Into the outback-Expedition Dust day 10

It was a bit of a luxury to have breakfast at the roadhouse before I set off into the outback. I had a breakfast wrap, some toast and cereal. Not as nutritionally beneficial as my expedition food but it’s always nice to change it up a bit. Before I left I frantically backed up two of my memory cards using my GNARBOX because I had forgotten to do it the day before! I packed my bike and filled up my water bags so that I have enough fluids to last 10 days, that is 44.2L in total. I don’t plan on it taking 10 days to get to somewhere to refill but if something goes wrong I want to know I have enough to be comfortable. It’s kinda rewarding knowing every day my bike gets roughly 4.5kg lighter.

Today was the day I said my final farewell to Loren. She walked behind the roadhouse with me to the gate. This wasn’t just any gate though for me this gate separates comfort from discomfort and known from unknown. As i unlatched it and swung it open I took a deep breath and smiled nervously because this was the gateway into the outback.

Fully laden with everything I need I felt fully confident. As I started riding I waved goodbye to Loren as she was closing the gate. It must have been a strange feeling for her, waving goodbye rather than joining me. I kept looking back until she was gone, then it was just me and I was in Nature my favorite place in the whole world.

I followed some ATV tracks in the red dirt. It took me though an old farm yard and onto a track that I followed. The track was quite rocky and covered in branches, it had only been about an hour before I suddenly heard a Hissssssss and felt something wet spray on my leg. I looked down and realized I had a thorn in my back tire. I pulled it out and the tire sealant that’s inside my tubeless tires did it’s job and sealed the hole!

The next 5 km brought another 10 thorns that found their way into my back tyre! It was at this point that I let a lot of the air out of my tyre, hopefully it wont puncture as easy.

I had spotted a fence line when looking on a satellite view map and that’s where I was heading. The trees had been cut back from the fence at some point in the past as a pathway for vehicles, but when I arrived I realized time has made it very overgrown.

I followed the fence east for about 2 hours, it went through some deep red dirt, across a small dried up lake and past a water bore! Eventually I came to the end of the fence line and had to make the choice to turn right and get onto the Byro woodleigh road or turn left and aim to get onto the old butchers track.

My original plan was to take the First option but the Butchers track sounds a whole lot more exciting than a road. It means I have kinda almost done a loop and taken the long way to get here, hopefully I have made the right choice. After another hour I came to a wire gate. My map said this is we’re the old track was so I opened it up and started riding along a almost non existent trail! I set up camp at 5:30, as the sun set I made a fire and cooked dinner. I feel quite annoyed at myself for changing my original plan, I did roughly 40km today. I could have just come straight here to begin with and it would have been almost 20km shorter. I’m in no rush but I can’t afford to do to many extra Kilometres or I run the risk of running out of water. Its lovely to be out here and I’m excited for the unknowns tomorrow will bring!