Training on the job was taking its toll and today I was struggling. It was only about an hour before I parked myself under the nearest tree giving me a chance to try out the small chair I picked up in Bourke, a luxury I thought I could do without was now a blessing.
I tried my best to carry on into the morning. It wasn't until I saw my first emus that my spirits were lifted. Like most animals I had encountered so far they are timid at best and quickly race into the bush, first pausing before their long slender neck straightens out, and their off. It was quite a sight to see and it makes me let out a big "Woo Hoo!" I punch the air as if to cheer them on. Out of the corner of my eye I notice a straggler left behind by his mates, it runs along side before overtaking me and springs across the road and disappears into the bush.
The wind is thwarting efforts to push on. I have given myself two days to reach Enngonia which is 90km from Bourke and before lunch reaches I feel completely spent. The temperature has risen and for the first time since Dubbo I am on foot. Driven by the chance of finding a better camping spot I eventually succumb to the day and retire. I sit and wait for the sun to go down, occupying my time by dealing with the flies and filling myself with food. As I attempt to sleep I can feel my sweat pool up beneath me, I am knackered and before long I'm deep asleep.
The sun on my face wakes me and now all I have to do is let my body catch up. I feel stiff and sore after only 35km yesterday and when I exit my tent the immediate barrage of flies quickens my movements. The air has a touch of cool, unlike the microwave I had to deal with yesterday, and coupled with the lack of wind makes for a pleasant ride.
I am humming along not wishing to stop and lose my rhythm until the first wild goats appear on the roadside. A pack of about ten look completely startled as soon as we detect eachother and before I can get my camera out they're gone.
The scenery is absolutely dry and the red earth beams from either side of the road. As I trudge up a long hill a 4WD slows along side me looking for the obligatory thumbs up. We exchange smiles before he speeds off.
Its as if I have been in a trance all morning as I am surprised to reach Enngonia just before 11am. Its a tiny place and like any place in the outback with a population of more than 5 there is a pub which doubles as the post office/general store and caravan park (or patch of grass and a tree). I peek at the thermometer as I wait for the pub to open and at 11am, for the second day in a row, its tipping 40 degreees in the shade.
Continuing on today is useless and the pub would become my home for the remainder of the day. Owned by an ex shearer, Greg, and excellent host lets me camp out the back and have a shower before sitting quietly in the pub until the sun goes down.
Enngonia is located on the Warrego River 40km from the NSW/QLD boarder and unfortunately this section of the river has been bone dry for the past two years (or in Australian, 'Dry as a dead dingo's donger'). I take a walk after lunch to check it out and the offensive dry heat quickly forces me back inside.
I'm locked in the Enngonia pubs backyard until 8am when Greg arrives to let me out. There are promises of a repeat of yesterdays heat and the immediate plan is to make Barringun situated only 40km away on the boarder. A gentle morning ride through the outback awaits.
Moments after leaving the sealed road becomes dirt, its loose and rocky making for difficult momentum and would continue for the next 5km. I use this opportunity to walk for a while and take a good look around. I grin as I review the scenery, amazed at myself as to where I was.
The wind continues to keep my pace to a minimum and Barringun is entered before the midday sun can bite. Barringun is smaller that Enngonia and is home to the oldest publican in Australia. Mary Crawley of the Barringun Pub is 90 years old. Although accommodation and food are no longer available, she still manages to serve drinks to passers by from the confides of the bar which seem to double as her living room.
As its food and a place to camp is what I am after I continue to the roadhouse just around the corner. I expected a big shiny roadhouse as I have always known on the main highways. Instead I am met with a tin shed as rustic as it gets although beaming with character.
I am greeted inside by Betty who works here with her son Darryl. I decide to splurge on an air con shack for the night but am left disappointed as the two available are already taken. For $5 I can camp in the old outdoor kitchen, an open tin shed teeming with flies and creaking as the wind blows. It seems like a fair trade off to be able to also use the facilities and relax in the air conditioned roadhouse. After all, I need to adapt to this heat sooner or later. The third day at 40degrees + is testing me in these early stages. Stern warnings of the imminent humidity of the north are described as "heaps worse" than the dry heat of my current location.
