Mt Isa to Bushcamp

Mt Isa to Bushcamp = 93km
Cummulative totals = 5058km and 25,059km

Can you believe this we are in the middle of absolutely no where and we get internet reception (and it is pretty good too!) not sure if it is because we are on the national highway and it is flat an no ranges to block the signal.
Before I begin todays ride below is a photo of another touring cyclist.  We don't know his name and his english was pretty limited so we thought asking his name would be difficult to do so we nicknamed him Chairman Mao

 He started in Adelaide, up to Darwin and then back down to 3 ways and across to Mt Isa ... he has been on the road for 70 days and has cycled 5500km and unfortunately for him he has had strong headwinds since Darwin.
So onto todays ride ... we left a little late this morning what with the looooooooong walk to the kitchen and then the looooooooooong walk to the toilets etc ... time soon ticks by.  It was warmer this morning but I still wore my socks with my sandals (just call me Phil!) until we began cycling.  there was no wind this morning  and if there was a breeze it was ever so slight coming from the west as when you looked at the mine chimney thats spews out smoke it was wafting back over the town and when we were on the outskirts of Mt Isa (about 12km north) we looked back and you could see the smoke and dust was just hanging over the town ...

 This is a town we could never live in ... it is not a pretty town (especially when it is drought conditions) and the air is just full of dust particles and red dust is just everywhere - it gets up your nose, it is on your tongue if your mouth is open too much, you can feel it on your skin and in your hair!

 So riding north for a while we came across these 2 along the road side ...

 LOL and this happened alot during the day ... some with some really good clothes - they are termite people - someone has dressed up these termite mounds with clothes and one has even gone so far as to put sunnies on the one in the orange shirt ... it was quite entertaining  through out the day ... speaking of termite people ... you could almost say Neil looks like one in his Homer Simpson cycle shirt ...

 I have to admit that his pot is getting very small and he has lost alot of weight.
The wind did kick in around 10.30 and you know how I mentioned in a few posts back that the locals and caravaners all say we will get tailwinds .. well I am STILL waiting for them!  The wind was coming from the west again so we had no wind, a headwind while the road veered west to much and then a cross wind when it veered to the north.  Basically we had a cross wind for the bulk of the afternoon.
We did stop at the World War II rest area and gave Kouta a bath.  Since the campground was a dust bowl there was no where to wash kouta without him rolling around in the red dust and then it would have been pointless washing him.  this rest area had non potable water so we decided to wash him on the concrete near the tables and then chuck him in the trailer and start pedalling ... it was a good idea and Neil and I were happy that he is no longer a dusty red colour ... Kouta, however, was not happy and never is after a bath.  but he is lovely to pat now and your hands come away clean after patting him!
So despite the late start and wind we still managed to keep up a good pace at 15km per hour.  the bikes are fully loaded with food and all the water bottles are full (except the bladders) at 19 litres.  There is no more room to squeeze any more food into the panniers and I must admit this is probably the heaviest my bike has been so to come the 90km today is a good effort!  I calculated that my bike is probably carrying an EXTRA 20kg than normal ... and by the time we get to Tennant Creek my panniers will be near empty!  We had decided that we would try for the David Hill rest area which is about half way but found a nice spot just before it ..

We are about 50m from the road and between us and the highway is the old highway which we saw quite a bit off today .... sometimes it is easy to get to but other times there is a steep embankment .. but for this spot there was a dirt drive as just behind where I took this photo is a gate to someones property.  We did find a clearing along the fence line like we normally do and the pegs went in easy.
So tomorrow fingers crossed we get our tailwind ... it is forecasted to be a south, south easterly which will be a cross tailwind for us.  We have another long day - around 95km again.

@ Mt ISA

Hi all, still in Mt Isa and will spend one more rest day here tomorrow and will leave on Wednesday morning.  Really enjoying the rest and just eating, a little reading and doing nothing really! We are spending up a storm, since Neil has acquired 2 more solar panels we decided to invest in another battery pack and managed to pick up one from KMart - it is 11,000 amp thingy!  twice the size of our existing panel and will take longer to charge but that doesn't matter as we know you can still use it when it is only half charged ... there is so much sun out here it seems silly to waste it!

