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.