Second last day. We left White Cliffs early for Hay with the faint hope of maybe going a little closer to home, say Deniliquin NSW. The 95kms from White Cliffs to Wilcania was a great bitumen road and held soo many surprises re animals.
Many ppl bagged Wilcania and suggested it was a violent dump of a town and one you should not stop in. Like a red rag to a bull, once we arrived, we rode around the small streets of Wilcania to see what the place s like. Some very old buildings and great architecture but most other buildings had shutters or metal bars on the windows and if not, they had broken windows. We agreed - yes a dump.
Once out of Wilcania we got onto the Cobb Hwy and it was 130kms of good dirt road. We took it slower than normal as Pete was feeling a little precious. We arrived in Ivanhoe and waited 1:40 hrs for 2 hamburgers for lunch in the only place that was open, a small cafe which also had petrol. Very ordinary experience. Given the long wait for food and the 130km of dirt road, there was no hope to make Deniliquin as it would mean riding after 4-5pm and out here with the kangaroo's that is almost suicide.
So what animals did we see during the day.... goats, emus, kangaroos, stubby lizards, goannnas, large golden'ish coloured snake, a massive 2-3 metre black snake, rabbits, cattle and sheep.
Seriously we saw over 1,000 wild goats. Herd after herd and emus - in plague proportions. For about 300kms we stopped or majorly slowed down about every 5 km's to let some stupid emus try and hit us or let cattle, goats or sheep go by. Both Pete and I had some scary moments with emus today. One instance for me, the road turned left and had some small trees on the side. Doing about 70-80kms as I came around the corner an emu was running beside me (but about 10 mtrs in front) and I said out loud - "Oh Shit". A split second later, the emu turned towards me and passed about 2-3 metres in front of me. Brown pants ensured.
I also have another funny story about a family of emus but will leave that one for later. I wish I had it on video as I would win money on funniest home video.
Extremely exhausting day due to the high level of concentration required so an early night tonight. Looking fwd to my own bed and pillow tomorrow.
Cheers - Richard
Peter's Bit
Well we made Hay, showered and soon after headed out in search of Nurse Puffe's Parma :-) The 130 kms of dirt was challenging today and I could only really manage 70 ~ 80 kph - especially over the hard ridgey sand - just too much hurty !!! We did the last 180 kms on seal at an average speed of around 120 so just a high speed blast - however the cattle grids were interesting - travelling fast over on with a big lip and I think I didn't breathe for the next 150 meters. Ribs are still sore but no bruising yet - typical soft tissue injury - seems o/k till you get it in the wrong position then it's just like someone has driven the proverbial bloody red hot poker right into the sore spot.
As Richard said the Emu's were fun - Richard went past four, two stopped and the other two started running parallel to the road just to my left ... I slowed down to about 35 and of course they both decided to dive across the road the closest one shot across about 3 metres in front of the bike but his mate tried to turn too quickly, lost traction on the seal, spun out and did a full barrel roll into the bush - feathers flying everywhere. He hardly slowed down as he rolled up onto his feet an disappeared into the distance. I was laughing so hard it took me some moments to reflect on how potentially dangerous the episode had been.
Well we both fairly tired and it's another big day tomorrow so it's nearly nite nite time - fingers, eyes and toes all crossed for no rain !!!
Most useless thing brought on the trip - heavy fleecy jacket for cold nights (however we have noticed tonight to be significantly colder than the Red Centre).
Most useful thing along for the ride - well after tossing up between my new Petzl Head Light and a reasonable supply of Panadol Forte I finially selected Nurse Puffe - his bedside manner needs a bit of work but I'd ride anywhere with him !!!
Till next time Cheers Pete
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