Day 25: The Tablelands Highway

Day 25: Thursday August 4th.
90km
I had a solid 10 hours sleep last night, and was on the road, feeling much better at 7:30, which is not to say that the day was easy. I spent a lot of time seeing 7 and 8 kilometres an hour on the GPS,but also 12 and even 16 and 17 kilometres an hour occasionally. The wind was very variable, and was even to the north of me at one point. I think for most of the day it was a little lighter than yesterday, although there were times when it had me in my very bottom gear on level ground!

I missed Jill The Walker, a woman walking solo across Oz. She must have passed by after I turned off the road last night.

The beauty of it all

The early start felt much better, and I began to feel a lot more positive. Currently I am an on an old gravel tip, at the intersection of the Barkly and Tablelands highways, so am about 96 kilometres from Camooweal according to one map. I will go or not be surprised to see that go up by 20 kilometres in the morning! I stopped at Suodan Bore to top up my bidons from the tanks in the trailer, which leaves me with 5 litres in reserve and slosh in the first tank. Suodan Station homestead has a Telstra phone box powered by satellite, so so I rang Wendy there briefly.

Between the bore and the homestead, is a fence line where the landscape changes from heavy brush and trees, to treeless grassland, in the space of 50 metres. I guess it's had the life beten out of it for a century or more. I'm back in brush land again now.

Where did all the trees go?

It looks great in a good year, but I reckon this must go as bare as a cheeseboard.

100 kms to Queensland, but like all the "milestone" numbers, it's been nicked.

I have a lovely Brolga  photo. They are also beautiful in flight, but I could not manage the camera and hold the bike up in the wind as they took off.

Tea tonight was a thick hot curry: rice, split peas, lentil, chickpea and quinoa for the base, with carrots, peas, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and sweet corn. I'm down to my last two apples and 1/3 loaf of bread for tomorrows riding food, along with one more 250 gram Rum'n'Raisin chocolate + lots of nuts.

It's still very windy. The tent blew over several times as I put it up. I must have to 3 hundred weight of rocks to keep it tied down!
I'm also now in the Lake Eyre catchment, for what that's worth.

And at my campsite: I don't know what this is, but I'm glad it's not growing in my back yard.