Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 046 - Borroloola

Day:  046

Date: Sunday, 16 August 2020

Start:  Borroloola

Finish:  Borroloola

Daily Kilometres:  0

Total Kilometres:  4834

Weather:  Warm to hot and sunny all day

Accommodation:  Cabin

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Porridge

  Lunch:  Chicken, cabana & chips

  Dinner:  Chicken parmigiana & vegetables, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  None really

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

It was a bit of a nothing day, but certainly welcomed by my fatigued body.  Just walking down to the service station 500m away last night was an effort.

Our day got off to a slow start before we decided to walk 1.5km up to the main part of the small town mid-morning, before the heat set in, to see what delights the "supermarkets" had in store, and to look around. Borroloola is primarily an aboriginal town, but also the home of the shire council.  The public facilities, such as the school, looked well cared for, but the dry dusty sun-baked laid-back feel of an outback town still shone through.  We spread our largesse around town by buying some food and other supplies in both of the small stores before walking back to our cabin under a bright hot sun.

Back at the cabin, Julie took care of our laundry and cleaning the dust off our bags (everything has ingrained red dust), while I did some trip planning and booking (yes, very traditional task allocation!).  I also spent some time cleaning out my handlebar bag, in which I store things for easy access during the day, because a motel cake of soap I had thrown in there had broken open and been pulverised into powder over the last three days, coating everything with a fine layer of soap.  At least it was easier to clean than the egg salad sandwich Julie had pulverised in her handlebar bag early in our trip.

For lunch, we walked down to the service station and bought some take-out, along with supplies for tomorrow's ride, and the afternoon was spent doing some more chores, catching up on correspondence and phone calls, repacking, and generally lazing around enjoying the air-conditioning.  The occupants of the other cabins, most of whom seem to be workers of some description or other, were doing the same thing, lounging around on their verandahs chatting or reading or using their laptops on their day off.

Dinner was a microwaved meal and then more laziness before an early night.  We are looking forward to riding on a sealed road tomorrow.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 045 - Robinson River to Borroloola

Day:  045

Date: Saturday, 15 August 2020

Start:  Robinson River Crossing

Finish:  Borroloola

Daily Kilometres:  108 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  4834

Weather:  Mild early then warm to hot and partly sunny

Accommodation:  Cabin

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Muesli

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Pizza, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Completing the 317km ride from Hells Gate Roadhouse to Borroloola.  We suspected it would be tough, but it was even tougher than anticipated.  Bikes, bodies and bags were all given a very good workout over three days by the rough road in very warm conditions.  Though we survived, and gained a great sense of satisfaction from the physical accomplishment and from experiencing such a remote part of Australia, not sure we would want to do it (by bike) again anytime soon.

Lowlight:  Knowing we had 108km to Borroloola, where showers, ice creams and cold drinks awaited us, and knowing we had only managed 94km yesterday, we were keen to make a good start.  However, almost as soon as we left camp we struck sand so deep we were pushing our bikes, and we continued to regularly hit similar patches of sand for the first 10km, severely denting our optimism.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 6am and were riding (I use the term loosely) by 7am with a brilliant dawn lighting the sky behind us.  We knew we had a challenging day ahead and were hoping for some early good fortune with the road conditions, but were soon disappointed (see above).

However, there was no alternative but to just keep riding as much as we could, and after 10km the road quality did improve, relatively.  Our pace picked up and we kept going, with almost zero traffic, until 9am when we stopped for breakfast by the road, with 27km done.  While we were eating, two 4WD vehicles towing camping trailers, and carrying three generations of a family from Port Macquarie, pulled up for a chat and to see if we needed anything.  They said they had been following our tyre tracks in the sand for two days and wondered who would be riding a bike on this road.  They kindly gave us some cold water to drink (the water in our bottles is always warm), and we wished each other well.

We caught them again at a creek crossing a few kilometres down the road where they had stopped to let the grandchildren have a play in the beautiful clear running water.  Larger lagoons were up and downstream, and I wouldn't have been keen to swim in them.  Crocodiles!  Other people were also stopped at the pretty creek and one told Julie that we were a topic of discussion amongst travellers on the track.  As we were leaving, the grandparents offered us a cold Tim Tam biscuit each, which was gratefully accepted.

