Day 36 Barrow Creek to Wycliff Well

We were up early... but waited a bit to see what the weather would do. After some discussion we decided that we should make a go of it. We packed up, and said goodbye to Michael and Dan. They are fantastic guys, and along with Helen they really made us feel welcome. Thanks so much guys for everything!!

The weather kept threatening to turn ugly, as it was overcast and occasionally it sprinkled. However the rain didn't materialize. The rivers and creeks were flowing from the previous days of rain, and there was flooding over the road in several places.

We spoke with a highway patrol officer who was escorting the new power generator from Darwin to Alice Springs, and I managed to get a picture of this feat. There were two semi trucks pulling and on pushing... and they weren't travelling much faster than we were!

We made good time to Wycliff Well and we were all set to ride on to Wauchope (pronounced: "walk up"), but on a whim I called ahead to see if there were any rooms available. There were no rooms, and as we were not keen to spend the night in a cold wet tent we opted to stay in Wycliff.

However, with the Tennent Creek Show (whatever the hell that is) coming up this weekend, we find that there also no rooms to be had ahead there either... its a tent tomorrow, like it or not!

Day 35 Barrow Creek

As luck would have it, a woman called and canceled her room right as we were about to head out to our tents... The hotel was just about to close, and Helen was quick to offer us the room (free!) - WHAT A SWEETHEART!!! So Andrew and I took the room, and Dave, who'd set his tent up in an as yet unfinished room in the new annex - went out to his tent.

We slept warm and toasty in this ancient outback hotel, and i was up as soon as I heard people stirring because I wanted to reserve the room for another night because it is STILL RAINING hard!! I made coffee and we all sat around the fireplace listening to stories from Lutzi and Vern, the roadtrain trucker. Lutzi and Vern were supposed to have left Barrow Creek at first light, but Vern's little dog had apparently flicked on a light switch during the night and the truck had a flat battery!

Vern asked if any of us knew how to splice a rope so that he could mount his "road train" sign on the last tanker trailer on his rig. I channeled the boyscout in me and set to the task. Later Vern brought out some older trucking magazines that featured articles about him, his Mac truck, and their outback adventures.

There is almost no traffic on the Stuart highway today and the Hotel is quiet. Many sections of the Stuart have overland flooding and have been closed... Vern discovered that in addition to his flat battery, he also has a badly leaking radiator. He showed us an "old bushman's trick" and fixed the leak by pouring a large amount of black pepper into the radiator... amazingly this really worked!! So with the truck now running and the roads open to the north to road trains, Vern and Lutzi said good bye and were off.

After another of Helen's amazing cheeseburgers, we stoked the fire and and struck up a conversation with a bush mechanic. We talked old engines and favorite classic cars until the generator quit about 1.30pm. In a scene right out of my Guatemalan childhood circa 1972 - the bartender, and aboriginal cattle station worker, one of the bar regulars, and a drifter with a wooden leg (wearing shorts) are all clustered around the diesel generator smoking cigarettes and working on the problem.

Apparently a filter housing has cracked and the leaking fuel has stalled the engine. I've working some spare epoxy putty I had in my panniers to seal the crack, while the others are trying to swap out the broken part with another less-than- compatible filter from similar non-functioning generator. Amazingly the lights come back on at 2.45pm.

I've got my tent drying in one of the unfinished rooms. Andrew's tent was full of water, and he has his things drying near the heater in our room. Dave's tent is literally surrounded by water but as it is elevated and under a roof he's dry... as is my bike right next to him. We've just been informed that the Barrow Creek is actually flowing for the first time in quite a while... but its raining and not worth a look as a result.

So we sit biding our time: Andrew is reading, Dave is taking photos, and I'm writing in the back "dining room". The comforting sound of the generator reduces the conversations in the bar area to an unintelligible murmur with outbursts of laughter from time to time... and it is STILL raining.

