leaked. Onions gone off have such a strong smell! That was the pannier with my sleeping cloths in it. Last night my camp ended up next to a dead cow. It was just bones and I couldn't smell it when I set up 20meters away. But during the night, when I woke a few times, I was wondering what I was smelling - me, my souped on clothes, the dead cow, live cows, or something else.. So even though its overcast and cooler than it has been, I decided to stop the day and wash everything. I'm sure that getting all the salt out of my riding gear will make it lighter and breath better to.
Depending how I'm feeling tomorrow morning - it will be either an early start to get towards Fitzroy Crossing, or another rest day.
Jun 27, 2011
Ended up having a wash before I left Timber Creek. Seemed a shame to kill off the ecosystem living on me, but it had to be done.. I felt lighter afterwards.
Had a slow ride to Kununurra. Stopped near the border crossing and ate lots of fruit. There is an inspection station at the border, so was lots of good pickings to be had. So much so that I needed to lie down a couple of km past the crossing. Didn't make it too far before another lie down was needed. So much food..
Now that I'm out of NT and in WA- I can say WA is a lot cleaner. NT is a rubbish dump. So much rubbish on the side of the road and at tourist spots. Okay I only went to the free stuff, maybe the pay sites have someone to pick up the rubbish. I talked to some NT people about the trash - their attitude was there is so much about a little more doesn't matter. I met people that gave me a drink of coke, and then threw the empty tin on the ground. Arrrgghh... The posters might say "pristine wilderness", but the poster writer must live in a rubbish dump. Bottles, cans, plastic, boxes, used toilet paper.. It was such a trashed place.
Kununurra is hot. Its back to heat and bugs.. So, going to head south on the tar for a few days to see if I can get to somewhere cooler..
Jun 24, 2011
Yipeee... Arrrrgghhh... For the first time in days I was flying along. 32km/hr, down a gentle slope, with a bona fida tail wind. Then the hard packed clay changed. The tire track I'd been following to avoid the rocks became a thin canyon with steep sides of soft sand. Drift to far off the increasingly narrow track and I'd bog down in sand and crash.. But oh, the feeling of flying was good.. I enjoyred it while I could.. It didn't last, and it would be many days before the speed rose to even close to 20km/hr...
I'd left Katherine at lunch time and had a few easy days. One was particulary good, when I found a crash site. Somones camper or caravan had rolled. When it was taken away, all the stuff that fell out was left behind. Treasure!!! Found unopened food and drinks. Got a lid for my pot, a thermometer!! Ate food from that crash for the next five days.. Pity the chocolate was no go. I also had to leave the beer behind as I didn't want to carry it...
I also met two other bicycle riders. Philippe and Ursula (
www.andakt.ch
). I'd was still at the wreck site, hyper on food I'd been eating and so excited to finally meet some other cyclists. I probably seemed a bit demented.. They had Xtra wheel trailers. Neat trailers that worked well for them..
With all the food from Katherine and the food from the crash, I thought I small detour to Top Springs would be a good idea. Specially after finding Fiora River National Park closed. Top Springs - sounds good. Sounds like water... Alas, no springs there.. The pub/inn was moved to its present site at the junction of the roads. Actually there wasn't much of water from the highway turn off till well after Top Springs. Okay, that didn't pan out, but I could still go into the Gregory National Park. After 40km of riding back and forth between stations and Yaralin Community, I was back on the road to Timber Creek. Yep, the Gregory National Park was closed also.
Everyone had said the road was going to be rough, and this time they were right. Two days of grinding along in sand, gravel and rocks to get back to the tar.. Was I happy to see that. More so, was riding on it..
One item of interest from Top Springs; Noel Buntine was the guy responsible for road trains of cattle. And he was born at Stonehenge in QLD! Yeah.. I've been there...
Got to see some wild donkeys at one night camping..
All the people I talked to at Yaralin were so nice. Very helpful.
I found a tin of beer on the side of the road - and just threw it in the bin. Seems everyone here doesn't drink beer. Got tired or carrying it..
Jasper Gorge - a "high light" of the trip from Top Springs to Timber Creek was not worth stopping at. Its a camp site, but with no toilet block. I rode in and used toilet paper was blowing about in the wind. I road straight back out again.
Still got lots of food left, going to be a slow ride to Kununarra....