Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 072 - Tennant Creek to Wycliffe Well

Day:  072

Date: Friday, 11 September 2020

Start:  Tennant Creek

Finish:  Wycliffe Well

Daily Kilometres:  133 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  7467

Weather:  Hot, sunny and windy

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & lettuce sandwiches

  Lunch:  Toasted ham, cheese & tomato sandwiches

  Dinner:  Pizza/Hot dog & chips, ice-creams

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  None really

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We weren't planning to leave Tennant Creek very early, but as we were both awake soon after 4am, we decided we might as well get up and make the most of cooler and calmer conditions.  We weren't the only ones up early, and as we were loading our bikes outside our cabin and close to the chainlink fence surrounding the campground, a local out walking his dog, and possibly a little inebriated, greeted us very loudly and wished us well.

We rode out of the quiet town around 5am and headed south on a very flat and straight road.  There was hardly any other traffic, but we could see tail-lights of the couple of vehicles that passed for maybe ten minutes before they disappeared in the far distance.  By 5:30am, the sky was reddening to the east, and gradually dawn broke over the flat scrubby plains to both sides of us.  In contrast to most mornings, there was little wildlife evident, including birds.

The wind was absent and the flat road allowed us to maintain a good speed and we had covered 54km by the time we stopped for breakfast on the roadside at 7:30am.  As usual, the wind began picking up as the sun got higher, but mostly was from the east and across our path, and we rode another 35km before taking another break at a shaded picnic table in a highway rest area.

From there, we had an uphill ride, much of it into a stiff headwind, to the Devils Marbles Conservation Area in the Davenport Range, where we detoured from the Stuart Highway to pass through a series of large, often spherical, boulders, piled up like mounds of marbles.  It wasn't a large area, but contrasted starkly with the surrounding low hills.

Ten kilometres later, and back on the Stuart Highway, we reached the isolated Devils Marbles Hotel, formerly the Wauchope Hotel.  It was early, 11:45am, but we were ready for lunch, so ordered some toasted sandwiches and ate them in the air-conditioned pub watching the comings and goings of locals and travellers, including two police officers who we thought might have a bit of trouble with the annual physical.

We then cycled the remaining 17km to reach Wycliffe Well, our goal for the day, but the wind was gusty and occasionally against us, and the weather very warm, so it wasn't easy.  Wycliffe Well claims to be the UFO capital of Australia and the roadhouse has exploited that claim to the full, with murals, signage and alien figures everywhere.  There was some kind of celebration going on and the roadhouse was busy with a group of local aborigines enjoying lunch and a few drinks, but our room was available and we gratefully adjourned there to shower and rest up after our early start.

We later had dinner at the roadhouse, the only place with internet access, and also bought supplies for tomorrow, which will involve another early start ….. and therefore an early night.