We found Finke-Expedition Dust day 81

I woke up to Rubys alarm, we wanted to get on the road before the heat of the sun was unbearable. I felt quite sad as I stoked up the fire for breakfast because this was rubys last day out here. I feel like we have only just started connecting. I definitely enjoy her company. We packed up our camp and were on the road at 0830. It sucked having to push the bike right at the beginning of the day! There were a few small sections of road that were rideable. The road was so straight and right at the end there was a road the went off to the left it looked like it could be a bit of a shortcut so when we got there I made the decision that we would take the shortcut. After about 1km Ruby said that trying to start in the track was far to hard to balance on and she wanted to go back. I agreed that the road would probably be easier so we turned back and linked back up with the road. We followed the sandy road up to the top of a hill, this is where we both looked down into the flood plains and sore Finke, we were both excited for very different reasons! I was excited because the shop would have more snacks and I needed to stock up before I cross the simpson. Ruby was excited because this was her last day. We rode into town together just after 12 I waved to to the  locals and said hello. It very quickly became apparent that this was just an aboriginal community and wasn’t going to have accommodation for Ruby so we headed for the shop which was closed until two. We sat at the table to formulate a plan to get the bike to mount Dare where Ben is with a vehicle that is going to take him across the Simpson so he can film my crossing. In the end we decided the most safe and simple option was for Ruby to ride for a few more days and get to Mt Dare then hitchhike or take the bush bus back to any main city from there.

One of the community dogs came and sat next to me. It looked like it had been atacked by the other dogs! It was absolutely covered in ticks and looked very hungry. I had some time to kill so I feed the dog with some oats and milk powder, groomed it and gave it lots of pats! When the store opened I went inside to get one treat for myself and some supplies for the Simpson Desert. I got an ice cream as my treat and decided to get some frozen lamb for dinner to go with the fresh veggies Ruby had brought. I also got some noodles and one pack of red frog lollies. The road out of Finke had just been graded! It was so smooth! No bumps and the wind had picked up from our rear and was blowing us down the road. The landscape was so different again! Big vast open land with dust twisters forming and dissipating it remind me of the wizzed of oz for some reason. We both covered about 30km in under 2 hours, It was a tired bikers dream. At the 30km mark we hit the turn off to Mt Dare, we were so pumped and happy with our progress, we decided we would push 10km further to make our total distance 60km. The road to Mt Dare hasn’t been graded, I don’t think it’s ever been graded! It was worse than the road we have been struggling on for the past week! Our progress slowed but we still managed to hit our 60km goal.

The Camp spot was exposed as there are very little trees, the wind is strong and quite cold, I got the fire burning really hot so I had a good bed of embers to cook with! I chopped up the potatoes carrots, onion and broccoli that Ruby had bought. I cooked it all in my pot then cooked the lamb on the grill plate straight over the fire! It was absolutely wonderful we jumped in the tent earlier than usual because it was quite cold and we were really ready for a rest!