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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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Today we made a total of 20 km.

Escaping the desert

The next morning welcomes us with cloudless sky and warm temperatures. This is giving us good hope. However, we have to wait until noon for the track to be rideable. Silently we wish for a truck to give us a ride to the sealed road… But the three cars we saw the last two days came from the direction we are heading to.

The terrain in now dominated by sandstone cliffs and table mountains. Occasionally we see trees, and everything is in lush green. The track now is absolutely dry, and is nice to ride – we are having fun again. Ideal weather to cover the 72 km to the sealed road.

The road to Windorah is only single track sealed, since there is not much traffic anyway, except for RoadTrains transporting oil from the oil fields in the desert to the coast. We have to leave the road if one of these giant trucks is passing by. They will not brake for us – and we have to be careful not to be hit by stones when they pass. Now that we are on paved road, we do not anymore need to worry about wet tracks… It seems paradox that we will not experience a single day of rain until we reach the coast, although we are now entering more tropic climate.

The Australian bush

100 km later the small paved road reaches the village Windorah allowing us to take a cold drink. The best camping spot then is 10 kilometers outside at the Coopers Creek. This is the same river we crossed already on the Birdsville Track between Maree and Mungerannie – there it was dry. Here it is now a big river, and maybe now even the desert part of this river is flooded. We take the opportunity for a refreshing swim.

From now on we can speed ahead: The days will be alike, getting up at 4:30 h, departure at 6 h, breakfast at 8 h. We make good use of the cool morning air as much as possible, and often we already cycled 80 to 90 kilometers until noon. Then we ...