Waking up in a bed was such a strange feeling. I could hear Ruby muttering something in her sleep, I am a bit sad she is leaving, it’s been such a wonderful journey with her. Learning about Ruby and helping her push herself through something that, at times she thought was pointless and stupid, has been a special experience. I took a deep breath and smiled because I am alive and what better reason to smile than that!
Mt Dare is pretty much the edge of the Simpson desert, well in my mind it is. It’s the last place to get a beer and a meal until Birdsville so I decided I would treat myself to Bacon and eggs, the legend who made it for me gave me a sausage and beans on the side for free! He must have either thought I was skinny or knows what I’m getting myself into!
Ruby came over and gave me a very emotional hug. Every time things got really tough during our time together I would try and give her the most wholesome hug I could muster but if often felt like it was just me doing the hugging. This goodbye hug was different, i felt a connection, I was saying farewell to a friend.
I helped pack the spare bike and bags onto the camera support vehicle (Red dog). It seems strange having a vehicle travelling with me but it’s nesasersery for Ben so he can capture the journey across the Simpson. I’m still going to carry all my own gear, food and water that I need to get across the Simpson safely but I am definitely not going to say no if they cook extra food, that is after I have eaten my Radix of course.
When I set off the wind was raging, blowing straight in my face from the south east and it was cold! I thought to myself it’s going to be a big day. I Zig zagged across the track trying to find the path that was the smoothest. There was the main track on the right and a single lane track on the left. I looked up just as a Hawk was soaring overhead, It was playing in the wind and made me wonder what it would be like to fly like that (might have to be the next ting I learn how to do).
The road took a sharp turn to the left and the trees disappeared giving way to a vast empty landscape. I couldn’t believe how amazing it looked. This is the real beginning of the desert.
While everything was changing around me the one thing I knew wasn’t going to stop was the corrugations. At the end of this trip even the word is going to give me nightmares, it’s a never ending bumping, bouncing, bum destroying problem.
The daily routine changed today and will be very different until I get to Birdsville on the other side of the Simpson Desert. It’s changed because of the vehicle following along, Peter and Louie are two older cobbas from a small country Town in south Australia called Naracoorte, they are the drivers of the vehicle that’s going to take the Camera man Ben across the Simpson. The aim is to capture my crossing so we can create a powerful short film about this adventure.
Towards the end of the day the landscape changed again, it started to become rocky and there were large salt pans and small mountain ranges. The downhills were such great fun on the bike but every time I went down I then had to cilmb back up. At the top of one of the bigger hills I could see Ben with the Camera and Red dog (red 200 series land cruiser)
I slowly started spinning in my lowest gear to get to the top, something felt wrong and when I got to the top I realised I had a flat tire. I’m pretty good at fixing flats and this one only took about 2 minutes to fix. I took off down a another hill zooming towards the campsite for the night. As I rode into the Dalhousie springs the sun was setting and the the sky was on fire. The boys were already all set up when I rode in. I ate dinner then chilled out with the team sharing some stories of adventure. Tomorrow I’m going to have rest day and make good use of the natural hot springs.