June 6th: Radio Repeater Tower to Soudan Bore – 54 km
Day 236
All night the wind made strange noises. It whistled through the towers girders and played individual notes on the barbed wire around it. It was quite eerie. We had just finished watching a horrific episode of Game of Thrones, where Oberyn fights the Mountain. Sweet dreams for us, in the middle of nowhere next to an abandoned building with the wind howling around us. To put myself to sleep, I read a little bit of A Handmaid’s Tale, nothing like a post apocalyptic novel to put me you ease. Cher woke up in the middle of the night and asked, will the tent hold? I said yes, more to assure myself than her. I did get to see the stars though. The moon had set and the sky was so clear that the milky way was clearly visible stretching from horizon to horizon. I could even see some of the subtle twists like an enormous double helix of DNA. Stupidly I had chosen the highest spot on this flat windy landscape to pitch our tent, and the wind was strong enough that it was moving the tent with us in it. We had shifted about 5cm by the time we rolled out of bed.
Of course the bush flies were waiting for us when we got up. They start when the sun comes up and abruptly stop when it goes down. I made Cher breakfast in bed. We had a power breakfast of oatmeal with bananas, chocolate chips, honey and powdered whole milk. Despite our restless night we were in good spirits, though not sure why.
Once again the wind was in our face. We could barely manage 10 km per hour in the morning. It’s like climbing hills all day with no down hill at the end. We weren’t too worried though we only had 54 km to go to get our net stop. We originally planned to do two 90 km days but thankfully we have the option of doing three 60 km days. We have plenty of food and both rest stops have water.
We rolled into Soudan Bore in high spirits. With low traffic and a lull in the wind we have been practicing balance riding. With our hands above our heads we lean side to side and the trike goes the opposite direction.
With plenty of water we each took a shower. Even though the temperatures are around 26, and the water is warm the wind makes your teeth chatter as soon as the water hits you. As I was dumping water over Cher’s head as she washed in her undies a lady stopped and tried to make small chat. Hoping she would recognize this was a bad time I told her “could we please chat later.” Cher, despite having lost some muscle control due to her shivering, took the time to answer some questions. She’s a saint! Which we will need the patience of if the wind keeps up from here to Townsville.
