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Published: August 8th 2013
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2nd August 2013 - Day 10
Distance Traveled today : 118km
Total : 902km
Left fairly late at 9am. Hard work all day because of the head wind. Terain seemed flat but when I looked at GPS it turns out I was climbing for most of the day. First half was scrub with trees, and later it turned into a flat grassed plain. No live animals but road kill of wild pigs, emu, echidna and of course roos. Arrived tired at Tambo at around sunset time. Dinner at truck stop - bangers and mash (the next day I wich I hadn't had that) and camping at Caravan park (Tambo Mill).
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3rd August 2013 - Day 11
Distance Traveled today : 102km
Total : 1004km
Cold morning (4 deg C), I woke up with a cold nose. On road at around 8.30am, yesterday's wind was gone so it was a good start. Still open grasslands for most of the day with occassional scrub sections. In the morning I rode past the carcas of a large grey cow on its back, as I was approaching it looked like a dead rhino! In the afternoon the wind came back
so the last 30km was hard work. Got to Blackall around 3pm. Caravan park very full, placed on property next door with no grass and an ants next a couple of meters from tent (will find out how ant proof my tent is!). Once tent up heaps of time for a walk to see the Black Stump - so I'm finally in the outback! Or more correctly the spot where the black stump used to be and has been replaced with an alternate. Blackall is quite a neat little town, but many empty shops unfortunately, lots of horses been taken through town (perhaps from the races in Tambo?). Tasty pizza for dinner.
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4th August 2013 - Day 12
Distance Traveled today : 107km
Total : 1111km
Alot warmer in the morning, and I was on the road by 8.30am. Just out of Blackall a pair of large dogs was feasting on some roadkill, I was hoping they wheren't going to turn their attention to me as I went past. Fortunately they didn't. Still lots of grass all day but with more trees and scrub. Not much wind and flat road so it was good going all
day. I came across a large group of cattle wondering over the road, as well as some horses. They where afraid of me so it wasn't hard to get past. Later in the afternoon a police car sped past with its lights on - I didn't find out why. The road got worse with no shoulder, so I had to be more carefull even ride of the road when road trains / cars happened to be going in both directions at the same time (twice). Once at the edge of Barcaldine I booked into the Barcaldine Tourist Park, quite a neat place with Kangaroos on the grassed areas! Also they have Wifi so I can let family know I'm still around :-) Went for a walk through Barcaldine to see the Tree of Knowledge which had been poisoned in 2006 and marks the spot of Labour protests by sherers and the start of the Australian Labour Party. The town looks like a ghost town with some drunk louts around - maybe because its Sunday.
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5th August 2013 - Day 13
Distance Traveled today : 108km
Total : 1219km
Slept in slightly today, so it was a
late start. Scenery was similar to the last few days with grass all around, with fewer trees / scrub today. Spoted quite a few live (and some dead) emus. A gentleman passed me who was stoping to move road kill off the road by a couple of meters. He would pull his ute over for each road kill hop out pull the animal off the road and jump back in, I managed to keep up with him for a little while. Later on I was passed by around 10 army APCs on board trucks. Ilfracombe's a neat small town not too far from Longreach has a neat collection of old farm equipment and trucks all lined up in a big row. Once in Longreach I went past the jumbo by the side of the road at the airport - its litup tail fin can be seen from my hotel. I booked in to the Longreach Outback Adventures - my own bed in a donga for only $32 per night, with a fridge and its all very clean. I unpacked my bike and zoomed of to the center of town to get to an ATM and do some shoping. First time
on this trip using the bike without all my stuff loaded on, feels light and fast!
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6th August 2013 - Day 14
Distance Traveled today : 0km
Total : 1219km
Busy day for a rest day. Started of going for a ride to the local IGA - most of the towns seem to have one of these. The streets here are wide with parking spaces in the middle. Once preparation for tomorrow was done I was off to the Stockman's Hall of Fame. Interesting place with everything being well presented, highlights for me where fragments of the dig tree from Burke and Wills expedition, a huge Bullock carrage, and a salesman carrage. From there it was onto the Qantas founders museum, this presented the history of the founders as well as many replica and real planes from Qantas history. The highlights being a tour of the 747 and 707 (first jet Qantas used). From there it was back on the bike to the wide Thomson River to watch the sunset. On the way there I saw a couple of trucks carrying a full battle tank each. There must be war in the North!
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7th August 2013 - Day 15
Distance Traveled today : 181km
Total : 1400km
Early start today at 5:30am, once packed of to 747 for one final photo. On the road at 7am, watched the sunrise in my rear vision mirror. The first 40km or so had many trees and scrub. Lots of hawks circling around. After this section the vegetation changed to the endless grassland with not many trees / scrub. A kangaroo hoped along a fence with me for a while. Later an emu crossed the road in front of me, then ran along a fence just in front of me. Then as a road train was approaching in the opposite direction it decided to cross the road again. The truck sounded its horn but it was too late and a stream of feathers shot out from under the truck right next to me. More APCs and tanks passed me, I had to get off the road for the tanks. Later in the day I passed the same police car a few times then watched as it briefly chased a motor bike. By around 6:15pm the sun had set and I still had around 15km to go.
The last 10km was in the dark with my headlamp, fortunatelly hardly any traffic. No cabins available so camping tonight, and have tired feet for probably the first time in the trip.
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8th August 2013 - Day 16
Distance Traveled today : 0km
Total : 1400k
Did a tour in the morning to the Lark Quarry or otherwise known as the Dinasaur stemped. The country on the way is a lot more arrid, and rugged comparred to what is along the highway. Tanya who led the tour said the grass plains along the way hadn't been cleared but are natural. The landscape at the Lark Quarry is quite dramatic with colourful hills sourounding the site. The site itself consits of a large shed housing the footprints, so that they do not get erroded away. There are the footprints of the large Tyrannosauropus (8-9m length) surrounded by footprints of smaller dinasaurs which may have been chased by the larger dino. An amazing site! Next I did a quick walk of the surrounding hills which have dramatic views. Then it was time to head back to the Matilda Caravan Park. Once back I moved into a spacious cabin
and then did a quick tour of the town, including the quirky Arno's wall.
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