Day 10 -Croydon to Leichhardt Lagoon - 131kms
Last night at the pub I met one of the grey nomads, Barry, I keep seeing along the way. We had a pleasant evening enjoying dinner and sunset. Today my plan is to push through to Leichhardt Lagoon. It meant I had to be on the road before 7am as I had approximately 130kms to cover!
The first couple of hours I saw two cars. At the 60km mark I stopped at Blackbull Siding. It is a small area used for the Normanton to Croydon train. There is also a big shady area where I enjoyed second breakfast. You can also camp here. The weather today is for clear sky's and about 30 degrees for most of it. After my first big stop I continued. Traffic remained light for the whole day. As the day progressed it quickly got warmer and warmer. No hills to climb and a slight tailwind for the day made it a little easier. At 100kms (50km from Normanton) there is a picnic table with shade. Decided this would be a good place to cool down and enjoy lunch. Throughout the day I ensured I kept my fluids up. I began with about 10 litres of water. By the end of it I was down to 5 litres. I arrived at Leichhardt Lagoon just after 3.30pm. What a beautiful location. It is a homestead set next to this massive lagoon. It only costs $8 to stay for the night. The camping area is massive, so there is plenty of space for everyone. Once I was setup I relaxed in the shade for the rest of the afternoon. At 6.30pm I went down to the lagoon to enjoy sunset. The sunset was a great end to a long warm day on the bike. Tomorrow is a short 25km ride into Normanton. |
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Day 11 - Leichhardt Lagoon to Normanton - 25kms
I enjoyed watching the stars from my tent last night. Has to be one of my favourite things I like doing when on tour. This morning I was packed and riding by 7.30am. I made very good time and arrived in Normanton at 8.45am. I stopped at the train station to get a ticket for the afternoon service on the Gulflander. I was pleased to find they had one ticket left for the 9am train.
The Gulflander links Croydon with Normanton. It was built 125 years ago (it had its birthday this week) so that the gold being mined out of Croydon could be shipped out and also it allowed for provisions to be brought in. This morning's ride goes as far as Critters Camp. When I got on the train I knew a few of the passages from places I have been over the last few days. The train rattled along the line and we all enjoyed the views. As part of the trip we stopped at a billabong for morning tea. And what a tea we had. There were yummy scones, damper, jams and billy tea. It was a great way to spend the morning. After we have munched through all the provisions we got back onboard and continued to Normanton. When we got back to Normanton I headed for the caravan park across the road from the purple pub. Again, a number of my fellow travellers I had met were staying here as well. So it was nice to catch up with them. Once I was setup I grabbed a few more provisions for the next few days. As my next town is not until Burketown which is about 240km away. For the rest of the day I relaxed near the pool. |
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Day 12 -Normanton to roadside bush camp - 88kms
This morning I decided to leave a little later and get a cooked breakfast in town, as my next town is three days away. After breakfast I was away at around 8.30am. This morning I am carrying an extra 12 litres of water (16 litres in total). As there are only a few rivers I cross over the next few days. Also each day is expected to hit about 30 degrees with blue skies.
I followed the road back the way I came yesterday and took the turnoff towards Burketown, which is about 220km away. I was expecting the road to turn to dirt after a couple of kilometres, but it was sealed all the way to my first stop, Burke and Wills camp 119. I got to their camp at around 10am. Burke and Wills went on an ill fated expedition through the centre of Australia. Camp 119 was their most northerly point they got. They could not get through the mangroves to reach the coast. Therefore they turned back. More information on their expedition can be found here. I continued on to Little Bynoe River. There was plenty of water in the river and you could also camp on the western side (turn left after the causeway). As it was still only 11am I decided to continue. After the river the road turned to dirt. The first 15-20kms of the road was very smooth and I was making good time. It was starting to get warmer though. I stopped frequently to rehydrate and also let my body cool down. The remaining few kilometres of the road was a little corrugated, so I kept switching sides to find the best line. After 75kms (around 2pm) I decided to keep an eye out for somewhere to camp for the night. By 3pm I found a small clump of trees which provided some shade for the remainder of the afternoon. There was a space between the road and fence line for my tent. The road is very quiet (about 1 car an hour). Tomorrow I'll be stopping at Leichhardt Falls which is about 75kms from here. |
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