After my Radix this morning I decided I needed to live up to my Wildboy name and actually do a bit of off track desert riding. I had 4km of untracked Sandhills to cross before I would reach another huge salt flat. As I slowly made my way up and over the first sand hill I waved goodbye to south Australia and the Northern Territory, this was the last time I would see them both on this adventure.
Not long after I left, 3 dingos started tracking me. At first I spotted one who was quite brave, he ran along side me hiding behind trees every time I stopped moving. The other two looked like pups, they were learning from a distance by the look of it. The sand dunes without the tracks are much easier to ride on, but avoiding the thorns required 100% of my attention. There was only about 7 hills before the salt flat came into view, then there was 15km of nice hard packed salt to ride along before the sand hills began again.
I flew along the salt flat, arriving at the edge of the sand in just under an hour. At about 1200 hours I checked my thermometer because I was starting to feel like I was cooking in an oven. It read 38 degrees. I decided that that was far to hot too ride because I don’t really fancy dealing with heat stroke in the desert. For my lunch I had campfire damper with mustard and tomato sauce from the vehicle, it was just like a a cheese burger without the cheese...and the pattie...
I lay under a mulga tree and closed my eyes. I slept for just over an hour before I got frustrated with the flys and sick of doing nothing and kept riding in the hottest part of the day. Literally every sandhill I push up and boost down. As I was pushing up I found some nice dry flowers that I collected because they looked nice and smelt better than me. (Not hard considering I haven’t had a shower in a wee while)
Ben has made a habit of riding the last 10km with me! It has been really wonderful sharing this part journey with a good mate like Ben. We only had to ride over 5 big sand dunes before reaching our campsite. We talked about the film that we are creating about this expedition and made plans for filming future expeditions. We had one sand hill to go for the day when a white truck came from behind. There was a lovely Australian couple who presented us with a ice cold can of lemonade to share! It was the biggest treat as it was still 32 degrees. As we pulled into camp the smell from what Peter was cooking hit me. Butter, bacon and frying oinion with mash carrot and potatoes, he had made a huge feast! I totally inhaled it, one moment it was there then it was in my belly. As the sun was setting Ben and I sat down and recorded an interview about the journey for me so far. I can tell you one thing I know I am living my best life!