Expedition Dust day 55

When I woke up, I could hear the sand hitting the tent, it was blowing a gale outside! It had been a cold night and I didn’t sleep very well. I got dressed and unzipped the tent, it became apparent that it was going to be a hard day riding into the wind. I got the fire going to warm myself and boil some water for a radix. After everything was packed away I stood looking into the distance at Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) mentaly preparing myself for the day ahead.

I headed down to the road, the dust was blowing into my eyes so I got out my goggles. I started bouncing over the corrugations heading toward Yulara. It didn’t take long before the first car zoomed past adding to the already dusty morning, the second car stopped and a friendly couple gave me few chocolate chip muesli bars before continuing on their way. Progress was very slow and after the first hour I worked out that with the headwind I was only averaging 7.8kmh. At this rate it was going to be a very long day. Car after car went past, some wave, some don’t, some slow down to not cover me in dust and some just speed up to cover me in more, you never really know!

I rode over the bumps for another 2 hours before I reached a gravel pit that some people had stoped at to have lunch. Their names were Meril and Denis and they were on their way home to Queensland. I told them about my travels and we spoke about theirs, they had recently been to Antarctica on a cruise. It was so lovey to meet them and share some time with them. As they were leaving they presented me with a big chocolate bar, an apple and a mandarin, I couldn’t believe it, fresh fruit and chocolate!

My body has been taking an absolute beating from all the bumps, it hurts all over and I have lost feeling to my little fingers! Hopefully i’m not doing any long-term damage to my body. A few hours later I came over the crest of a hill and lay my eyes on the Olgas once again. I jumped off the bike to take a photo and as I was geting my tripod out of the trailer I spotted a bend in the trailer arm... the second trailer that Dylan had been using, that I was now using was compromised. I knew it was because of the corrugations but there was nothing I could do to stop it. By 1600 hours I  had hit a real road that was flat and so so nice. My spine felt like it was bruised so I stopped to stretch and check the trailer, it had started to crack through the aluminium. It was only a matter of time before it broke off completely leaving me stranded sill roughly 50km from Yulara. All I could do was hope that it held together.

As I was getting closer to the Olgas I began to realise the actual size of the domes. They  are unbelievably huge, I was in total awe of them. They are one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. I headed to the touristy sunset viewing spot that was maked on all the signs, when I arrived the sun was just starting to set. There were auctaly hundreds of people… hundreds! I rode my bike through the crowds, everybody was looking at me, I was covered in dust from head to toe and then I realised that they were all taking photos of me. The sun slowly went down lighting the olgas up with red glow. Once the sun was gone I carried on my way. 10 minutes later the trailer broke. I was in a carpark somewhere I’m not really meant to camp and I couldnt go anywhere. It was too late to try and sort it out so I pushed my bike off the road and into the bush. I set my tent up in the moonlight and made myself pasta over the campfire. The wind has really picked up and I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that it goes away by the morning.