Expedition Dust day 3

Last night we camped by the ocean, it felt nostalgic waking up to the sound of the waves crashing onto shore. As the sun rose and while Loren slept I went for a skinny dip in the ocean. We were a little slow getting onto our bikes today and didn’t set off until around 10am. The temperature was the hottest I have felt since being in Australia it’s crazy to think it’s going to get hotter!

Immediately after we started riding we hit a hill, I put my legs into overdrive and managed to snake my way up though the deep sand all the way to the top! Over the hill was the rangers house so while I was waiting for Loren I called in to say hello! He told me I was mad and that I should get a truck. When Loren caught up we headed over the next hill and had a full view of a big Long Beach. I coasted down the hill towards the beautiful clear water all of a sudden my bike started making a strange sound. I stopped to figure it out and realized it was the two bolts that hold my wheel on.. oh no... I didn’t buy adjustable spanner and I needed one to tighten my wheels.

I grabbed out my multi tool that has pliers on it and did my best to tighten up the two bolts.

I had told Loren to wait for me at the beach and to find some shade, she was feeling queezy, I think from not drinking enough water! I gave her a grilling and told her she needs to drink more water and keep herself feeling the best she can.

When I was done with the wheel and had caught up, I found Loren was chatting away to a Lovely couple with at least 7 children in the car, they were driving around Australia for nine months. I told them about my wheel and the Australian bloke driving got out and gave me an adjustable wrench to keep. What a legend!

We decided this was the best spot to have lunch. Lunch today was peanut butter cups. I couldn't help myself, looking at the ocean was too hard to resist, I had to get in the water! I was wading out and I spotted a strange fish/shark with a diamond shaped head. I followed it along the shore until I realized it was a TURTLE! It took me by surprise, it just glided past. It was so wonderful to be in the water with such a gorgeous creature.

Earlier when I had stopped by the rangers house, he told me to take a different route which skips some of the massive sand dunes that we drove over on the way in. He said “when you get to the end of the beach don’t follow the track just keep going until you reach the mangroves” when we got there the sand was soft and deep along the beach.

I have got the hang of riding in sand but Loren who was behind kept slipping and falling over in the sand, she ended up pushing the bike majority of the way and got overwhelmed breaking down in tears multiple times. When she finally caught up to where I was waiting she tried to phone her mum and dad but they’re overseas.

I’m not the best at showing emotions but I managed to tell Loren that I too am finding this incredibly tough even though it looks like I’m just cruising this is actually really tough! I hope that made whatever she’s going through in her head a little easier!

It's tough for Loren and It’s so frustrating for me, I'm thinking about our route our distance traveled our water supply and distances between water sources. I really have to take my hat off to her though because I can tell she’s giving it 100%.

A few hours after our mangrove adventure we linked back onto the track,I couldn't believe my eyes. There was a flat bit of road with no bumps!

That road didn’t last long, we pushed our bikes a bit further up, and bumped into the family who gave us the wrench. They had a flat tyre so we hung out with them until they had fixed it up! We even had a cup of tea with them. We pretty much pulled our bikes off the road then set up camp under the stars.

We were finished biking around 7:30

Cya tomorrow!