Day 19 Roma to Wild Camp 30 km past Surat 110 km

caravan park, Roma

Bottle Trees along the street

What a night! Dude in the neighbouring cabin watches TV until 12:30 am. It is loud enough that I can conversations in whatever he is watching. Just across from the caravan park is a truck parking area. The refrigerated semis sit their with their engines running all night.

3:30 am I hear swish, swish - I know what that is, sprinklers have come on! Fortunately they are watering the nature strip on the other side of the fence. All I need now is for a sprinkler head to pop up under my tent as happened to Tony when we were in Western Australia. I zip up the tent just in case.

5:15 am the trucks across the road depart and it is silent except for swish, swish - don't worry about the drought this naturestrip is going to be magnificent.

I start packing at 5:30 am, muesli and coffee at 6:15 am, on the road 6:50 am. My cunning plan to beat the wind is working. After 5km I turn off the Warrego Highway and onto the Carnarvon Highway towards Surat. Everything is dry as far you can see.

from the top of hill toward Surat

Not 11 Evans St, Fairfield!

There is no wind and the road surface is smooth, I am enjoying the best riding of the trip so far. The hills are easy and the downhills rewarding. At 8:30 am I have ridden 30 km. I pull into a Rest Stop briefly for a drink. A truck pulls up and the driver and I have a chat. He is going the same way as me. He tells me there is no water between Surat and St George but there are plenty of Rest Stops.  Most of the stops around here have big water tanks - you can't rely on that and you probably wouldn't want to drink that water anyway.

Back on the road 40 km, 50 km then 60 km fly by. Now according to my rules i can't stop.

Joe's Rules
1/. 1st stop of day must be more than 25 km from start
2/. Stops can only be at multiples of 5 km hence 25 km, 30 km, etc
3/. No stopping on an uphill.
4/. Stopping is allowed outside the above rules for great campsites, Rest stops and photographs.
5/. If 20 km or less from a destination you may not stop. You can always ride the 20 km on autopilot even if exhausted.

Nearing Surat I pass what I am guessing is wheat fields. It must be irrigated but I can't see any irrigation pivots. In the middle at 1 spot I see 3 large emus too far away to photograph. Just outside Surat there is a camping area on the river. It is already crowded with Crusties and their vans.

I arrive at Surat just on 11:00 am and I have been averaging more than 20 kph which is pretty good fully loaded with 30+ kg of gear and water. My plan is to have lunch and hide from the heat in the shade until later in the day and then ride some more. It is getting pretty hot. I grab a chicken sandwich and coke and retire to the park by the river.

Surat is significant to me in 2 ways:
1/. It is half way between Cairns and Melbourne, and
2/. Lisa and I were here in April grave hunting for distant relatives as part of her family history project. Our trip here was part of the inspiration for this trip. I remember as we drove out here I was imagining what it would be like to ride through here.

Another inspiration was a novel I loved as a young adult. "Brigalow" by R.S.Porteous. It is the story of young cattleman's life in outback Queensland in the 1930s. Although a novel it was inspired by his own life. It's setting is very much the countryside I have been riding through.

The Balonne River flows through Surat - it joins the Maranoa which becomes the Culgoa before flowing into the Darling at Bourke. Simon sent me a picture of the Darling from there yesterday. Looks like there is less water there than there is here.

I sit in the park watching a council worker manically racing around on a large ride on mower. Crazy - the grass wouldn't be a centimetre high, all he is doing is stirring up dust. It is a great make work scheme, water the grass so it grows so you can mow it. Why not let it grow longer and get stronger and save precious water in this severely drought effected area.

At 2:30 pm I soak my shirt and head scarf under a tap before getting back on the bike. Every extra kilometre today is one less tomorrow. It is 34 degrees and the wind has picked up but I manage another 25 kilometres before the back of the bike suddenly lurches. I know something isn't right but I can't see anything wrong.

I continue on puzzling at the cause, is it a broken ocky strap? No, then I spot a loose top rack screw, how did that get so loose? I tighten it with Allen keys and continue on but it is still not right, I can hear an intermittent rubbing noise. I jump off and make a more thorough examination, the rack is crooked. Ah I have broken a bottom rack screw. I can fix this as it has happened before.

Beautiful Sunset

Best campsite of the trip

It is 4:50 pm so I head into the bush to camp for the night. Superb campsite!
I fix the rack and set up camp. Uncle Bens Vegetable Pilau with Tuna and beans for dinner. It has been a big day I shall sleep well tonight.

🐞🐘🦃⛸