Distance:                             152.54km

Av speed:                            10.8kmh (it was a strong wind okay!!)

Total Elevation:                   493m

Calories:                              3965 per person

Weather:                             Hot (33*C) and very very very windy

Yet another 5am wakeup, this time for our regular Wednesday morning check in with HFS on SEN 1116AM. We then hit the snooze button and took an extra 30 minutes sleep, before getting underway a bit before 7am.

Unfortunately, the heavy winds that we’d heard throughout the night weren’t in our favour (not really a surprise) and we set out into a strong northerly headwind. Of course you guessed it, that headwind got stronger and stronger.... it was easily over the 40kmh mark and as youll see from our photos (we’ll try put them up in a few days) we were stuck in the middle of thousands of kms of grass.... with absolutely nothing to act as a shelter. The locals passing us in their trucks just shook their heads... 50% thinking what the hell are these silly buggers doing and 50% in pity.

It tooks us 5 hours to ride 67km.  Normally stats like that are something you’d be embarrassed about. Today they were a badge of honour. Riding these big beasts and trailers into headwinds that strong (oh and did we mention the road surface was terrible?) was just about the toughest thing you could do on a bike.

We took a break at Aramac for a feed and refreshments, before heading off at 1pm for Muttaburra. Whilst we were pleased to note the wind had died down from its apocalyptic speeds, it was still strong but we were able to make good time. A couple of times a few locals even stopped in their cars for a chat as we took a break.

As the sun began to set and with only 10km to go, Chris decided he had enough of taking photos of town signs in the dark and set off in a one man pursuit against the sun. Taking a photo in front of a town sign has never felt so good.... Chris 1, Sun 4.

We’ve since checked into the amazing Muttaburra Motel, a little bit of luxury in the middle of nowhere! We’ve also had a great feed at the local pub and enjoyed the company of everyone there. We’ve even organised to go and chat with some kids at the Cameron Downs station school on Friday which should be a great experience, Fiona the owner of the station was a gem.

It’s probably also a good time to let you know weve changed our itinerary and won’t be taking a rest day here tomorrow. After the debacle that was yesterday and the dreaded 48hr post rest day leg syndrome, weve decided to split the 208km to Hughenden as the locals have advised us the road is terrible (we’ve heard that before though haven’t we).

So for tomorrow night, Joe from the BP at Blackall has put us in touch with Jenny and Roger who own the Everslieh cattle station about 110km up the road and we’ll be spending the night with them. What a great experience, we cant wait... apparently there are even beers and cattle grazing at dusk! Unfortunately, such serenity means you’ve got to be in the middle of nowhere, so ya’ll just have to wait till Friday for the blogs!