Bike Odyssey
Around Australia 2003
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| Around Australia 2003 Sydney to Darwin 01 Around Australia 99 | Great North Walk 98 Snowy Mountains 97 Tasmania 96 | |
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| David Linda Bike Odyssey E-Mail: djf01@bikeodyssey.com.au | |
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| Journal for 3-Sep-2003 : Turkey Creek+76 |
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We didn't sleep much as it was a very windy night, and equally windy morning. The riding to Turkey Ck was very hard, with lots of into the wind climbing on narrow, rough roads. The first hour yielded less than 15km. This highway is being upgraded to an all weather road, so it can remain open over the summer wet season. A lot of the floodways and low level one lane causeway crossings are being replaced, bit not on this stretch yet. The Bow River (a seriously wide sandy river bed) flows so rarely it's not needed. Saved a blue tongue lizard from himself on the road. Flashing his blue tongue didn't deter me, and certainly wouldn't have deterred a road-train. The great Kimberly mountain scenery continues, but we are sort of becoming more selective with our photographs. I guess we've seen it all before. We refilled our water bags and bellies at the Turkey Ck roadhouse, and waved at the kids at the nearby (dry) Warmun community as we rode out of town. Compared with our last visit the roadhouse has been cleaned up a bit. The wall of takeaway alcohol is gone, but the attitude (pay for your petrol *before* filling up) remains the same. We ate lunch just after the Bungle Bungle's turnoff. A new bridge and a new rest area (ie not too much poo yet - though we didn't help matters) on the old floodway was a nice if popular (people with 4x4s leave there caravans here for day trips to the Bungle Bungles) spot for lunch. The hills continued, as did the SE head and cross winds making for slow going. The road shoulder here is being upgraded, and the left metre of the bitumen is covered in mud/roadbase, riding over is like riding on a jackhammer. We reached the new bridge over the mighty (but dry) Ord River much sooner than expected, thanks to a cartographic error, and pushed on through yet more hills. Two giant mine trucks passed us. We found a pretty ordinary spot to camp (track to a locked gate) and waited till dark before setting up the tent. Slept well though. We didn't cover as much ground today as I hoped. The extra wind and extra water we're carrying compared with last time means we'll be spending the night at Halls Creek tomorrow. << Prev - Next >> |