Almost to Murchison-Expedition Dust day 12

I woke up with a sore body, yesterday had been a big day so I was expecting it! I added water to my apple and cinnamon breakfast, it takes about 10 minutes to fully re-hydrate so I packed away everything inside my tent while I was waiting. It was the first day that it was cold in the morning and I had to wear my jacket, I guess it's a bit of a teaser for what is to come.

I always try my best to set myself up for success for the day to come, yesterday I rode a little longer to make sure today was down hill to begin with. The bike doesn’t actually go all that fast with low pressure in the tires so I usually pedal down the hills. After about an hour of peddling I entered into a new region, I passed a sign saying "Welcome to the shire of Murchison" I don’t know about this shire business, I keep looking around for hobbits and wizards but only see emus and dirt!

I can feel my bum beginning to get saddle sores from spending 7 1/2 hours a day sitting, so when I spotted a big, green, lush swamp and a pond (yes you read that right, there was water from the last time the valley flooded). I striped and got straight in splashing my body with the cool brown water and cleaning my clothes (well, removing the sweat). I ate dates with peanut butter for lunch while listening to all of the birds around the water. After my excursion off the main track I pushed my bike back to the road and continued riding. It didn’t even occur to me that there might have been something hiding in the pond! I think I’m a bit far south but this is Australia after all so you never know! One thing that is strange is the number of shoes out here. The two most common bits of rubbish are tyres and shoes. I have seen 5 different shoes since I started heading down the butchers track. Anybody know why?

From about midday I was riding next to a charred landscape that must of had a fire rip though as some point in the last year. On my left everything was black and on my right it was green. The track was relatively flat so I was able to get a huge amount of distance under my wheels before the end of my day.

I pulled off the road at 5:30 as I pushed my bike away from the road I noticed a lot of what looked like snake tracks, I’m quite excited to see a real snake. At this point anything that’s on the ground that looks even slightly like a snake becomes a snake in my head.

I watched the most spectacular sunset before putting up my tent and starting a fire. I traveled 75km today and am only 14km from my next water refill spot in Murchison. I think tomorrow I might have a shorter day and just go to Murchison and rest my sore legs. I had Radix venison with leak and thyme for dinner, it’s one of my favorites. Even though the meals are plenty big enough I like to add extra rice to them for a extra carb hit!

The outback is strangely silent at night, you can hear the wind and the bats squeak as they fly low over the tent eating all the bugs, wooshhhh.