Day 34 Barrow Creek

I actually slept all the way through until 8am this morning! I'm sitting outside the Hotel speaking with travelers and trying to find out if any of them have seen Dave on the road. A family has just told me that they spent the night at the Central Mount Stuart rest area near a cyclist last night... could be Dave. That would put him about 70 km south of us...

There is a nearly constant stream of travelers stopping at Barrow Creek. Tour buses, caravaners, road train truckers, etc. Its quite entertaining to just sit and watch them... after a while you can predict their actions by their facial expressions and postures; this one to the toilets, another for a desperately needed cigarette, still others either bored or themselves boring and just standing around like sheep. All the while there is the quiet presence of the local Aboriginals who seem to alternately blend into the scenery or spring to life when a tourist bus rolls in with potential customers.

Dave finally rolled in about 3pm, much to my great relief! He was a bit flustered, having had to fix a flat only 1/2 a kilometer out. He said the he'd basically been having a leisurely time catching up to us. He did say that he'd gotten the notes - cool!

The weather has turned cold and over cast with light sprinkles of rain. I bought enough water to make it to either Wycliff Well or Wauchope tomorrow. We've discussed stopping at Wycliff Well 90 km out if the weather or riding is bad, but I suspect that we'll end up riding all the way to Wauchope.

Its 11pm, we are sitting at the bar... but not drinking. It is POURING RAIN outside!!! We are speaking with a German cyclist named Lutzi who has just arrived from Alice Springs in a roadtrain. She has been on the road over a year, having cycled in India, China, Uzbekistan, and numerous other exotic locations.

The rain continues and we are resigned to a VERY wet night out in the tents.

Day 33 Ti Tree to Barrow Creek

Today was actually supposed to be our day off, but with good weather and somewhat favorable winds we decided to push ahead to Barrow Creek. There was no sign of Dave when we left this morning so I left a note for him with the roadhouse figuring he'd stop for a snack or to see if we were there. We made reasonable progress and at a rest area I spoke with a guy driving south and he readily agreed to ferry a note directly to Dave down the road.

The note read that we were heading to Barrow Creek, and we would take the following day of so he could catch up. If he was in trouble he should send a not back up to us with a caravaner to Barrow Creek and we'd wait for longer for him or make arrangements to help him.

I arrived at Barrow Creek at 4pm and found that there were no rooms available, so I pitched my tent next to Andrew's. I learned from Helen, that it turns out that the hotel only has three rooms and they were all booked by contractors who were on site to work on the new annex of rooms -irony! I had a shower, and then Helen cooked us the THE BEST cheeseburgers we've had in Australia!! They were AMAZING!!

We spent the evening sitting outside and having a beer with Helen and Michael Romeo the bar manager. We got the full story on Barrow Creek as well as their own stories, it was a great time! The weather was relatively warm with a nice breeze... later it was a perfect camping night and I drifted off to sleep immediately.

Day 32 Aileron to Ti Tree

It was COLD last night, and I was woken up early be a group of asshole motorcyclists that parked their bikes next to our tents (literally) and then revved hell out of them to warm them up in the cold pre-dawn morning.... the phrase "loud and proud" should be replaced with "juvenile and socially retarded". At this point the roadhouse turned on its outdoor radio speakers, and began blasting classic Aussie country music - not really an ideal situation to fall back asleep, so I simply got up.

I'm sitting in the roadhouse having a coffee (a real cup, not the traditional Aussie Nescafe instant!), and waiting for it to warm up outside... its a balmy 40 degrees f. Its a mere 42 miles to Ti Tree, so I can afford to sit around for a bit.

Its now 8pm and I'm sitting in my room at Ti Tree. I was grateful for the short ride today as we had strong side and headwinds. I spoke with a couple that had come from Alice Springs that morning at a rest area, and they had not seen Dave on the road...
I rolled into Ti Tree about 3pm, and while talking to Andrew's empty tent (I thought he was there!), I was surprised to see about a dozen peacocks come wandering by!! Very surreal.