So due to the little billabong beside our campsite there seems to be an abundance of birds and we noticed that there is a kookaburra flittering around and it is slightly different to the east coast one ... it has more blue on it and from what we can see is that there is blue on its' back and it is more obvious when it is flying ...

 across the billabong is a gum tree and it has a nest on it and that belongs to a kite and I managed to get this photo early in the morning while it is nesting in it ...

 so while Neil is out buying elecronics I am out getting food supplies for the next 10 days (10 brekkies, 7 dinners, and snacks).  We worked out the cycle days from here to Tennant Creek and have allowed for the worst case scenario ... 10 days, maybe we can do it in 9 or possibly 8 but that depends on the winds!  Included in the 10 days is a rest day at Camooweal.  So here are some photos of our food ...

included are 12 packets of Koutas food and his dry biscuits.  What is not shown here is another 500g jar of honey (Neil did very well in budgeting his last honey but he doesn't think he can repeat that action again so soon!), 9 small apples, 4 carrots, our usual yoghurt and margarine, a loaft of bread, a left over block of cheese and a bar of chocolate and a 20 pack of Freddo frogs - these won't melt as the nights are very cold and will be our fridge!  So quite a bit of food but they all pack up small with the bulk of it going in my 2 food panniers and a bit at the back pannier and the odds and ends in Neils bags.  

We have sorted our junk out and are sending quite a bit home tomorrow by post, namely clothes and electrical gear, maps and just stuff we don't use anymore - like power cord now we have so many solar panels!

Cloncurry to Mt Isa

 Cloncurry to Mt Isa = (day 1 = 78km; day 2 = 47km)
Cummulative totals = 4918km and 24,919km
Sunset tourist park = $22.50 unpowered (with top tourist discount)

Day 1 = bushcamp at 78km

Neil would like to sleep in in the morning but since it is a riding day I say no, the earlier we start the earlier we can finish!  So we had brekky in the dark this time at the 'camp kitchen' which is just a table!
It was a coolish morning and my toes in my cycling sandals are a wee bit cold and frozen (I will have to look for half socks in Mt Isa to wear when the mornings are cool!)
The only traffic with us this morning are all the trucks - going with us and against us.  They are very friendly and are tooting and waving at us.  They are very good to us on the road and despite every caravaner asking us if we have problems with them (the trucks and road trains) they are genuinely surprised when we state we have had no problem with them and they don't seem to have a problem with us ... they are also surprised when we tell them it is the caravaners we have the problems with!!!
Anyway the road we are on is the National A2 which is a main highway unlike the one we just came along from Normanton to Cloncurry.  So we would expect alot more traffic especially truck traffic.
Right from the outset the road is undulating and is like that for the rest of the day.  For the first 40km it is okay and you can do the small inclines in your middle gear, it is only after the first 40km that you might find some of the inclines are a little steeper and you need to drop to the lowest chain at the front!
The terrain is exactly like what is around Alice Springs - ranges

 We have a cuppa at around 36km and there is a little wee smell of decaying animal somewhere and since there is not many places to pull of this highway for a cuppa we decided to just move down wind of the decaying animal for our cuppa!

 Once we set off again I discover that I have a flat so we to back to the place we had a cuppa and changed my tube on the back wheel.  It wasn't a puncture but the tube had a few creases in it so we think it was a pinch hole.  We replaced the tube and set off again.  Todays weather is sunny and we are expecting a high of 27 which is on the warmish side.  The forecasted wind is for a very light easterly at 4-6km per hour so basically no wind for us today.
Just as we were about to set off the wide vehicle support vehicle followed by a cop car came by and the cop car drives down the middle of the highway forcing everyone off the road which means some sort of mine machinery is coming through ... oh goody I love watching these come through and sure enough it was a huge machine on the back of a truck

