Cycling Australia Diaries

Were woken by the cleaning lady this morning as it was already passed check out time. Staggered over to the Fitness Center where we found refuge from the sun (approx 40°C). Decided that we were in no condition to cycle today and Damien invited us to stay at his place for the night. Relaxed in town during the day then had roast turkey for dinner!

Damien cycled the first 50km with us today to Quamby Hotel where we had a cold beer and sausage rolls for lunch. Tim came down with a throat infection today and the late afternoon heat made it difficult for him to breathe/cycle. We still managed to cover 106km today and camped in a small clearing amongst termite mounds and next to a cow carcus. Was very balmy all night and we had trouble sleeping in the heat.

Tim's condition didn't improve today so we decided to cycle only to the Burke and Wills Roadhouse. Kept up a relatively good pace today, however we constantly had to look over our shoulders and move off the single lane to make way for road trains/4WDs. Heat was intense again today and with only 20km to the roadhouse we had to stop to repair 2 punctured tubes out in the open. Fortunately some pig shooters stopped and gave us some cold beers. Relaxed in our air conditioned room at the roadhouse during the last part of the afternoon.

Didn't get away until 11am today but pushed hard through the heat for several hours then decided to stop at a rest area under a shelter at 4pm. Heat was still very intense and riding had become unbearable. We set off again at 5:30pm and cycled through to 11pm.

The night riding was great, no wind and a full moon to show us the way. The animals move around much more at night time and a few times we thought we would get run down by stampeding cattle. Camped by the Flinders River (Croc infested!). Were so buggered that we didn't even bother with the tent, just slept on the ground. Was a very hot night, however we were forced to get under our sleeping bags to escape the mosquitoes.

Only had to cycle 60km today to Normanton through very hot conditions and gently undulating terrain. Arrived in town at 1pm and checked into the Normanton Caravan Park. Had a great room directly in front of the BBQ area and swimming pool! Had a quick dip then headed down to the store to resupply and send home unwanted wet/cold weather gear. Had a BBQ for dinner and the caravan park owner invited us to use his brand new artesian hot spa! Sat in the Spa for 2 hours then went to sleep feeling very revitalised.