Day 103 | Belele Station bush camp: I finally find an ant free campsite

107 km | zzOz total: 4,979 km

280 km in 3 days, who said this was hard.

Well, actually it’s rare for me to spend such a sustained period in the saddle, about 20 hours in those three days. Putting in overtime.

It’s been one of those chugging along type of days, only relieved by getting a thorn through my Petrol on the back, that softish balloon is a joy to ride on these types of roads, but the thorn protection is nowhere near like I have on my other tyres so I spend the time and change over to my XR. No sand for a few days, the road is great riding, at least for off the black top.

The landscape is surprisingly changeable for all the superficial monotony. Stretches with not much in the way of vegetation, thick grasses in places, none at all elsewhere, big time shrubbery, it’s constantly changing.

I’m on the lookout for more goannas, I’m getting better at spotting them, but only when they move, the spots on their back make excellent camouflage when motionless. I know I must have sailed straight past dozens, oblivious, except for their distinctive tracks in the soft road, their tails leave a V groove in the surface, the period of the oscillation indicative of the size of the beast.

I saw one lumbering reptile, about 5 feet long, taking off from a closer encounter with a solitary bike rider.

As for other reptiles, ie, snakes, I’ve seen a few foot long varieties dispatched on the road, the bigger ones must be out in the long grass although I’ve seldom spotted their distinctive tracks, sinusoidal but with a blurring on the flatter parts of the curve where they push off.

It’s back to the birds to keep me entertained, they have massive supplies of food for once and even water. Plenty of various parrots, budgies, ringnecks, cockatiels and something blue. But the majority are Wood swallows or tiny finches.

I’ll have company, of the non-feathered variety, when I get to Meeka tomorrow before lunch.

I don’t have anything at all left for lunch, unless I stop and cook something up.

Good thing for civilisation.