At breakfast, I worked out that if we could manage at least 20 kilometres in each 90 minute spell of riding, we would get to Borroloola by 5pm, in time, hopefully, to find a cabin or motel room, though it was Saturday night in a remote country town and there had to be a good chance all accommodation was taken.  The average road conditions did gradually improve all day, but there were still frequent stretches of sand that required walking, and corrugations slowing progress.  It was also getting very hot, and we took the opportunity to have a splash at the next creek crossing, another beautiful spot, which coincided with a scheduled break.

As the day wore on, we seemed to be just staying in front of our schedule, though it required constant effort.  Nearer Borroloola, I turned on my mobile phone in the hope that as soon as we got reception I would be alerted by notifications, and that's what happened just before our last break at the top of a hill.  I called the caravan park in Borroloola and booked their sole remaining cabin for the night.  It was bigger than we need, and a bit pricey, but beggars can't be choosers.

Knowing we now had somewhere to stay, and with the help of a nice following wind and better road, the last hour flew by and soon after crossing the Macarthur River we were riding into Borroloola.  We stopped at the small service station on the way into town and bought some cold drinks which we took to the caravan park about 500m up the road and checked in around 4:30pm.  Some police were there for some reason, and one of them commented that they had seen us 150km back down the road yesterday.  He was impressed. 

Our cabin, which we have booked for two nights (a recovery day is warranted), is very nice and after showers we walked to a nearby cafe to order take-out pizza, and a small supermarket for some other supplies.  That makes it sound like a normal little town, but what we have seen so far is very dry, very spread out, and a bit rundown.  However, we are very happy to be here (see above).

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 044 - Highway 16 to Robinson River

Day:  044

Date: Friday, 14 August 2020

Start:  Junction Highway 1 & Highway 16, Northern Territory (NT)

Finish:  Robinson River Crossing

Daily Kilometres:  94 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  4726

Weather:  Cool and misty early, then sunny and warm to hot

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Muesli

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Soup, 2-minute noodles

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Undoubtedly the fully-clothed dip at the end of the day in the Robinson River. 

Lowlight:  Once again, the corrugations, soft sand/dust and rocks of the road.  This is Highway 1, Australia's premier road, circumnavigating the continent, but you would never guess.  Our average speed today was 10kph, and we frequently had to walk the bikes through dust too deep to ride through, and both had falls.  The whole day was spent trying to guess which line was the best to ride, bouncing up and down over rocks and corrugations, and putting in spurts of effort to get through softer sections.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We didn't have a great day.  It started out OK, when just down the road from where we were camped on an eerily misty morning, we encountered two policemen manning the Northern Territory's COVID-19 checkpoint.  After a friendly chat and a bit of paperwork, we were allowed to continue.

From there, we actually made reasonable time for the 26km to the Calvert River where we had breakfast and replenished our water supplies for the day.  It was like an oasis in the savannah, with cool water lagoons, lilies and tropical vegetation, and would have been a good camping spot.

After the river, our day became very tough.  It was hot and dusty hard work on the bad road (see above) with flies constantly and annoyingly in our faces.  There was very little traffic, which generally fell into two categories, those who waved and sped by covering us in dust, and those who waved, but slowed down to spare us the dust and sometimes to ask whether we needed anything.  Our team's social secretary, Julie, was always up for a quick chat on such occasions.

With only 71km to go from our breakfast stop to Robinsons River, we were hopeful of going further before stopping for the night, but as the day wore on and we were worn down, just making the river became our dream.  The last 20km of road was particularly onerous, taking us over two hours, with long sandy sections and never-ending corrugations.  We were very happy to reach the river just after the sun set at around 5:45pm.  There was nowhere to camp close to the river, and not recommended because of crocodiles, so we took a break, filled every water container we had (we can carry about 20 litres), then had a dip in the very inviting clear river, fully-clothed.  Heaven!  We are absolutely caked in red dust at the end of a day such as today.

After the dip, we pushed our bikes up the hill on the other side of the river and found a place to camp.  Both exhausted, we set up camp as quickly as we could, ate and went to bed hoping that the road is a little better tomorrow.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 043 - Hells Gate to Highway 16

Day:  043

Date: Thursday, 13 August 2020

Start:  Hells Gate Roadhouse

Finish:  Junction Highway 1 & Highway 16, Northern Territory (NT)

Daily Kilometres:  115 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  4632

Weather:  Mild to hot and mostly sunny

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & bacon rolls

  Lunch:  Ham salad sandwiches

  Dinner:  Soup, 2-minute noodles

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Entering the Northern Territory after six weeks on the road.

