Cycling Australia Diaries

After a quick roadhouse breakfast we had began cycling by 8:30am. Only 20km down the road and we past the Siemers (we camped on their propery in outback NSW on 11th August). Not much else happened, the road is still slow and corrugations everywhere. Riding is extremely monotonous and mentally/physically draining. The thought of reaching the Cape and Melbourne the only thing keeping us going now. We set up camp in a dry dam on sunset.

Woke up at 6am this morning to the sound of a dingo scavaging around our camp site. We reached Morton telegraph station in time for lunch and had a quick swim in the Wenlock River. At 4pm we arrived at the first junction of the Southern Bypass and OTL tracks. We both sat here in the shade for an hour before setting off on the real Telegraph track: a very narrow, sandy and dodgy track that has never been graded. The many long sections of deep, soft sand cause every muscle in our bodies to ache as we haul the bikes through. Only covered 5km of the OTL in the last 1.5hours before sunset and camped by a dry creek bed.

We woke this morning to find our camp site infested with ants. Flicking off as many as possible, we ate some food quickly then hit the road at 9am. The first 3 creek crossings were fairly easy as they weren't too deep. We rested later in the shade at Gunshot creek and watched some of the 4WD attempting to cross on it's steep banks. The last 7km of the day took almost 90 minutes because of thick, soft sand. We rinsed off the sweat and dirt in Cockatoo creek then camped on the northern bank.

Today was one of our hardest days, over 12 hours on the bikes and we only managed to cover 78kms. Both of us were falling off our bikes every couple of minutes today. We had hoped to reach the Jardine River ferry before 5pm, but we were lucky to make it there at all. We pushed very hard the last hour after sunset in complete darkness, unable to maneuver around sandy sections. Tim's last tyre has worn right through and could blow at any minute.

Thankfully, we didn't have to do as much walking as in previous days. First thing in the morning, the two of us jumped on Injinoo's overpriced ferry and crossed the croc-infested Jardine River. We cycled through a bush fire late morning which the locals seem to leave to burn at will. We cruised into Bamaga early in the afternoon and found accomodation with a bloke we met at the pub.