Alice Springs

Alice and I made it to Alice with a touch of help from a bus for the last 700km. We haven't quite decided why we stopped where we did. We were having a marvellous time and the riding was lovely. But somehow we did stop and we are both very happy to be here in Alice Springs with some lovely folks and a sparkling new baby.

I think we'll both stay here a few weeks. And then Alice might cycle onwards and I might stay here a while longer.

Rainy Day No 2

We've just finished our 31st day on the bikes, stopping for lunch at 10am and now dinner at 3pm. Everything gets gradually earlier in a vicious cycle of wholesomeness.

I drank some stagnant pond water next to yesterday's lunch drain. I boiled it for sure, boiled it good. But it wasn't enough it seems today. We rode 107km today, 1km less than our next longest day. I doubt Alice will ever forgive me for robbing us of our collective PB. If I'd had a more rugged stomache or had just put less rugged ditch water in it, we might have done 109km. Or who knows, even 112km or something.

The rain only started just as we arrived at the rest stop. We couldn't find any rockin drains to sleep in so we've had to settle for a bona fide rest area. Never much firewood at these places, but you can usually pinch some from the grey nomads while they're inside tuning their TVs.

The rice was ready way too early for everything else so we had to rug it up. With these winds your boiled rice can drop to dangerous room temperature in no time. Something to watch out for.

Barkly tablelands

[written by Alice]


The past few days have been some of the flattest riding you could imagine. Not boring though although many drivers dismiss this area as such. Constantly changing skies and colours. So green! You can tell there's been rain recently. I'm no longer so daunted by the vastness of it. Although that may partly be because it's not 37degrees with a glaring sun constantly reminding me of the possibility of dying of dehydration and heat stroke.
Right now I'm wearing a jumper and enjoying warm tea(sent to camooweal by a lovely friend) by a fire. All things I couldn't have imagined four days ago. We've also been blessed with some pretty sweet tailwinds. Which do send us scurrying under bridges to cook, giving us plenty of time to practise being trolls.
We found amazing rocks by yesterdays bridge. I think they might be thunder-eggs....wish I paid more attention in geology.
Yesterday's sunrise was spectacular,bright red sky across the gently curved horizon broken only by a handful of trees. And an even more joyful event for having ridden for two hours in the dark.
I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Ryan from the past few days-"this might be one of those wash-ups where I don't drink the washing up water".

Location:Wonara bore

NY Border

The sign is the only shade as far as you can see.

Glory to the Bridge

We found this totally rocking cement bridge to spend the day hiding under. Outside it's a painful 38 deg, but under here it's a delightful, breezy 35 deg. We were so happy to find it. It has a tiny dead bird balancing headfirst in a dusty cow footprint. When the wind blows it catches the bird's tail and pushes the little fella back and forth.

We reckon we could live under here for months without anyone knowing. Even though there are cars driving overhead all the time. We'd just have to be sure we moved out before flood season.

The only bad news we have is that the oat milk went sour because some spilt olive oil soaked through the Tetrapak. Only one carton of soy milk left now and 70km to ride until Camooweal. It's a little grim.

Dogs

"In consideration to out other guests and of course our wildlife, we ask that your dog be kept restrained at all tines, does not enter the amenities block and does not bark all bloody day and night. Your dog will be asked to remove itself from the property if it contravenes these few simple rules."

From the info sheet at Adel's Grove. I am glad to see they are holding the appropriate party responsible for breaking the rules.

Helmet Upgrade

Alice has some fairly fancy DIY helmet accoutrements these days, both practical and fashionable. So I thought my helmet could do with some attention. I've added a third level of peak to it. First layer came with the helmet. Second layer is a gaffed on truckers cap peak we found on a termite mound. Third layer provides relief on hot days in a couple of different ways.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Mt Isa and beyond

[written by Alice]
Out we go into the desert...the trees are getting shorter and further apart, the ground redder and rockier,the spinifex spikier, oh and the sun hotter. We left mt Isa yesterday after a couple of rest days and preparations for probably the most remote stretch of our journey. Off we trundles at dusk, our panniers more loaden than ever with full 24L of water each and lots of nuts. A few doubts in my head about the heat(37degrees plus predicted for today and tomorrow-did we leave this too late?),but I am still excited to experience this great,open landscape,so we are taking it easy,only riding in the morning and skipping from one rest stop to the next(shade being the limiting factor). Wildflowers have already begun-masses of pink mulla mulla as soon as we rode out of town.
Mt Isa is a strange but interesting place. Had some delicious rain there (a favourite moment of mine being when discussing whether to gof back and take the washing off the line Ryan looked up the weather map on his I-phone and said nope no clouds nearby,I stepped outside,smelt the rain, felt the rain and saw the big black clouds...:P).
Oh and we met 2crazy French guys on a tandem,always good to meet someone who makes us look soft and sane in comparison.
Pretty photo here of our campsite just out of cloncurry.