Lowlight:  Corrugations, followed by soft sand/dust and rocks.  It was, for the most part, a very hard ride today.  Often our speed was less than 10kph as we sought to make progress through endless corrugations, looking for solid, slightly less uneven, ground and bumping up and down with everything shaking.  I fell off twice when I couldn't disengage my cleat fast enough when the dust became too soft to make forward progress.  We were teased with a few more even sections, but it rarely lasted long  and once we entered the Northern Territory, the road was rarely easy.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We slept in until 6:30am, knowing that the roadhouse did not open until 7am  and we planned to get breakfast there as well as some sandwiches for lunch (and, of course, some Coke for the road).  We let the tent dry a little, after an unexpected overnight dew, while we had breakfast and then packed up and left soon after 8am.  Later than we had intended, but we were crossing into the Central Australian Time Zone today, so would get 30 minutes back.

The Northern Territory border was 50 kilometres away and we had been told the police would be there to check our entry permits.  In those 50 kilometres, we encountered our first bad roads, and also some crews working on road maintenance.  At one place, we were told to follow a grader through a section as he graded it, but as we suspected, the dirt was to soft to ride on and we ended up pushing our bikes through.  We reached the border in the late morning, but apart from warning signs, no police or any other controls and we pedalled on.  It was in the middle of nowhere, so I was not surprised.

The savannah woodland was quite thick in places and as we got further into the NT, some impressive dark rocky outcrops began to appear.  There were occassional cattle roaming through the woods and a couple of water bores, but no other signs of civilisation apart from a rare passing vehicle or truck (and lots of wrecked ones by the road).

It had become very warm and fighting the testing road conditions (see above) was wearing us down, though we didn't stop for lunch until around 1pm.  We were going through our fluids fast, and although we still had plenty left, we resolved to top up our water, either at a creek crossing (none had any water, apart from one signposted as contaminated, near an old mine), or if offered by a passing motorist.  We got our chance for the latter near the top of a killer hill, up which we walked the last 100 metres, when a passing tourist offered us water and we accepted.  He waited for us at the top of the hill and we drank our fill as well as topping up some water bottles, giving us enough to camp for the night without finding more water,

We had thought, with some luck, that we might reach the Calvert River today, where we do hope to find water, but it was 141 kilometres, and just too far in the hot weather and difficult road.  We kept pedalling, albeit slowly, until around 5:45pm when we followed a track off the road and found a place to camp.  We quickly set up, had a flannel wash, which barely impacted the thick layers of caked dust, ate dinner and went to bed, very tired, knowing we have to do it all over again tomorrow. 

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 042 - Burketown to Hell's Gate

Day:  042

Date: Wednesday, 12 August 2020

Start:  Burketown

Finish:  Hells Gate Roadhouse

Daily Kilometres:  178 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  4517

Weather:  Cool early then warm to hot and sunny all day

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  A few jelly beans

  Lunch:  Hot dog, ice-creams

  Dinner:  Hamburger & chips

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Maybe not really a highlight, but we were happy there was less gravel road than expected.  Probably only 20 kilometres, when we thought it might be up to 50.

Lowlight:  Arriving at the Tirranna Roadhouse, where we planned to get breakfast, at 8am and finding it did not open until 8:30am, according to the sign.  Of course, we could have hung around for 30 minutes to see if it opened (not guaranteed), but we had a big day in front of us and didn't want to waste time.  There was another roadhouse 60 kilometres down the road, so we had a drink and a few jelly beans and kept going.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Our stealthy departure soon after 6am from the closely packed and thin-walled cabins at the caravan park was foiled when I accidentally banged the bell on my bike which is quite loud. Curses!

As usual, the early riding was sensational.  The sun was slowly rising in a clear sky behind us (and in our rear-view mirrors) and the savannah grassland around us gradually came to life.  Wallabies, a brolga and an eagle were seen, as well as many other birds and plenty of cattle.  Along the way, we forded the Gregory River, which was flowing and bordered by lush green tropical vegetation.  An oasis in the dry savannah.

