Day: 144km
Ride time: 6hours 44minutes
This morning the heat woke me up nice and early. I must of had my tent set up on an area of wild cattle, as the bush reeked of some type of urine. This made it hard to stay comfortable in the tent. I was really amazed at how hot the sand was beneath me, feeling just like an electric blanket all night.
I took for to the next roadhouse around 30km away and for 150odd planned for the day. I managed to bump into the Irish couple again at the roadhouse which I think now woul be the final time I'd ever see then again. I manage to convince them to come down for a swim in the river close by. They were at first fearful for crocodiles but after getting the heads up that there's none around the thought of a refreshing swim couldn't be passed.
This was great. I swam for a good 30 minutes before packing my gear up and going further. I filled up my water, carrying 18litres which I expect to be enough for two days until the next roadhouse.
The riding was hot and hard but as normal I was expecting this. On my map was a camp area 119km passed the roadhouse so I kept my eyes open for it. Around 108km I saw a sign for a rest area. I thought to my self that it was a little close then expected, but I hadn't seem any other rest areas and the probability of two next to each other would be slim. I also had no motivation to go further and then turn back if I couldn't find one.
This rest area was directly next to a mining site. There were huge machines driving by and factory sounds going off in a distance. I was surprised to not see any other travellers at this rest area, being the only one in 200km, yet figured the mine must of deterred them.
It was about 6pm, I set my cooker up and started reading my book. A little while later a Polish/German couple came down to get a photo of the mining site. They informed me there was a rest area ten km's down the road and there were a few campers around. I had all my gear scattered so had no plans on getting on the bike to go further up. All I hoped was that the mining work wasn't 24hours and that the machines would stop at some point.
I was wrong and they went all night. I had a pretty dismal sleep. The sleep is possibly the most under recognise difficulty of this trip. The heat wakes you up first thing in the morning, a combination of ants and mosquitoes bother you for some time in the night and an elevated heart rate provides difficulty sleeping during the night.
Tomorrow the plan is to Karratha!
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