Andrew and I took advantage of the early day and did a bit of laundry, and then had supper around 5.30pm... still no sign of Dave. Feeling a bit apprehensive, I called the Aileron roadhouse and Darrell said that a "push-biker" had been through about 4.30pm.

I had a nice chat with an older gentleman named Peter who is stuck in Ti Tree waiting for parts to arrive for his caravan. Peter is a permanent nomad and simply travels around Australia. He supports himself selling a natural line of bee products, and I bought a tube of something to help him out... and because he hooked me with the phrase "...and works on saddle sore"; clever man.

Its 8.30pm and no sign of Dave. Its pitch dark and I'm hoping he is camping somewhere behind us. We are planning to ride to Barrow Creek tomorrow and have a day off - if so we've just gained a day back on our schedule!

Day 31 Alice Springs to Aileron

It was a cold, misty and over cast morning. We were out the door before 8am and the idea was that we were riding half way to Aileron, and then camping (about 43 miles). On my way out of town I went to pull in to a service station to buy an iced coffee and had my first flat tire! My back tire suddenly went completely flat... I found a small green piece of glass was lodged in the tire when I removed the tire after completely unpacking the bike. The kid working behind the counter really tried to be helpful, but was unable to assist me with any of my requests. It took me until 9.30 to change the tube and tire, patch the damaged tube, and then repack the bike. Once I was rolling it was a full 10 miles of hills to get out of Alice Springs, even though Dave as assured at the bike shop that there were only 10 km of hills... but no matter I was well rested and they were actually a lot of fun. An added bonus was that at the first rest area about 20km outside of Alice I crossed the Tropic of Capricorn!

Dave Stayed behind to sort out his flights home, having gotten a bit carried away on Facebook during the previous days. Prior to leaving we agreed that if conditions were "perfect" that Andrew and I might decide to ride all the way to Aileron. At 2:30 pm I caught up with Andrew and we decided that the conditions were as perfect as they could be expected with a moderate tailwind and flat roads! So, with the daylight clock ticking away, we made the commitment to ride another 50 miles to Aileron. We left Dave two notes indicating our intentions to ride on in our customary manner - paper note weighted down with rocks all around and left on the shoulder of the road.

Andrew was of course off in a flash, and it was a huge effort on my part to make it to the Aileron roadhouse before dark even with the tailwind. I rolled into the roadhouse after having to ride the last 10-15 km in almost total darkness on the Stuart Highway...there was the just barest hint of light and color in the western sky. That 10 km was the scariest ride I've ever experienced, going from pitch black illuminated by my helmet light, to blinding light and noise as roadtrains roared on past... I rode hard relying on adrenaline and huge mouthfuls of raw honey to keep me moving.

Exhausted, I arrived to find out that Andrew had purchased two campsites instead of a room... soooo with an attitude as black as the surrounding environment I drug out my tent and began setting it in the lights of the parking lot, and then moved it over to the campsite. After a shower we went in for a bite to eat, but I was nearly too tired to eat and felt nauseous. We struck up a conversation with an Aussie telephone worker named Greg Gilbert. He insisted on buying us a beer, and was great company as well as a wealth of information! The beer seemed to settle my stomach (or perhaps it was the atmosphere), so I had a small meal and was off to bed.

Day 30 Alice Springs

We ended up staying another day in Alice... With incessant rain for 2 days we decided that it would be a good idea to avoid the flash flooding and just hang out one more day. Added to the this is the fact that Dave was waiting on his new rear wheel.

At 5.30am when I looked out the window I groaned and got out the rain gear. They have probably had more rain in the past two days then they did for most of last year! Anyway, it was with a sigh of relief that both Andrew and Dave readily agreed that another day was a good idea.

We're all packed and set to go for tomorrow morning. In the background we hear the steady thunder of fireworks... it is Territory Day today, and people can legally set off fireworks from 6pm until 11pm. I'm guessing that the risk of brush fires is pretty low at the moment!