After 30 kilometres, we reached the small Tirranna Roadhouse where we planned to get breakfast, but it was closed (see above), so after a short break we continued on.

In another 60 kilometres we reached the Doomadgee Roadhouse, located in an aboriginal community that has made headlines in the past for the wrong reasons.  In fact, we had been warned in Burketown to be careful of our belongings in Doomadgee, but that may just have been some white prejudice showing through.  Anyway, we are always careful of our belongings, and it was no different in Doomadgee.

The roadhouse was a busy place, with a constant stream of locals driving or walking in to buy various things.  A fairly extensive electronic menu was displayed behind the counter, and it turned out we could have anything we liked, as long as it was a hot dog: so that's what we had for lunch, sitting on the nearby grass in the shade of a tree on what had turned out to be a hot day.

Later, when I went back into the roadhouse, a local in his 50s asked me politely whether I would mind telling him how old I was.  He was impressed, and we ended up having a long chat as we waited to be served.  A lady, who I presume was his wife, was in front of us in the queue with a friend.  At one point she turned and took a good look at me in my (flattering) bike shorts then said something to her friend and they both dissolved into a fit of giggles.  I suspect the comment was non-complimentary!

From Doomadgee, which we left around 12:30pm, we knew we were in for a long hot afternoon to reach our goal for the day, the Hells Gate Roadhouse, 81 kilometres away, some of which was going to be gravel road.  By the time of our first break, we both felt very dehydrated, and thankful we had purchased extra fluids at the roadhouse.  Even then, we could have done with more.  The temperature was in the mid-30s (°C), and even Julie, who was earlier saying how much she liked the warmth, was changing her mind!  Despite the warmth, we were still enjoying the ride, with almost no traffic and the end of cattle country.  Now the vegetation was endless savannah woodland which, in many places, had the undergrowth burned away by low-intensity fire, presumably lit by the local indigeous people.  We even saw some brumbies (wild horses), along with the usual wallabies.

With about a litre left between us and only 48 kilometres to go, we were fine, and rode for another 90 minutes, and onto gravel road before we took a final break, and drank the last of our fluids.  We arrived at the Hells Gate Roadhouse a little after 5pm, well-satisfied with our day's effort.  We paid the camping fee (all cabins booked, presumably by roadwork crews) and bought another cold 1.25 litre bottle of drink each, which we drank while setting up our tent in the very nice and large grassy campground.

There were slim pickings at the roadhouse for dinner and drinks, which we ate in the outside eating area next to a loud half dozen "well-hydrated" backpackers, but the staff are exceptionally helpful and friendly, and the facilities are good.

Tomorrow, after 50 kilometres, we cross into the Northern Territory.  There is a border control there to prevent people from COVID hotspots entering.  We have filled out an online application, so are hopeful it all goes smoothly, but you never know.

No internet access for the next two to four days as we tackle the 320 kilometres of questionable quality unsealed road to the next settlement/resupply at Borroloola.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 041 - Burketown

Day:  041

Date: Tuesday, 11 August 2020

Start:  Burketown

Finish:  Burketown

Daily Kilometres:  0

Total Kilometres:  4339

Weather:  Cool early then warm and sunny

Accommodation:  Cabin

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & bacon rolls

  Lunch:  Egg & lettuce roll, custard donut/Chicken salad roll, chocolate brownie

  Dinner:  Pizza, ice-creams

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  None really

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Not much happened today.  We were slow to get up after our late night and walked over to the town cafe for breakfast, which we ate at a table outside.

Then it was back to the cabin and some laundry, trip-planning and lazing around until it was lunchtime and another walk across the manicured town park to the same cafe for lunch.  It was quite warm by now, but very pleasant sitting in the shade outside the cafe watching the small town world go by (very slowly).

On our way back to the cabin we detoured via the town information centre and exhibits and then the post office, hoping to mail back home a few more things we don't need any more.  Alas, it is closed on Tuesday afternoon.  I returned to the cabin to do some more trip planning, while Julie walked down to see an old artesian bore that still brings to the surface scalding hot mineralised water, where it runs off and evaporates to leave a landscape of mineral deposits.

After more lazing around, we walked to the town cafe yet again to get dinner and had a welcome early night.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 040 - Normanton to Burketown

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.