|
Journal: |
A tough day, despite not being high kilometers. Firstly, I
ended up sleeping on a concrete apron adjacent to the toilet block
under a huge steel canopy that provided good weather protection.
I was going to use the BBQ shelter, but some campers decided to use
it for a BBQ before I got there. How unfair! Anyway, my
five hours sleep was interrupted by various visitors to the
facilities and by the sound of torrential rain and violent winds at
various times. The latter inspired me to get up and make sure
my airing clothing had not been blown to Indonesia.
When I
did get up at 12:30am it was raining and windy. I left at
1:30am (takes a little longer to pack up when using the tent and air
mattress) in the abysmal weather. I had visualized that there
would be days like this, and I wasn’t disappointed, except for the
fact that it was in the Kimberleys in the Dry Season and it’s not
supposed to rain.
The first 100km to Warmun Roadhouse was
particularly hard work into the wind and because I was very sleepy.
Additionally, the road was hilly. I arrived at Warmun at 7am,
having made very slow progress and decided to have a big brekky,
which it was. It rained torrentially while I was there and was
still raining hard when I left, much to the amusement of the staff
and some local aborigines, not to mention the people looking out of
the window of the Greyhound Bus making a scheduled stop at the time.
It pretty much rained non-stop for the rest of the day, with
varying intensities. The wind diminished a little, which
helped, but with the constant hills, I frequently struggled to keep
my speed above 15kph. The road was covered in puddles and I
was very wet, though not cold. My wet weather gear seems to be
doing the job. I had my lights on all day as did most of the
traffic. I got lots of sympathetic toots and waves. The
scenery, somewhat masked by low cloud, was still impressive with low
hills and rocky crags always visible on both sides. It was
cattle station country and there were cattle and horses roaming
freely on the road. There has been a lot of rain in the last
24 hours and the authorities have begun closing some of the gravel
roads, including the road into the Bungle Bungles, a nearby
spectacular eroded rock mountain range, which I’m sure will annoy a
lot of tourists.
I finally arrived in Halls Creek, a largely
aboriginal town with a sad reputation, where I had managed to
pre-book an egregiously over-priced motel room, which I was glad of
in the circumstances. I was very tired towards the end of the
day, and am looking forward to getting some uninterrupted (though
short!) sleep tonight and another very early start for the 289km to
Fitzroy Crossing where I have booked another expensive motel room.
There’s nothing between here and Fitzroy Crossing , but the road is
relatively flat and swings towards the east so maybe the winds will
be more favourable. It looks like the rain is clearing.
|
