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| Breakfast stop at Yetman |
It seemed a short ride to the top of the long climb but before I knew it I had ridden over the top and rolled the few kilometres into tiny Yetman a true "blink and you will miss it" town which comprised of a school.a caravan park,an old garage, and a store.I made a beeline to the store and was thankful that it was open.Normally these places in tiny hamlets like Yetman are famously unreliable but as I walked up the ramp of the old building I could smell breakfast being cooked inside well before I opened the door.Once inside I was firstly greeted by a big fluffy cat blocking the way and after an appropriate amount of time getting his head scratched I was allowed to pass and order my breakfast which I took out to the veranda to eat.
I love watching the comings and goings of the locals at places like this and always wonder,what the hell people do out here and what made them decide to live in the middle of bloody nowhere.I often ask that very question,which generally surprises most but I really am fascinated in why people do what they do in this world.Today was no different and I chatted to a few folks about my bike,my ride and what brought them to Yetman that morning.More and more I was getting Christmas wishes from the folks I met but I must admit I wasn't feeling very festive at all.This Christmas was a little lost on me as,out here travelling alone,the holiday and religion didn't really mean very much.It would be just another day really.
With my breakfast stop done I rolled out again and set myself the task of covering the next 70 or so kilometres of my ride before the heat of the day reached its worst.That would get me to the town of Boggabilla,just south of the famous cotton town of Goodiwindi where I would rest before turning down the Newell Highway and head south to my projected destination for the night,the North Star rest area a further 30k's away from Boggabilla.
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| Out of the forest behind me |
I had thought that it would be flat from Yetman but I was soon riding through a series of longish undulating hills covered in a forest alive with the sound of buzzing cicadas.It was through this forest that I started to notice a lot more wildlife,especially kangaroos.There were lots of them hanging out in mobs on the side of the road only to get well and truly spooked as I crept up on them silently.
Another strange thing started to happen with one section of the animal kingdom and that was the cockatoos which seemed especially rowdy every time I rode past groups of them sitting in the trees high above the road.Now anyone who has seen these birds knows how much noise they can make but generally they aren't really interested in people and go about their business.For the past two days though, they seemed unusually interested in me and particularly in this forest.As I rode by they would take off from their high perches and follow me very closely in formation screeching loudly,sometimes for as long as a few minutes before peeling off and flying away.I couldn't work it out as I had never seen that before and it wasn't until I had a rest about half an hour later that a theory started to form in my mind.As I flung my CamelBak to the ground I looked at the cover I had bought for it and realised that the yellow,sulphur coloured Hi-Vis,reflective material looked very much like the colour of the crest of the cockatoos after which they are named.I then looked at my arms which were covered in the white sleeves of my surf rashie that I wear to keep the sun off during the day.Then it dawned on me that quite possibly,from above,these bloody cockatoos saw me, with my big white body,white arms extended to the handlebars with a sulphur coloured patch on my back,topped off with a white helmet and thought that I was the mother of all Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and I was flying low through their territory.Maybe they were trying to scare me off or maybe they were paying homage to the "Great Cockatoo" of parrot legend but whatever they were doing they continued doing it for the rest of the day.I was just glad they didn't launch a bombing raid.
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| Into "The Bush" |
Another hour past before I finally made the last downhill coast through the forest to the bottom of the Great Dividing Range and out into the flat,near empty expanses of the Aussie bush.Seriously it was just like that,one second I was surrounded by forest and the next,I was in empty farmland as far as the eye could see.It was weird and as I stopped on a bridge just out of the forest I thought that there should be a big sign on the side of the road saying "The Outback Starts Here!" I had only seen this once before and that was on my ride in 2009 when I rode through a forest near tiny Goolgowi,west of Cowra and out onto the vast,mind-numbing, Hay Plains.On that bridge,as I was taking happy snaps and talking to the cows on the side of the road I noticed that my flag was fluttering madly westward.I had a tailwind!
