We woke up with the idea of starting late and riding into the night, since we didn’t have to rush, everything we did was extra slow. Slow to get up, slow to pack up, slow to eat and slow to fix the flat trailer time that had gone flat overnight. It was nice having a relaxed morning. I made myself pancakes for breakfast with lemon and coconut sugar, definitely not the best nutritionally but bloody divine in the taste bud depatment.
In mekkathara I put tube goo inside the trailer tube. It is supposed to self seal any holes, so all I needed to do was pump it up and it was good to go again (or so I thought). I was all ready to go when Dylan spotted a loose bolt on the kick stand on my trailer. I got down to have a closer look and found that the screw and bolt on the other side was actually completely gone, it took a few minutes to tighten the fiddly bolt onto the screw but since the other one was gone it no longer stood up.
It was 1030 when we hit the road, the wind had picked up and was blowing from the south east at 27kmh. With the wind in our faces I knew it was going to be a long day. I told Dylan we needed to keep an eye out for a old car wreck or something that might have a suitable replacement for the missing part on the trailer. The road we set off on this morning was very smooth, as usual Dylan had his morning strength and powered off ahead. I have given up trying to keep up at his pace, because I know by the afternoon he's always out of energy. It was only about 30 min after I left when I felt the unmistakable feeling of a flat trailer tyre… that goo shit doesn’t work! I pulled my tyre off and all the goo had oozed out of the small hole in the tube and was now just making a mess and stopping my patch repair from sticking. As I was repairing the wheel I looked up and could see Dylan had stoped about a kilometre ahead and was having a lie down on the roadside. After the first patch didn't stick I just gave up and swapped the tube for a new one with the intention of fixing the holy one properly in the evening. When I was done it had been about 30 min and Dylan was still just laying there. I really could of used his help with the repair so I was a bit annoyed he was just relaxing and didn't stop and come back.
With a fresh tube in I was all set again, I took a big drink of my water and started to ride toward captain relaxation! As I approached him I realised he wasn't lying alone, next to him was a badly injured kangaroo. My frustration trasformed into sadness because I knew I was going to have to end its life. I knew what to expect, but watching life leave is something I will never enjoy. When it was done, I removed the tail to cook over the fire in the evening. Nothing could have ever prepared me for what happened next. I rolled the roo over and spotted something moving in its pouch. I gently reached inside and carefuly removed a still blind, pink hairless joey. I looked over to Dylan hoping he had some idea for me that didnt involve killing, I wont ever forget the look of horror I got from him in return. I did what needed to be done but feel as though I lost a part of myself in the process.
I stood my bike up and rode in silence for almost an hour before trying to explain to Dylan how I was feeling but didn't really have the words to describe how I felt inside. Shame on anyone who would leave an animal to suffer like that, there are simply no excuses.
After another hour of spinning we stopped on the top of a small crest, I thought it looked cool and wanted a photo so I set my Gh5 up on the tripod in the middle of the road ready to ride into frame, I was looking down at the camera screen and HOLY CRAP! 150m ahead 25 camels crosed the road, talk about good timing!
I had started to get quite hungry because my breakfast didn't have what I needed to perform at my best, so together we decided to stop at the top of the next hill for lunch.
I had some flat bread and dates with peanut butter and Dylan had peanut butter in a tortilla. I also checked my map to see how far the next water source was. We didnt need water but my map is a bit different in this part of austraila so I just wanted to make sure the bores and wells are where they say they should be. There was ment to be one about 6km up ahead. 20 minutes along the road we came to a very abandoned well and storage pond that had some flithy water in the bottom. What this spot did have was a stand that held some solar pannels and on the corner of the stand was a nut and bolt that fit perfectly in my trailer stand. After a little bit of banging and wiggling it was as good as new!
At 1500 hours I decided Dylan was physialy and mentaly ready for the real adventure to begin and told him at the next corner we are leaving the road and heading into the desert. We rode next to each other and stopped on the corner, I pulled out my map to make sure the way we were about to head was the right way (it was) and then we set off along a narrow cattle track. It was instantly tough but I was back charging forward into the unknown and it was exciting. I looked back a few times and could tell Dylan was finding it a bit harder than the graded road we spent his first 6 days zooming along. But he was doing it and still had a smile on his face! We followed the cattle track as sun set and then rode into the night using the light from the moon to see where we needed to go. We rode and pushed through the sandy patches for two hours in the night before stoping to set up camp. Dylan got started on the tent while I dug the fire pit and started the fire. We unpacked our sleeping gear and started making dinner. Dylan made some mash potato with curry powder, seaweed and some nuts. I pulled out the roo tail for myself. This time I decided to leave the skin on and covered it in the embers. It took about half an hour to cook and it tasted much better than the last time. I’m so excited for the adventure tomorrow will bring.