The Gunbarrel Part 2

Hopefully the last post left you on a cliff hanger!

Day 5 Beedle Camp to Warrakurna

We woke up the next morning very tired and not looking forward to another day day of heavy ruts. We still had 67km of the Gunbarrel highway proper left and then 38km of the Heather Highway which was supposed to be just as bad. We packed up early to get ahead of the tag along tour so we would be in clean air. We were just about to leave when Greg the tour leader called us over and stuffed two bacon and egg rolls into our hands. We love these people! We took off but twenty minutes later I heard Rod yelling at me to pull over. He could smell something burning on my bike. We realised that when my back shock was fully compressed it rubbed my back tyre into the exhaust. Not much we could do but carry on. 

We continued on through horrible ruts and then into soft deep sand. Rod's a champion in the sand but I struggled. I was going really well until I had to brake for some rocks on the road. I stopped and over balanced and tipped off the bike. Not a big off and Rod soon helped me right the bike. I then had two offs trying to start up in the sand the second one trapping my boot under the bike. I was pinned and screaming the Rod to come and get the bike off me  (in pain!) when I realised he was walking back to his bike and still had his helmet and ear plugs in. It took him two full minutes to realise  I was stuck by which time I was laughing my head off. We then managed to get going again and my riding just kept improving.

The last part of the Gunnbarrel is all washouts and rocks, really technical riding  and we loved it. We got to the Heather Highway turnoff and had morning tea with the tag along group.

End of the Gunbarrel Higway, Start of the Heather Highway

The tag along tour chasing us! Brain our new Dad yawning on the left

We then took off up the Heather and it was not long till I had my fourth off of the day. I was going through a washout and thought I had missed a rock, but no, I hit it straight on and it threw me off. I managed to badly strain the muscle along might right ribs and break my left wing mirror in the process. We got going again thankfully and continued until we hit the main road. It was still a little bit rutted but it looked like a highway compared to what we had just rode. I was in a lot of pain and just needed to push on the last 100km to Warburton.

We pulled in and had lunch  (fatty burgers!) and I got some pain killers in. We then decided to ride the next 225km to Warrakurna and camp. It was a good ride and we nailed it in just over 2 and half hours. I was leading and we have an agreement that I'll pull up every 30km and make sure Rod's still on the bike. I have to wait a bit though and I've start a series of photos called "Waiting for Rod".

Waiting for Rod 90km out of Warburton

A great little camp at Warrakurna. Best camp kitchen I've seen yet. We weren't expecting the tag along tour that night as they were going to pull up on the side of the road 100km west of us but we were servicing the bikes before dinner and all of a sudden we heard eight car horns and yells of "Whats for dinner?". In the end we had another pleasant evening around the campfire with Brain and Diane (our new mum and dad) feeding us beers.

Sorry about the spelling by the way. The keyboard and Internet connection are dodgy! We are just about to head out to the see the sunset over Uluru so I'll have to continue the story later.

Take care.

Rod and Mike