Day 13 - to Charleville - Unfinished Business

May 13, 2023

Day 13 - to Charleville

The lightest rain greeted the morning. I lit a fire and then jumped in the Warrego mainly to remove yesterday's salt. Back in town I took advantage of the free phone and then did a quick tour. A tour of Wyandra will always be quick!

Even Wyandra - WW1. Where have all the flowers gone?

Wyandra was once Australia's cycling capital until a season of severe thorns coincided with a shortage of puncture repair kits

I was on my way in country that was much more pleasant than yesterday's, thanks to the tree- lined highway. Within minutes I saw emus, wedgetail eagles and pink cockatoos.

There was tremendous variety in the forest. Callitris reappeared and with it apostlebirds.

Callitris - native pine with termite resistant wood

Ironbark - one of my favourite groups of eucalypt

The diversity gave me some fine wildlife sightings - echidna, Western grey kangaroos, flocks of cockatiel, to name but a few. But there were also many signs of prickly pear, a plant that once covered swathes of inland eastern Australia.

Cactoblastis moths, introduced in 1926, controlled prickly pear in one of the best examples of biological control of a weed.

The cycling was a bit like yesterday with the onset of headwinds. Again, I had lunch early and had just eaten when Mark, a member of a seismic team, offered me a couple of salad rolls and a vanilla slice, excess to their needs. I had the lot for dessert, with coffee!

Soon after lunch I was eying an object a few hundred metres away when a car overtook me and ran over said object - a gorgeous bearded dragon. Unbelievable!

How could I see it? It's not square with four wheels!

I had not gone much further when I came to the scene of Australia's worst traffic explosion at Angellala, where a truck carrying ammonium nitrate went bang.

About 15 km from Charleville I was amused to see a sign indicating cyclists. Really, out here?

Great indigo bike ride - making road signs honest

And after a fine day's cycling I arrived in Charleville where I hope to regroup, do some media and get the blog up to date which I've now done.

Bilbies - decimated by cats and foxes, used to be common in the outback. You can see them in a nocturnal house in Charleville

Today's ride: 104 km (65 miles)
Total: 1,354 km (841 miles)

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Jackie LaycockThanks for the wonderful blog, Ian. I am sharing it with people who have supported your bike ride on indigo foundation's facebook page and ther have been some great comments there as well as on here. We are so grateful that things are going well! Cheers Jackie
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