May 26, 2023
Day 26 - through Barkly Homestead and beyond
Over breakfast I got thinking about the fact that the only pleasant rest area since Mt Isa was the one named WW2. Is this what we have to do in order for people to show respect? If so, it's very sad.
The first aim today was to cycle 30 km and then don the red tie to celebrate 3000 km. The first bit was easy (must mention a bustard); the phone photo was the hard bit - lost half my head.
It was just 10 km from there to Barkly where I enjoyed my first wash in a while plus gorged on food and soft drink. There's a lot of work going on here following a fire in November 2022.
And so I left Barkly, well fuelled. I was determined to make the most of a light tailwind and thus aimed at a rest stop 55 km away. Why? I felt an obligation to judge them all xv. I did well and managed to get there without stopping. This place had the typical entrance lined with toilet paper, no toilets, no water and a bench and table under an aging structure. I tossed down food and drink and got going.
One of the highlights of the ride came a little later. A hundred metres ahead I saw a snake moving slowly across the road. Behind, I could hear a roadtrain a couple of minutes away. It was up to me to save the snake - a young black-headed python. I stopped adjacent to it and when python lunged at my pannier I grabbed it by the neck. I then waddled off the road, like a child on a scooter, with the python wrapped around my right arm. I had a minute to spare! What I did next was amazing - Using only my left hand, I got my phone, entered a pin and did a selfie with snake - an absolute marvel for someone who had hardly taken a phone photo before this trip.
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1 year ago
1 year ago
From then on I just aimed at kilometres and stopped only for the odd photo. Entering a new country was good; getting within 100 km of the Stuart Highway was special and prompted a sprint at the end of the day to get it under 80.
The reward? A fine camp-site complete with termite mound and the usual soothing fire.
Today's ride: 150 km (93 miles)
Total: 3,119 km (1,937 miles)
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