Using the shower is a test in itself. The knobs are unmarked and I turn what I think is the cold, waiting, only to feel warm water flowing from the shower head. I give it sufficient time before switching taps and almost instantly scorching hot water flows. I have since learnt that bore water is warm at the best of times and it will have to do.
I meet Daryl, another ex shearer, who owns the roadhouse and caters for the trucks which frequent this route travelling from Sydney to Darwin, much the same as myself. Albeit sans truck. "Make yourself at home" he tells me making me feel ever so comfortable to hang out in his tin shed for the afternoon and making sure I have enough water to take with me for the final stretch to Cunnamulla. "Its too bloody hot to camp out there, come with me. Ill shout ya." Daryl takes me upstairs to a bed sit he keeps reserved for visiting family. There is an air conditioner and a bathroom at my disposal. He is sure the air con blows cold and we turn it on and leave it to do its thing. I am then given the run down as to avoiding his guard dog on my exit in the morning. A genuine snarling, crazy eyed, vicious dog tethered by a thick chain. It runs at me as soon as it picks up my scent only to be halted as the chain tensioned around its neck, reminding me of the dog from a FogHorn LegHorn cartoon. I park my bike next to a sheep in the shed and wait for the cooler evening to retreat upstairs for an early night.
The heat had, unfortunately not dissipated from my new quarters as the air conditioner blew cool air faintly into the room. I thought perhaps it would be more comfortable outside but I didn't want to seem ungrateful. If it wasn't for the running water so close I would have surely moved.
Cunnamulla is now 115km away and I rise before the sun. I feel especially determined this morning, and after a couple of easy days I feel pumped to go for it. Although I wasn't checking the weather forecast as I went, kind locals on my travels continually give me updates and today's forecast was much the same as the previous three days, 40+.
Barringun was right on the boarder and within moments I was in QLD, another milestone picking up my spirits. Determination to make today's distance stops me from absorbing the majesty of the sunrise in the outback. Few photos are taken as I put my head down utilising the cool air and minimal wind.
35km flies by and I begin to feel optimistic before the debacle of the day is established, A flat rear tyre forces stoppage.
Changing the rear tube is a mission as the rack and tension and alignment of the rear wheel and chain add to the time consumption. Only moments into the task and a ute pulls up. Steve takes care of many of the properties in the area and happily offers assistance. He wants to drive me to Cunnamulla but I must refuse. He is genuinely worried about me out here, especially with the imminent heat. He leaves me some water anyway which i quickly consume.
Back on the Highway and the terrain becomes extremely flat and open once again, with only few trees offering relief. Before I can even find my rhythm again my rear tyre begins to deflate. Had I underestimated the harshness of the landscape and the thorny shrubs which line the highway? I am forced to push my bike a couple of kilometres with a flat tyre to locate the nearest tree. It was easily 40 degrees already at 11am and it would not be fortuitous to stop in the sun for any lengthy period of time. Another car passes before turning back and offering me a lift, "You know its going to be 45 today" information I was aware of and I smile as if its nothing. Reluctantly I refuse as I hastily change another tube. With only one patched tube left as a spare. I carefully inspect my tyre as I had done previously and under closer inspection and now notice small thorns completely embedded into the tyre. Although they don't protrude on the inside I take the extra time removing them with a pair of pliers before reassembling.
The wind had now picked up and it feels as if someone has their hand on my chest pushing me back. Along the roadside locusts fill the grassy shrubs, and like some sort of locust mexican wave, they crash into me in there hundreds as I pass. I feel like I am in a microwave as I lean into the wind, on foot, searching for the next tree. Distance is distorted in the heat and perseverance finds me shade. Its now incredibly hot, I wonder what the hell I'm actually doing out here as I refuse one last offer of a lift from a passer by. Its takes all my resolve to refuse this one as I try to act tough. All my fluids are now extremely warm and any chance of cooling down is now a battle of patience as I sit under a tree and rest.
