August 11, 2022
Day 24: March Fly Glen to Windjana Gorge
It was dark and cool in the glen between the mountains so I didn’t wake up til 5:30. Then I started to pack up and hope I wasn’t too annoying for Phoebe and Tessa. Although two troopies did drive pst at 6:20 and they didn’t stir so I didn’t feel too bad. I rolled out about 6:30. There was a climb up the bitumen underneath the rock face in the morning light.
immediately then 10k of beautiful descent through Rocky Mountains on reasonable roads. It was magical.
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It got to the point where I started to think I’d have to go up again because surely the downhill couldn’t be this good. But it was all the way to Lennard River Gorge turn off. The Miluwindie road Jen recommended for camping was closed and that early morning descent was worth staying at March Fly Glen, as well as the conversation, although I’m sure that I would’ve enjoyed it yesterday afternoon as well. I stashed my bags in a culvert, although the road wasn’t too bad. There was an annoying creek crossing though with a deep silty bottom that my feet sank into past my ankles.
It felt downhill on the way in, to the convenient toilets and carpark. The sign said you couldn’t access the water but I was sure those people at Imintji had said they did so I put my togs on just in case Parks was being unreasonably cautious.
It’s about 1.5k along a creek then up and over a ridge to the lookout over the falls and gorge. I met another couple coming out but there was no one there so I sat on a rock and admired the falls while eating another pear and muesli bar. Perhaps I will soon turn into a muesli bar.
It was quite windy so not too hot and utterly delightful. Eventually another couple turned up and I headed off. God knows how those people got down. Maybe from higher up. It would be amazing, but not while I’m wearing my cycling shoes. In completely unsurprising news, for anyone who’s ever seen the state of my shoes, most recently my Birkenstocks, I’ve worn my cycling shoes to breaking point and the sole is flapping off the bottom. I thought they would last the trip but I’ll have to add them to the replacement list in Broome. I’ve also lost my optus SIM card.
I passed another 4 people and another 2 couples in the carpark, but not enough vehicles, I think those 4 are travelling in one hire camper. That’d be cosy.
I don’t think it was downhill on the way in, it was just with the wind. It didn’t feel too bad back out to my luggage.
I was out of the mountains proper but still in the hills as I passed the Mt Hart turn off. It has these annoying signs saying “cold beer” and “hot food” on the road but it’s 50k in. Apparently the gardens are nice. I stopped at Apex Creek to filter some water, just in case I don’t make it to Lennard River. I have form getting lax on water supplies near the end of a remote section. Two couples pulled up as I was doing this for morning tea on their way to Mt Hart and they gave me a cold can on coke and another muesli bar. So good.
Of course, immediately after I added at least 5kg to my bike, there was a hill.
The road was quiet, at about 11:30 by now and good and seemed mostly downhill as the hills got lower. They changed into red stony hills but big rocks, not the little red stony ones from a few days ago.
Eventually the cows came back although it was still stony. I covered 45k in 3 hours. That plus the increased roadkill is proof the road is getting better. I stopped for lunch in a sandy riverbed then continued on, through a gap in the Napier Range where one side looks like a head. They call it Queen Victoria’s head, and it does look like an imposing woman from the east but it looked more like a sausage dog from the west.
I reached the Windjana Gorge turn off at 4. The Lennard River does look nice but I was really keen to get in to the park to be able to go to tunnel creek tomorrow without packing up. So I decided to push on the last 20k, racing the setting sun. The road had some pretty corrugated sections, the wind was coming from the south/east and every cow in the Kimberley seemed to have decided it was time to walk on the road.
Still, I made it in, sculled a bottle of hydralyte and found a shady campsite right on the edge of the campground and set up in the last of the light.
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The 4 people who are travelling in one car are just behind me and can’t get the tent part of their camper open so have to sleep on the ground. At first that was comforting that people are struggling more than me but the 45 minutes of discussion about how they’re going to make sleeping on the ground work got tiresome.
Today's ride: 100 km (62 miles)
Total: 1,517 km (942 miles)
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