 Now did you hear me scream today?  This is what I said "(a naughty word), (another naughty word), (a really naughty word!) we have a (an extremely naughty word) headwind!"  I couldn't believe it!  It started around midday and we were going down a slight hill and I couldn't figure out why I was having to pedal and then I realised that I had a slight headwind! as the day wore on the wind became quite strong (around 15km per hour) and when we had lunch at Fountain Springs rest area we checked Elders again which were still forecasting 4km per hour easterlies but they had the actual wind at south, south westerlies at 17km per hour.  I tell you I was livid!
For the past few days since leaving Normanton every person we have encountered who has asked us which way we are going have all said that oh that is okay going to Tennant Creek you will have tailwinds once you leave Cloncurry.  Now I have heard from everyone in Australia that the prevailing wind is a Easterly ... now I hate to point out the obvious to everyone but the prevailing wind for the past 2 weeks has been originating from the south and very little has come from the east ... a south easterly is still a south wind and is not a tailwind when you look at the direction of the road from Cloncurry.  when I was waiting for Neil the other day while he was in Woolies a person started to chat to me and he too said that I will have tailwinds ... now I said to him 'when cycling, you can count on a headwind when you are meant to get a headwind (ie. Normanton to Cloncurry) but you can NEVER count on a tailwind when you are suppose to get a tailwind' and he just said nah you will get tailwinds, off course my motto is when cycling Australia is never trust information from a local about the weather!  and I am right ... so I inform Neil today that the next person who mentions to us that we will get tailwinds to Tennant Creek will recieve a hell of a tongue lashing from me!
So we plodded along, up and down, up and down.  Fortunately there are quite a few hills to protect us from the bulk of the westerly winds and also so monuments along the way to break the monotony.  The first is the Burke and Wills monument 

 We just shook our heads when we read they were in this area in January which must have been incredibly hot up here at that time (it is not uncommon for this area to have temps in the high 40's constantly during summer!)

Just down the road was a Aboriginal one for the local Kalkadoon people

 I laugh at this plaque they had up there ... you couldn't be any blunter in saying what happened to them!
So we continue on and the undulations are becoming hills now and it is a guess as you ride along as to which way the road meanders, still lovely scenery.  We start to look for a bushcamp at around 75km and find one 3km later.  It is close to the road (about 40m) and if you look between the tent and Neil you can see just how close we are to the road as there is a car passing through ...

 Now this road will not be as quite as the Normanton - Cloncurry road at night but that is okay it was such a hard day I think we will sleep like logs!

Now today Neil found a great device that is a trifle bit big to carry on our bikes but he picked it up anyway as it still goes ... it is a work bench torch 

 it folds up in half and it has still some life in the batteries but they need to be charged by some 6volt charging device which we don't carry so we might send it home once we get to Mt Isa as there are a few things that we are carrying that we are not really using!  actually it is Neil that is carrying stuff that we are not using!

So Mum do you remember me telling you about some curry meals in a tetra pack made by Heinz that we like as they are less heavy than tinned food ... well here is a picture of the packets

 they come in 2 packs (one rice and one chicken curry) and they are bound together, now I know what you are going to say about the next photo Mum but believe me it is very tasty - this one is chicken satay
 there are 3 other types all different forms of curry, they don't have much veges but they are easy to cook and filling to eat.

Tomorrow is a short day to Mt Isa - only 40km and Neil is hoping to pick up his package from the post office - another solar panel (foldable) and a solar battery charger.  I have been informed by Neil that we don't have to get up so early tomorrow and that I am not allowed to get up before 6am as it is so dark ... yeah whatever Neil!!!  heres hoping we get our tailwind!

Day 2:

Well it blew a strong wind for most of the night and because we keep the 2 tent fly doors open so it doesn't get too hot the wind was blowing in on our heads and at one point the tent inner door flicked Koutas face while he was sleeping that he jumped up with a fright and almost hit the roof of the tent ... ha ha ha!

The wind today was coming from the south, south east so a mainly a cross wind with either a slight head or tail wind ... depends on which way the road is turning.

We start out with one or 2 hills but it is lovely coming through the ranges as the sun is rising ... it really reminds us of when we cycled through the badlands of Montana, USA.

Not much traffic to start with but the closer we got to Mt Isa the more we encountered traffic coming out of the town, there were hundreds of caravans leaving.  We did come across this sign and thought it funny ...

