Day: 040
Date: Monday, 10 August 2020
Start: Normanton
Finish: Burketown
Daily Kilometres: 227 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)
Total Kilometres: 4339
Weather: Cool early then sunny and warm
Accommodation: Cabin
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Ham, cheese & chutney sandwiches
Lunch: Ham, cheese & chutney sandwiches
Dinner: Ham, cheese & chutney sandwiches again!
Aches: Nothing significant
Highlight: Yet again, the first few hours of riding were excellent. After turning onto the Normantown-Burketown road, a few kilometres outside of Normanton, we saw only two vehicles in the next two hours. We rode abreast down our private bike path with shadows shortening and the landscape lit up by the rising sun. Wallabies scampered through the bush and flocks of birds circled or perched in the trees. Perfect.
Lowlight: Having made the decision around 6pm to continue on to Burketown for the night rather than camp, the last 50km seemed to take a very long time, even though in reality it took just over two hours, a good time for us. Part of it was not knowing whether we would have accommodation when we got to Burketown (confirmed by phone with 20 minutes to go), and part of it was that after the last light of the setting sun disappeared, we seemed to be in a kind of endless dark tunnel populated by road-sense-deficient wallabies, kamikaze grasshoppers, and never-ending bumpy floodways. On the plus side, it was a beautiful crimson-orange sunset, and later, multitudes of stars, best visible in the outback, were awe-inspiring.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
At 6:30am, we sneaked, literally, out of our motel room, since it involved taking our bikes and gear along a narrow wooden verandah past the sleeping occupants of a number of other rooms trying to avoid banging the various tables and chairs that obstructed our path. (Mind you, yesterday morning, when we were sleeping in, some other occupants had no problem holding a loud conversation outside as they left at 5:30am.)
After loading our bikes in the motel courtyard, we were on our way through the still-sleeping small town of Normanton and soon enjoying a beautiful dawn in the outback (see above). Knowing that we had 100 kilometres of unsealed road after the first 55 kilometres of sealed road, and an adverse wind, our stretch target for the day was to get to the end of the unsealed road and camp somewhere near the Leichhardt River crossing, leaving 72 kilometres to Burketown, the next settlement, where we had a cabin booked for tomorrow night. However, we were also happy to stop earlier today if the conditions were too difficult.
Once the sealed road ended, we were relieved to find the gravel road quite good. There were mild corrugations in places, and some soft edges, but when the wind let us, we made good time. The wind was from the south, and our overall direction was west-southwest, meaning that whenever our road veered to the left, the wind became a factor, and whenever it veered right, we cheered. The countryside was also a factor. Long stretches of open savannah grassland did nothing to dent the force of the wind, but elsewhere, savannah woodland provided some protection. Overall, it was still enjoyable riding, with our always-welcome breaks taken beneath trees, and if possible, out of the wind on a beautiful day.
It was cattle country, some behind roadside fences, and others roaming freely. Cattle grids were frequent and we saw a couple of large homesteads from the road. Usually we just see sign-posted side roads to the station homesteads.
By lunchtime, it became apparent that our rate of progress would get us to the Leichhardt River by 5pm and that's how it turned out, despite some roadworks sections that slowed us a little. When we got to the river, we found a broad hard rock river bed, with channels/billabongs filled with inviting translucent green water. No crocodiles were visible, and maybe none were there, but we resisted the urge to take a plunge. In the distance, near one of the large billabongs, were some trees, looking like over-decorated Christmas trees, filled with hundreds of screeching cockatoos. Quite a sight.
Camping on the rock riverbed near the billabongs was not an option with our tent, but we could see a number of campervans and caravans in the distance and thought we might try there. However, when we reached the access side road it was soft sand. We could have dragged the bikes in there, but decided to see if we could find somewhere more accessible a little further on (we were carrying enough water).
This proved a fateful decision. Firstly, the country immediately opened out with few trees or places to camp discreetly. Secondly, our direction of travel turned north and we were speeding along with a nice following wind. After about 45 minutes of fruitless campsite searching as we rode, we decided that, with 51 kilometres to go to Burketown, maybe we should continue on, even though we wouldn't get there until after 8pm. I tried, also fruitlessly, to get sufficient phone signal to call ahead to the caravan park where we had booked our cabin for tomorrow night to see if we could get the same cabin for tonight as well. We decided that, if no cabin was available, we could always just pitch our tent in a corner of the caravan park, so kept pedalling as the sun set (see above).
Eventually, I got enough signal to call, but there was no answer, so I left a garbled message …... and we kept pedalling. With twenty minutes to go, the park proprietor called back and confirmed we had a place to stay. It took a little while to find the park when we got to the poorly lit Burketown, but we finally made it. Check-in also took a little while as they were using a COVID-19 form that required the listing of each place we had stayed for the previous 14 days!!
Our cabin is a little pokey and over-priced (and I did find a dead grasshopper on my pillow and another on top of the toilet cistern), but we're grateful to the proprietor for going the extra mile to call back and open after hours to help us out. Showers were welcomed by our very dusty bodies and now we're having another day off as a reward for completing two days in one (and for having a very late night, by our standards). Bookings have also been made up ahead, though that may be changed tomorrow.
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