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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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tent: We experience a thunderstorm which is the most scary one in our lives (so far). The air is tense, the wind is a storm, the rain comes in horizontally, and lightnings are bright and in seconds intervals. There is no other dry spot on the whole campground except for the toilet building. Since we are the only guests, we spend the night in the toilet booth, while outside our bikes are drowning.

Clouds of cotatoos, and clouds of flies

On the crack of dawn we look outside the toilet house and see a landscape of small lakes. Nothing is like it was yesterday. Water everywhere… Maree is without electricity. The track luckily is not under water. One hour after sunrise the track is dry and it rides like concrete. We can make good progress. No headwind today. Also not from behind. No wind – that indicates temperatures above 40°C… The heat makes us suffer. Until noon temperatures have already reached the 50s. We rest under a tree in a dry river bed near the farm Clayton.

It is not the only tree in the surrounding, and this attracts a number of birds. The most common bird we see is the Little Corella, a cocatoo. They come in large flocks so that the blue sky looks white, like clouds. But they are very loud.

The worst enemies however, are flies. They travel on our back, or on the hat, or on the panniers. As soon as we stop they are everywhere, especially in our faces trying to absorb liquid from our eyes, nose, and mouth. The only advantage of headwind is that it blows away those flies…

Hard work and a shower with 80°C

Despite the desert landscape the whole region is inhabited by man. It's only that farms are a bit larger than what we have seen in the South. No problem for a farm to cover an area of 6 000 km2 (600 000 ha). The large areas are necessary for the life stock to find enough food. It is hard work out here – farmers in the Outback are busy all year. It is also hard work ...