 So to get into Mt Isa you have to go up this endless hill ... I tell you it was easy to ride gradient wise but it just went on and on and on.  Mind you the difficult part about riding the last 15km was that there was no shoulder to ride in and the road is very narrow so sometimes there was us and 2 road trains alongside each other!
Once over the hill you begin to descend into Mt Isa and all you can see are the mines ... now Mt Isa is a lead mining town and it is not a very healthy town, there is a very high incidence of lead poisoning from the 'dust' from the mines which contains lead so needless to say there are no rain tanks in peoples homes!  A bit like Managreva with the French nuclear testing fallout!

 Once in town the roads become very bad and basically we are not looking out for road signs, shops or anything but just a few meters in front of our front wheel as there is alot of pot holes, rough road and missing bits of the road!
We stop off to grab some lunch and continue to the caravan park.  We chose this one as we get a discount with our top tourist membership and the sign when we left Cloncurry said that it had shady grassed tent sites ... well the first thing I said was where is the grass!

 The majority of inner Queensland is in drought and they have water restrictions so they can't water the dust to make their grass ... hence most of the tent sites so far and in the future are dust bowls!  We do have shade for most of the day and we also have a little view of a billabong so it is a nice spot ...

 Once thing I didn'lt realise is one of my favourite politicans is in Mt Isa ...

Now this guy is a real hoot!  I always thought he wore a funny (almost 10 gallon) hat but I notice that everyone in outback Queensland is wearing them!
We are here for 4 nights and will have a good break and stock up on food for our next 9 day stint to Tennant Creek.

Pitcairn Island rescue mission

Hopefully this will work Ray and Flo - click on the following link and it will take you to TV3 site and a video screen will appear at the top of the screen (under the title 'daring Pitcairn island medical mission launched' ) click on the triangle in the middle of the video box and it will play an advert first then the news clipping.  You may have to wait a while for the video clip to appear.
The link is below
http://www.3news.co.nz/Daring-Pitcairn-Island-medical-mission-launched/tabid/423/articleID/350580/Default.aspx

Burke and Wills Roadhouse to Cloncurry

 Burke & Wills to Cloncurry =  (Day 1 = 74km; Day 2 = 71km; Day 3 = 44km)
Cummulative totals = 4840km and 24,841km
Wals camp = $15 unpowered

Day 1
began with a very strong wind, last night it stopped but resumed very early this morning and stayed for the entire day and at time of typing this after 6pm the wind is still blowing strong!
We actually over slept this morning and did wake up until 6.20am so our starting time was around 8am but it didn't matter how early we got up as the wind was already up before us anyway!
I think if the roadhouse was a bit better then we might have stayed to sit out today but it was marginally better than Belyando Crossing roadhouse. We discussed last night that this is day 3 of strong winds and we might as well try for 70km today and another 60-70km the 2nd day and a short 40-50km day on the 3rd.  It would be impossible for us to do the 180km in the 2 days with this persistent winds, we pushed ourselves to do the 200km from Normanton to Burke and Wills in 2 days and we are beginning to feel tired and worn out so we have opted to do the 2nd part in 3 days.
So the ride today was tough and we are beginning to do very subtle climbing, not that it made any difference as we are already going slow.  The wind is more coming front on so it is a southerly and most of the gusts will come from the south east and these are very strong.  We think todays winds were stronger than the winds yesterday.  We are hoping they begin to die down tomorrow.
Not much traffic going our way but heaps of boat towing cars going north to Karumba  I am sure they are unaware that there is no fish up there at all so they will be coming back empty!  the region up there is over fished and no one is filling their camper freezers at all.  In the past they have come up here, fished to their hearts content and taken far more than what they really need, loaded up massive camper freezers and returned home .... now they come back this year and there is no fish and I doubt here in Queensland up at Karumba that there was any monitoring of taking fish and fish size and now there is nothing and I can't see them replenishing the stock (as Queensland up here is not that organised or regulated to do something as complicated or as logical as that!!!)
The days are very sunny but the wind is driving the temperature down, still okay for shorts and t-shirt but once the sun begins to go down ... the polyprop shirt comes out!  We began looking for a bushcamp at around 67km and it is fenced both sides but we are not worried about that but where there was a clearing there was all stones and rocks and almost impossible to get the tent pegs in the ground.  Just before the turnoff to Kajabbi there was a dried up billabong along a fence line so we went down in there and pitched our tent in the middle of it ...

