Julie and I were supposed to be hiking the 5,000km Continental Divide Trail in the US in 2020, but COVID-19 derailed that plan. Instead, we will have an adventure in Australia, circumnavigating the country on our bikes, a distance of about 16,500km taking approximately five and a half months. We will use minor roads where possible and occasionally catch ferries across rivers and inlets to avoid busier inland routes. We will camp some of the time and stay in motels, hotels, etc, at others. There will be stretches of up to five days with no accommodation or resupply available, so we will need to be self-sufficient.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 073 - Wycliffe Well to Ti-Tree

Day:  073

Date: Saturday, 12 September 2020

Start:  Wycliffe Well

Finish:  Ti-Tree

Daily Kilometres:  182 (click for Julie's  Strava  and  photos)

Total Kilometres:  7649

Weather:  Hot, sunny and breezy

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Bread & jam/Bread & peanut butter

  Lunch:  Pastie, bread & tuna/Sausage roll, bread & peanut butter

  Dinner:  Fish, salad & chips/Hamburger & chips, cheesecake.

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  For some reason, I had not factored the Barrow Creek Roadhouse into today's logistics planning, and we carried supplies for the whole day to be self-sufficient.  But, after seeing it appear on a few signposts, we became hopeful it might be open, and it was.  We arrived at the old atmospheric roadhouse/pub, adjacent to the historic telegraph station, at 10am, and had a second breakfast (or early lunch) and some cold drinks, sitting at a bench on their verandah, admiring the spectacular desert scenery and chatting with other travellers.

Lowlight:  Both of us take pictures while we are riding, Julie with her phone and me with my camera.  Today, for the first time on the trip, while I was readying my camera for a shot, I managed to drop it.  It bounced and rolled a few times, but seems to have survived.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

With 182km on the agenda, and uncertain wind conditions, we got up at 4am and left the motel at 4:45am.  We were a bit worried that we might be locked in, as like many caravan parks, they locked their gates at night.  Usually there's a passcode or similar, but Wycliffe Well wasn't that sophisticated.  One of the two friendly and very hard-working young south Asian guys running the place assured me he would open the gate in time for our very early departure and, sure enough, it was ajar and unlocked so not a problem.

We had left early to take advantage of the usual cool and calm pre-dawn conditions but, although coolness was delivered, there was a slight headwind that made pedalling an effort.  As Julie said, it felt like someone had their hand lightly on our brakes for two and a half hours.  The road was also very gradually uphill, so that didn't help, and we had to work to maintain a 20kph average.  For our first break, we aimed for a rest area 50km from our motel and reached there about 7:30am, which was a good result.

While we were eating breakfast, the wind seemed to strengthen a little and swing round to be more easterly which, since we were cycling in a generally south-south-west direction, was good news, and so it proved.  The cycling became easier and faster and we made good time through the arid country, including up several low ranges of hills.  Around us were attractive red escarpments and bluffs, adding interest between the long flat straight stretches that made up much of our day.  This was the area made famous by the murder of British tourist, Peter Falconio, and the attempted abduction of his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, who hid in the roadside scrub to evade her attacker.

We reached the Barrow Creek Roadhouse/Pub at 10am, having covered half our distance for the day, and celebrated with a cold drink and snack (see above).  From there, we continued to gently climb through the dry hills and then crossed more flat scrubby country where a sign informed us that we were now in the Central Desert.

For most of the day, we were passing through cattle station country, though we only saw a few cattle.  Occasionally, there were side roads leading to cattle stations, some more than a hundred kilometres away, while other side roads led to aboriginal communities, often with restricted access.  Apart from galahs early on, we didn't see any wildlife, and Julie commented that we didn't see any roadkill all day either.

Our afternoon seemed to pass fairly quickly, though the last 10km of any section always seems to drag.  The wind shifted around a bit, and sometimes was against and sometimes in favour of us.  We were happy to reach the small aboriginal settlement of Ti-Tree around 3:30pm, after a big kilometre day, and checked into the roadhouse/motel.  We later had dinner at the roadhouse, and with another long day scheduled tomorrow, went to bed early (again).

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