Day 7 Tuesday 17/5/11
Before pulling out of Mt Isa – Terry convinced me to do a quick peruse of Mansworld – being a mens outfitter (get your minds out of the gutter – it’s not a sex shop!!). Then the road between Mt Isa and Cloncurry was beautiful and one of the nicest rides to date! At Cloncurry – it was right turn clyde and started our haul down the Lansborough (Matilda) Highway. We pulled into Winton around 4pm and found a motel room. By the time we unpacked and got back to the Waltzing Matilda Centre it was too late in the afternoon to have a look around – so we did a quick walk around town, checked out a couple of the local pubs and then had dinner at the RSL. Apparently it was the first night for the restaurant to open again – it wasn’t a bad meal either.
Day 8 Wednesday 18/5/11
We have an easy day planned today – as we were only riding 175kms to Longreach. We wanted to check out the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton and then head down the road to check out the attractions in Longreach and should have plenty of time. After our tour of the centre in Winton, we found out that all was not too well back in the office with Lauren being checked into hospital – so after a number of phone calls with her and a few others, and a little rearranging of roles – we finally got on the road to Longreach. It is a great town and probably one of my favorites in outback Queensland! We went to the Qantas Founders Museum and Terry did a tour of the Beoing 707 aircraft – which he enjoyed a great deal!
Before heading out to dinner over more cheese & biscuits and wine – we planned the upcoming days rides.
Day 9 Thursday 19/5/11
For those who know me, know that I have Garmin Zumo GPS which I have fondly called Harriett (Harriett in my chariot). You may also know that I call her a lying bitch. She told me that it was only 385kms from Longreach to Charleville – BUT it turned out to be over 500kms!!!! Given that it was only going to be 385kms – we decided to check out the Stockmans Hall of Fame before leaving town. MISTAKE!!!!
After running into Andrea & Ken from Nedswear in the carpark at the Hall of Fame – we finally got moving towards Charleville – it was only 385kms right???? WRONG!!!!
It was a hard day on our mobile office today – it was the Day of the Kangaroos!!!
Between Longreach and Barcaldine – the road kill count was 118!!! It was only 105kms!!! So it was more than 1 item per km!!! When we pulled into for a quick wee stop in Tambo, and as I got back on the bike, I asked a lady there how long it was to Charleville – she said about 220kms which I thought was a little much – but then she said “watch out for the roo’s”!!! I said to her it is only 3pm – she then told me that they come out about now. SHIT!! Now I was on full alert and the head games began!!! Now I have to say sorry to all the conservationist, but I have decided that the only good kangaroo is a dead one!!! Particularly when I am riding a bike!! I forced myself to stay relaxed, stay in the middle of the road, don’t panic, keep talking to myself – yeah like that was working! I was a cot case!! I didn’t think I was going to make it all the way through to Charleville and contemplated staying at Auguthella. That was until we arrived to the town and I quickly changed my mind!! After leaving Auguthella within 1km – a roo jumped out at Terry and clipped the bike!! It didn’t bring him down, but it heightened our awareness, making the next 100kms very strenuous. It was a real head job – with me constantly chatting to myself saying “just ride the bike and stop looking for roo’s “ We saw about another 5 live ones before pulling in for the afternoon. We have now completed around 3200kms so I quickly cracked a bottle of wine and celebrated the fact that I had succeeded this days ride!
Tomorrow we are off to Bourke – I will check out the Kms a little better so we don’t get caught short on time!!!
More news shortly!!!