 Ha no problems getting the pegs in the ground as it is soft  but dry.  so we are below the road and you can still see us if you look ... only one truck driver waved to us!

Day 2
it is still windy and when we got up at 5.30am it was pitch black, the stars were still out and the wind was blowing, not hard but enough to let us know that it will get stronger after 9am (which seems to be the time the wind gets up!).

Our little dried up billabong camp site was beginning to get churned up from us walking around and so the ground is very soft and our feet are caked in red dust as is everything we have,  The red dust stains your toes and finger nails and my hands look like they are permanently dyed red!  Koutas' red highlights look redder than normal, my tan is redder than normal and the dust in my hair is just phenomenal ... my hair has a combination of helmet hair, sweat hair, dirt hair and red dust hair ... it is just everywhere at the moment and is sticking out, standing up and parting in unusual places ... I look hilarious!

So we set out just on 7am and it was cold, the wind is still blowing from the south and it is cold!  my toes are frozen as are my fingers and my nose won't stop running.  We get in a good 2 hours cycling before the wind really picks up and when we last looked at the forecast way back in Normanton (4 days ago) the wind was meant to be around 25km per hour and easing to 16km per hour later in the day .... well it was just as strong as the past 2 days and it was like that all day!  I think we were quietly hoping that the wind wouldn't be so strong and we would be able to do the 105km to make Cloncurry late in the afternoon.  But by the time we got to our coffee break after 2 hours we knew we were going to be struggling to do the 70km today leaving only 40km for tomorrow!

The rest area was nice, great views of the ranges 

 Kouta wasn't very interested in them and he only wanted to sleep only waking to have his schmackoos

 We stayed at the rest area for an hour hoping the wind would blow itself out but it didin't so we set off ... the usual 15 mins on 15 mins off and stopping every hour for a bite to eat.

Funny enough our legs felt ok it was the butts that were hurting due to all the grinding and absolutely no free wheeling and for me it was hurting across the shoulders from struggling to keep the bike in a straight line ... no thanks to Kouta who threw himself around in the trailer whenever Neil was in front and also the strong gusts of winds that seem to always blow across you and it blew you out into the line of the traffic ... not that there was much traffic around

 So by Quamby hotel (which is closed down) at 64km I was beginning to tire so we started looking for a bushcamp spot.  Not alot to choose from, the fences are close to the roads and actually finding a bush camp is not as easy as it sounds or what everyone thinks as the spot has to be clear from native grass, even when the grass is cut the remains of the stubble is very sharp and you can't pitch your tent on it or else it will pierce it!  So we are looking, looking and looking.  I am not particularly fussy and will camp about anywhere now!  I do find a spot that has trees (albeit small and thin!) but there is a good clearing between them and the fence.  Upon inspection it is good, the ground is soft (due to past flooding it is like last night but only the dirt is grey not red!) so we unpack.
I can tell Neil is not enthused about this site and I tell him not to be so fussy and get over it!  so what if the road is only 20m away ... there is no night traffic so that is okay!

While setting up we had a pleasant little visitor that really made my hard, mundane day a joy, it was a young little budgie (wild not domestic!)

First it appeared in the tree above the bike ...

then it decided to hop on the bike ...

 it tried to have a drink out of Koutas water bowl but landed on Koutas basket, woke Kouta and it freaked so it took off to the fence ...

 so we carried on putting up the tent, we laid the fly down and it decided that it was green so it must be grass and promptly landed on the tent fly and started pecking at it ...

 so it was hanging around and kept flying/jumping everywhere and then hopped on me and started walking all over me ...

 so we put kouas water bowl on the tent fly and it hopped in the water and took a drink, satisfied it flew away!  LOL it was so funny and it was happy to sit in my hand and let me pat it  and it felt so soft and little (about half the size of a domestic budgie) it clearly was a young bird and was desperate for water as there is none lying around.  I said to Neil that if it is hanging around us in the morning then I am taking him with me ... he can sit with Kouta!!!
Kouta slept through the whole episode with it and didn't even notice that we gave it a drink out of his water bowl!
So here is our campsite ... can you see us!