The next couple of hours were pretty dull as the wind blew me along the gently rolling farmland and I was able to actually start to believe that the worst of the ride was behind me and that I would be able to get through each day a lot easier without having to drag the weight of my trailer (and myself) over any more mountain ranges.I was massively behind schedule but that didn't matter so much,what did matter was the confidence I was getting from the realisation that I had been right all along and my predictions that my suffering in the mountains would be followed by my equally correct predictions that,even with all the excess weight and my huge lack of preparation for this ride,I would come good once I hit the flat expenses of the outback.The only issue I had was the heat but today,at least.the weather Gods had been kind and the sky was covered in light cloud keeping the temperatures down atleast ten degrees below the previous two days.
I entered the nondescript town of Boggabilla at around 12:30pm and rode through the wide streets to the end of the Bruxner Highway and left onto the Newell Highway,one of the main road arteries connecting the towns from Queensland down through the centre of New South Wales.As soon as I made the turn I realised that I was in for a much busier time of it for the next two days as I went from a very quiet road to immediately facing a long line of semi trailers.I had planned a stop here and was glad of it as just after I pulled up at the truckstop just south of town the clouds vanished and the sun came out in all it's blazing glory.I had ridden around 107 kilometres and decided that with only 30 kilometres to go to my overnight stop,I would wait here at the truck stop until late afternoon when the heat had gone out of the day.I parked my rig and went into the gas station for something to eat.
I spent more than four hours at that gas station camped out next to the unused restaurant area slowly eating my way through the hours while chatting to the assortment of motorists who had stopped for gas or some food.I must have looked sight as I was pretty filthy and was mostly lying on the ground like a homeless person.Spending time at places like this ends up being a large part of long rides like mine and I must admit that I do quite enjoy it.I like finding out where everyone is going and people watching.One amusing thing that kept me occupied was watching just how many people are oblivious to posted signs giving directions as it seems every 20 minutes or so at least one idiot would completely ignore the instructions on the driveway and enter the gas pumps from the wrong direction.Most seemed totally surprised by the fact that they were now screwing things up for everyone else who were trying to drive to the pumps,some just seemed not to care.Equally amusing was watching families,stressed by actually having to spend "quality time" together confined to their vehicles during their Christmas trip,arguing over the smallest of things.The classic was watching folks have a mini meltdown as the drivers of countless cars managed to park right next to the one puddle within miles of the town only to have the passenger step out and get their nice dry shoes wet.They say that the most stressful holiday of the year is Christmas and I can see why,just awesome!
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| My camp at North Star |
At about 5:30pm, fully rested and entertained, I saddled up and rode into the cooling late afternoon towards the North Star Rest Area, 30 kilometers down the road.It was a fairly quick ride as the wind had picked up and by about 6:45pm I rolled into the rest area and looked for a spot to camp.I set my tent up,got my cooking gear out and started boiling some water.While that was happening I stripped off and had a wash right there in the back of the huge rest area in amongst the trees where I had parked.That wash cost me one of my 1.25litre bottles of water which I thought was a small price to pay for a clean nights rest.It is amazing the difference being clean makes you feel mentally during these rides.I don't know what it is but I always sleep better if I can get into my sleeping bag clean as aopposed to being covered in road grime.That day had been a particularly dusty one and I was filthy.I had only 80 kilometres to ride the next day to Moree so I figured I could afford to lose that much drinking water.
With dinner on the go I wandered around to check out the area and found a Kangaroo munching away on what must have been some grain that had spilled off one of the trucks that had parked there at some stage.I watched the little guy for a while and then went back to my boiling billy and made myself some Red Thai Curry Tuna with Noodles.It was awesome and after the obligatory sunset photos it was into my tent to set the alarm for 5am and settle in for the night.It was a great 137 kilometre day and I was pretty happy as I drifted off to sleep.
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| Skippy |
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| Sunset at North Star |