Location:Chinaman Creek Dam Rd,Cloncurry,Australia

Really Sweet Sunsets

via flickr.com

This was at Lawn Hill. Pretty much my favourite part of the trip.

Mt Isa Coffee House

Quite delicious coffee. I declare that anyone who claims that Mt Isa
isn't thoroughly cosmopolitan is a foolheaded bumpkin.

A different day

Sitting at a rest stop half way between Cloncurry and Mt Isa waiting for the laksa to finish cooking. Ryan just had a lie down because he ate too many peanuts (or maybe more to do with riding a pretty hilly day in the heat and accepting a beer at a break in the afternoon I suspect), so I thought I would sneak in a blog while I can, as some have accused me of losing interest in my own blog (it's hard to keep up with these people with i-phones!).

Today we rediscovered a bunch of distantly remembered aspects of cycle-touring: freewheeling (ah you don't always have to fight for every kilometre!), hills (the upsides and the downs, half of which had us slightly regretting our enthusiastic shop in Cloncurry woolworths, the first supermarket we'd seen since Ravenshoe), tailwinds... We also met some generous folk who gave us water, crackers, and chocolate (the last of which I accidentally ate all of, woops) oh and then the aforementioned beer.

Yesterday we learnt that cycling into a headwind fuelled only by white bread and golden syrup (dwindling lunch and breakfast supplies after no food being available in Quamby or Burke and Wills) doesn't make for the most cheerful adventurers (surprise surprise).

There are a lot of ants here. Luckily they haven't realised all the good stuff is up here on the table, but they swarm our feet as soon as we put them down. Ryan tried giving them an offering of some of our beloved golden syrup (which we never squeeze straight into our mouths, I swear). They seem to be enjoying the golden syrup, but not enough to keep them away from our feet (and who could resist our unwashed cyclist feet really). There are also road trains stopping here every half hour or so, but we'll sleep through anything tonight I think. With the moonless sky full of stars shining on us.

Had a 5 hour rest at the lovely Corella river today, watching fairy martins building their mudnests under the bridge, and a young nankeen night heron peering at us from on high. Almost as nice as the Chinamans Gap dam outside Cloncurry where we stayed last night. Internet too slow for pictures.
Mmm time for dinner.

Salty, Soupy, Porty, Poopy Party

Everyone is invited to the Salty, Soupy, Porty, Poopy Party. It's on tonight at 5pm! That's right, the 5th Sept so get cracking. The location is Terry Smith Lookout about 95km long, tough, windy hours ride south of Burke & Wills Roadhouse, Queensland.

Tonight is gonna go off for sure, so dont miss out. There'll be port and ginger cordial until the sensible bedtime hour of 8pm.

As you might expect there'll be salt and soup. Amongst other delights such as peanut butter, small amounts of mango chutney and our well-loved baked bean crockpot with quinoa.

There'll fresh new hits playing such as I'm a Paleo-coprologist, Curry! and the ballad of salt's love lost, My Saltetite is Waning.



Look at this cheerful party goer. He has both salt and soup.



There's a Dump-Ezy right on site so party pooping has never been easier.



These revellers got to the party early and threw back some port. Perhaps a little too much. No. Just jokes. Clearly they're having the time of their lives. Or some sort of time.

In heaven with no cumin

We just made it back to Burke and wills roadhouse after a glorious few days at lawn hill. Left the bikes here and hitched in with some friendly caravanners. This meant we had to only take some gear with us, and somehow the spice bag didn't make the cut. It was tough but we managed to survive a few flavourless days- luckily our spirits were buoyed by long swims in emerald waters, with scarlet finches and purple crowned fairy wrens flitting on the banks and the calls of martins and gerygones echoing off the red canyon walls.
We're in the habit of sleeping without a tent as the nights are hot and dry. In caravan parks some people seem to think this is a bit strange, like we are breaking the rules somehow. One woman warned me we would be poisoned by cane toads in our sleep.
Today is ryan's birthday-a dawn swim to farewell lawn hill, pancake breakfast, and plate of Burke & wills' finest hot chips with a tea-light on top- celebrating in outback style.
Excited to be back with wren and walnut(especially now our butts have recovered from our 108km day into a headwind-8.5hours on the bike not recommended) as it's weird now to be away from them. Also happily reunited with the spice bag.

Lawn Hill Sunset

Very nice spot.