 As you can see there is plenty of room behind the trees and before the fence line.  I don't think anyone saw us there!
Tomorrow is a 40km day to Cloncurry we can get internet reception just out here at 40km and we looked up the wind for tomorrow and it is easing to under 20km per hour,  we will still get up early so that we can take advantage of the lighter winds before that magical 9am!  Here is a photo of what the campsite looked like - plenty of room

Day 3
finally we woke this morning and the wind wasn't blowing but it was very cold - around 8 degrees which is probably the norm for this area ... and the rest of the outback journey down to South Australia!
Again brekky was in the dark and we were on the road by 7am and we got an hours riding in before the winds picked up ... only slightly gentler than the previous days but fortunately we only had 40km to do today.
one by one we ticked of the 4 road markers every 10km and we are very happy to get to the last one ...

Now at the end of this Burke Development road it comes on to the Matilda highway and you have to back track east for 2 km and on our way we see a sign for a camp ground that is cheap and you know we like cheap and it was really cheap compared to the other 2 campgrounds so we ummmed and ahhhed and went into town to pick up food (my food pannier bags had nothing in them except for weet bix!) and we decided yeah we will go for cheap ... we rocked up and it is quite sparse with tent sites and no grass which is the usual for the outback.  The price is $15 which is $10 cheaper than the other campgrounds.   We get there and there is no fridge in the camp kitchen and Neil has just bought a 2litre bottle of milk so we decide we will have to drink that!  We get to the tent area and it is gravel which is okay then we look at the camp kitchen and all it is is a damn table!  that is their definition of a bloody camp kitchen ... we are not impressed and are thinking what a dump!  So we begrudgingly put the tent up, see that there is a dirty grungy gas bbq and think well what do we expect for $15 ... a damn sight more than a bloody table!  We cannot believe they put "camp kitchen" on their sign when it is nothing more than a long table!
But over the day we warmed to the park and it is not so bad, the amenities are sparse and are true to outback Queensland style, dogdy on the plumbing and regulations and not enough for the capacity of the park.  Lets just say Neil and I can go to our respective toilets and since they are in the same tiny building we could have our toilet side by side and hold hands!
We are staying here tomorrow for a rest day.

Normanton to Burke & Wills roadhouse

Normanton to Burke and Wills Roadhouse = 200km (Day 1 = 111km stayed at Bang Bang Rest Area; Day 2 = 89km)

Cummulative totals = 4651km and 24,652km

Burke and Wills Roadhouse = $20 unpowered

WE ARE NOT QUITE IN CLONCURRY - THE WINDS HAVE BEEN VERY STRONG AND WE ARE ABOUT 40KM FROM IT ... WILL MAKE IT TO CLONCURRY TOMORROW (WEDNESDAY!!!)

These past 2 days have been probably the hardest days so far - even harder than the days from Texas to Stanthorpe!  We always knew that the days from Normanton to Cloncurry was going to be tough and we would have a headwind although we didn't expect the strong winds we have had so far.

Day 1 we knew that the winds would be lighter compared to the following days so we wanted to do a bigger day so the next day to Burke and Wills would be shorter.  We said goodbye to 2 Austrian Cyclists - Markus and Heidi (who are cycling around the world!) and headed off at 7.30am.  There was no wind around but we knew by 9am the wind would kick in and true enough 9.15am the winds starts.  It was forecasted to have 10km per hour wind which is okay but the winds were a little stronger than that but ridable. Once the wind started Neil pulls up alongside of me and I quote "do you want me to break wind" now at first I was dumbstruck and couldn't figure out why Neil was asking me if he could "break wind" (aka fart!) and put it so politely!!!  Then I realised he meant lets draft and slipstream behind each other!  And so our regular cycles of 15mins in front and 15mins slipstreaming.  It was fabulous and the time just flew by, usually I am in front all the time but this was great and really helped me through the long day.  However Kouta was not happy and coped with the first day but by the end of the day today he was spitting chips and throwing himself around trying to look for Neil!  