Flies have increased ten fold and locusts now jump around in the dry grass at my feet. As long as I stay still the flies settle on my body, slight movements sending them back into the air around my face with a deafening buzz. My appetite is all but gone so I draw energy from a tube of condensed milk I had been carrying since home.
Scattered clouds begin to roll in temporarily shielding the sun, this is when I would make my move from tree to tree. I will on the rain, looking up to the sky hoping for any pause from the heat, even if just for a moment. While perched under a tree I decide to accept a ride from the next car that stops. Ironically the traffic has now completely stopped and not a car is to be seen. Was this divine intervention perhaps? Maybe its too hot to be even driving around and I seem to be the only living thing silly enough to be out here. Apart from the insects there is not another living sole to be seen. All I can do is wait it out, feeling completely drained.
The afternoon rolls on and the sky brings some welcome shade. As soon as the sun is hidden its as if the temperature drops a couple of degrees instantaneously. I somehow summon the energy to move on, perhaps driven only by the tube of condensed milk I had consumed. My water was beginning to run low and for the first time I have to ration as there is nowhere to get drinking water until Cunnamulla.
I remember being told of the QLD stock route, bore water drinking stations used for cattle driven up the countryside. These are signposted with a picture of a drinking cow and a distance from the road. Faintly I can see one of these signs and as I approach I see there is a trough and a water tank only a couple of hundred meters from the road. I leave my bike, reluctant to take it from the sanctuary of the thorn free road and walk over to inspect. To my absolute delight I find a trough filled with bore water. A little green but perfect to bath in, a genuine oasis in the outback. In a flash my day has been turned around. I need not go any further, at last check I had somehow travelled 60km leaving me in a prime position to blast on to Cunamulla in the morning 55km away.
I retrieve my BMX and set up camp in the open, spending the remainder of the day's light bathing in the cool bovine drink, watching the local birdlife. I watch the sun go down as the horizon puts on a display of lightening 360 degrees around me. What seems as if an inevitable storm never reaches me as I drift off, pleased to have persevered. The alarm is set for 5am, hell bent on not being stuck again and with only two litres of water left I would have to be quick in the morning.
I wake before my alarm, half hanging outside my open tent on the ground. The flies begin their attack straight away and all I can think about is a cool drink and a rest in Cunnamaulla. This was now my 8th day in a row on the bike and I was due for a day off.
Rationing water was more difficult than I thought and my kidneys were working overtime as I used my last ounces of energy to make a dash for town. I knew my water was getting low so I had to hurry.
I could see roadworks in the distance and fatigue forces me off the bike. Slowly walking I reach the first traffic controller, his first words to me are "Would you like a cold drink mate?" I couldn't have been more grateful and feelings of yesterday afternoons revelations came over me. I was extremely grateful of the kind natured stranger. He tells me I'm only 15km from Cunnamulla and I know I would be safe soon. I move slowly through the roadworks stopping to chat with the other workers, all bemused as to why I was out here on my BMX. I felt extremely empowered.
With nothing left in the tank I make it to Cunnamulla. Walking through town to the information I sit slumped in a chair on the balcony of the building. Mik,e the information guy, comes outside to greet me with a big smile and a firm handshake. An absolutely pleasant bloke directing me to a cool drink. I decide on some menial accommodation for the next few days, somewhere to recover in a cool room with a comfortable bed. Mike suggests the pub where he tells me Bob would happily take care of me. At that point I remember Greg from Girallimbone had suggested this very place about a week ago.
It was not to disappoint and had everything I required, a cold shower, food and a bed. Everything I had dreamt of over the past couple of days was now a reality. I was happy and safe in Cunamulla "Where the handshake's stronger and the smile lasts longer!"
To be continued....
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