Adelaide to Darwin MTB - Ti Tree to Wycliffe Well

Day: 012
Date: Sunday, 4 September 2005
Start: Ti Tree
Finish: Wycliffe Well
Daily Kilometres: 181
Total Kilometres: 1932

Journal:
I got up at 5am after a good night's sleep and was on the road by 5:40am.  There was just a hint of "down" but a fantastic starry sky.  I was aiming for Barrow Creek Roadhouseat 89km, but immediately encountered a moderate headwind that slowed me down.  It was also pretty warm already.  The country was quite interesting with occasional rocky outcrops, low ranges and escarpments.  The imposing Central Mount Stuart was also visible off to the left.  despite the conditions, I made reasonable progress and got to Barrow Creek Roadhouse around 10am.  It was an "original" with a bar filled with memorabilia, flower-decked shady verandah and a donkey standing in the service station forecourt.  It stood in the same place for the whole 45 minutes I was there.  I ordered some toasted sandwiches and a bottle of drink and sat on the verandah enjoying the peaceful scene.  A couple of aboriginal women were slowly doing some chores and chatting.  Out in the sun it was hot.  I set out in the heat for a rest stop 40km down the road.  The wind became more flukey which allowed a better pace and a more pleasant ride.  There continued to be some hills but also some very long flat straight stretches where the road disappeared into a shimmering distance.  I reached the rest stop at about 12:45pm and shared the only table in the shade with an elderly couple from sydney.  They offered me tea and water and we chatted while they ate their sandwiches and I had a bowl of muesli.  The guy kidded me about their car's A/C as they left.  It was very still and hot.  Typical outback Australia with some cattle sheltering under some of the scrubby trees and everything very dry.  I set out for the last 52km to Wycliffe Well and after about 45 minutes met a cyclist coming the other way.  he was on his way from Darwin to Melbourne and had done some long rides in the past - Melbourne>Cape York and Round Australia.  we chatted for about 20 minutes before continuing on.  I reached Wycliffe Well around 4pm.  It was a very well-kept campground/motel and I got a cabin and watched the end of the footy before showering and washing out my clothes.