One thing I did manage to do today albeit not successfully as it was a very rushed photo but out here there are birds that are usually in pairs called Bush Bustards and whenever you pass them they take off so it is near on impossible to get a photo of them but this pair didn't fly off but did begin to run away and all I could manage was the following 

 So the day wears on and it is very very hot, around 30 degrees and we are guzzling down the water, between us we are carrying 28 litres (14 litres each) as well as food for 5 days riding so we are very heavy.  We are making good time and just plodding along.  We come to Flinders River at the 60km mark and are desperately looking for crocodiles but alas we saw none.
 The terrain is flat and very out in the open with very little trees or bush to shelter you from the headwind ...  here is Neil 'breaking wind'
 So we finally get to our target rest area at 111km at Bang Bang this is really a massive rest area with toilets but no drinking water (ok for washing) and there are heaps caravans and mobile homes - all spread out and fortunately for us Neil found us a little corner in amongst the shrubs that only us in a tent or a small van could fit in.  As we were pulling up alongside these 2 women came out (virtually running to us!) and they wanted to chat and began asking us all these questions ... now we try to be nice and answer nicely back but just sometimes we wish people would just stop and think that we might be tired, hungry and would love a cold drink ... but that would be asking too much of people really, they get what they want from us - a photo of kouta in the trailer, our brief story and all the oohing and ahhhing they can muster, where as all we get is nothing but less time to sit down and relax!  We had spent over 7 hours of cycling and were on the road from 7.30am to 4.30pm and not even an offer of a cold drink ... really things are not like what they use to be years ago when we started cycling!
Since there is water for washing we could splash out on our bird baths and use plenty of water so we both felt very clean when we fell asleep at 7.30pm!
We had made a deal to get up early the next morning at 5am so Neil informs me that it is 5am by his clock, so I turn the light on and then he says hang on and rechecks his clock and realises that it is only 4am so I turn the light off and go back to sleep until 5am.  It is very dark so brekky is in the tent, even packing up was done by torch in the dark.  The sun didn't come over the horizon until 7.15am - we had already been on the road for 30mins.  The wind was already around but not strong ... this didn't pick up until around 9am and was forecasted to be around 25-30km per hour and it sure was today.  Our speed dropped dramatically and we prepared for a loooooooooong day ahead of us.  We go through our usual slipstreaming ritual of 15mins on 15mins off.  It works well with a stop every hour.  Kouta is loving it as the wind is a southerly and it is cool and all the red dirt that is in his hair is blown away!  there are plenty of kangaroos around first thing this morning and they quickly skip off when we come by.  For the first 50km there is alot of road works, although they are not working you can see there is alot of newly sealed bitumen.
So the kilometers go by very slowly and every 10km there are distance to go markers and I am extremely relieved to see this one ...
our butts are sore as there is no free wheeling just grinding on the pedals and seat.  Not expecting much at this roadhouse (expecting something like Belyando crossing) we finally get here

 while waiting for Neil to pay I took a photo of one of the petrol bowsers and for those of you interested in knowing how much you have to pay for petrol and diesel out in the middle of no where ... prepare yourself for the cost ...

 but for you kiwis if you convert you probably will find the petrol is cheaper over here in the middle of the outback compared to Auckland NZ!!!
So Neil comes out and informs me the backpacker that served him is not exactly enthused about serving and informs him that don't drink the bore water you will get sick and if you want water you will have to buy it!
So we find a spot, Neil is not happy, I am not happy and begin to worry about where we will get water for the next leg of this journey, we have about 9litres left between us but still need to find or buy another 20 litres and we know what the price of everything out here is like.  so we set up in the dust bowl, at least we had shade.
Neil asks someone about the bore water and we were going to boil it, but the guy said he thinks there is nothing wrong with it, so I go to the laundry and taste the water and it is fine, it doesn't even taste like the bore water in Normanton which had a strong sulphur smell to it, so I tell Neil that it is fine and we have a cuppa and there is no scrum on the top or oil so the bore water here is quite nice.  Happier and relieved we fill up the bottles and bladders.

here are some photos of the campground 

There are about 8 powered vans here and 2 unpowered.  The showers are fabulously hot and big so I had a loooooooooooong hot shower!  The wind has died down now and it is forecasted to be just as strong as today but I am hoping that we will get up early and get a few hours before the wind kicks in.