Cycling Australia Diaries

After a quick breakfast/lunch of meat pies, we set off into strong headwinds towards Birdsville via the Walkers Crossing track. Took a 12km detour to visit the site of Wills' original grave. Some travellers gave us a much appreciated icy cold beer which we drank under the shade of the Coolabahs. Winds increased but we managed to battle through to a dry water hole where we camped for the night.

Covered a good distance today through more stong head winds and rough tracks. At midday we came across a well graded road which we followed upto an oil rig! Thankfully the blokes there invited us in out of the sun and topped up our water supplies, which were likely to run dry in a few days. They told us that there was rain expected tomorrow night, a daunting prospect as this track would become impassible after rain and we would be marooned in a remote section of the Strezlecki. Crossed a few dry lakes which prooved to be extremely difficult, but pushed on until dark where we came across the first trees for hours. As we began to setup camp the dark clouds rolled in and it began to rain. The rain spattered and the lightning danced on the entire horizon all night.

About 10mm of rain fell overnight but fortunately the head winds were blowing hard enough to keep the track dry enough to cycle on. Pushed hard all day without breaks, fearing the constantly looming threat of heavy rains. At about 5pm the sky opened up and instantly cleared for a great sunset. Camped at the foot of a sand dune and sat by the fire till late.

We hadn't been up long this morning when we heard our first vehicle in a long while coming up the dunes. The couple were very enthusiastic about our adventure and after reporting us to Charters Towers station they interview us for a 4WD magazine article. With the sun now shining we relaxed a little and had a late start despite having our first tail winds in days. Came quickly onto the Gibber Plains (or Sturt Stony Desert) and found it 'very agreeable to travel on' in the words of William Wills. Hit the Birdsville Track at 3:30pm and found it to be almost as good as sealed road. With 2 hours of sun left and tail winds we hoped to get 60km in, however the higher speeds caused 2 old tube patches to split and the remainder of the day was wasted. Thankfully we came across a great sand dune where we camped ontop and enjoyed an unbroken, 360° horizon and beautiful sunset over the stony desert.

Had 100km remaining to Birdsville so awoke before dawn and watched the sunrise. We had cross winds today but still kept up a good speed and arrived in Birdsville at 2:30pm. By chance we came to town on the same night as the Victorian Variety Bash, so had an entertaining night in the pub with 400 wild people.