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Report of a self-supported and self-planned bicycle tour on the famous Birdsville Track, Australia. Monsoon rains added an unexpected degree of difficulty...

Summer, Sun, Sand and Mud - cycling the Birdsville Track, Australia

Waltraud
2004-03-05 13:53:55

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/>It is mid January, fields are harvested, and grass is yellow. The landscape north of Adelaide is formed through agriculture. Not too long ago, this was Eucalyptus forest – not too much is left. Kangaroos have become more and more of a pest and are often run over by cars. We can tell the smell a long time ahead. Sheep are grazing on the fields. A lot of farms and even whole towns seem abandoned, and decay with time. Smaller towns like Burra, Petersborough, Ororoo, and Hawker are not worthwhile to stop. Besides a gas station, a supermarket, and some sort of "historic site" (usually an old rotten building or an old technical device), there is not much to see. We are only interested in cold drinks... Despite the heat and the occasional hot winds from northern directions, we make good progress about 120 km a day.

Wallabies and strange lizards

Since we are on the road with the first glimpse of dawn, we see and hear nature wake up. This intensive experience makes us forget, that we have to get up at about 4:15h. The cool morning air keeps our skin dry, no sweat runs down the cheeks and crystallizes into salt... We are delighted by the different birds we hear and often also see. There are kangaroos, wallabies, even dingos, lizards, and flocks of galahs, and other birds. We are most impressed by a small lizard, which looks like a pinecone an has a bright blue tongue. Snakes we see only as dead ones run over by cars.

Another bloody village

Did you ever hear of Carrieton? No? No wonder. It seems like the end of the world... The sealed road stops here, and then there is a chapel, a hotel with bar, a mailbox, and a small gas station, clean public toilets, and a swimming pool (we think) with nice and tidy lawn around it. We only need water to fill our supplies. But nobody seems to live here. Not a single human sound. Only a dog barking in the distance. We are in the center of the village and wonder how we could get some ...