For everyone still following along, thank you. Because this is where it all started to get quite fun and felt like we were getting into the swing of the trip. However, by the time we caught up on the previous posts and were ready to write this one, we’d run into another little SNAFU and the blog fell by the wayside for a little while. We’re back now to finish her up and tell the story of the Desert Rats. So buckle up and buckle in. Strap in and strap on.

Back on the bikes, we were ready for attempt number two with fingers crossed that it worked out a bit better this time. And boy oh boy were we in for a ride. After slogging it through the winter down south, we were suddenly blessed with blue skies, dirt roads, warm weather and coooooold beers.

Whilst in the midst of the whole new-bike-saga, we’d had plenty of time to come up with some plans for the next week or two in Queensland, and we weren’t going to waste any time. 

We’d head along the Diamantina Developmental Road towards Birdsville, a remote town in far west Queensland that meets the Simpson desert, before heading north up to Mount Isa. It’s one of Australia’s longest roads at 1,344km, which is more than the widest point of France for those of you keeping score at home. We didn’t know much about the route but since when had that stopped us before.

Arriving at Quilpie, our first stop, we loved it so much that we stayed there for two nights. It had gotten warm enough that the fly of the tent was no longer needed and so from then on, every night was just under the stars. Now that’s living Barry.

There were also some great little single tracks we could race around and give Baguette some practice on gravel before we hit the good stuff. I have a feeling she saw right through that though and knew I just wanted to race around and pretend I was in the Dakar. And yes, before you ask, I did commentate my laps to myself. It made me feel special and I liked it. Leave me alone.

Alas I couldn’t be Toby Price forever and so it was on to Eromanga, a short 100km detour and apparently the most inland town in Australia. I thought that was pretty cool, but Baguette didn’t seem all that excited about it. Turns out Baguette was right and it wasn’t that exciting or cool at all. It was a dusty old town where we spent 5 minutes, took a photo next to the sign and left. In hindsight, I don’t know what I was expecting.

Continuing on towards Birdville, the roads got rougher and the flies got more persistent. None of that bothered us though. We were in our element. Each day we woke up to stunning weather and beautiful views in whatever little campsite we had found the night before. We’d take our time, pack the bikes and then start riding through incredible outback landscapes that were constantly changing. We were even treated to a quick stop in at Betoota, home of the Betoota Hotel, the Betoota Advocate and not much else.

 The closer we got to Birdsville and the Simpson Desert, the sandier things got. Riding sand is a little bit of a catch-22. Supposedly, if you ride slowly, you sink in and you’re much more likely to fall. But since you’re going slowly, the falls are less likely to hurt so much. If you don’t want to fall, you’ve got to Lightening McQueen it and get some speed. But then if you do fall, it’s going to hurt a lot more.

Based on a lot of testing Baguette and I did, we came to the conclusion that no matter what you do you’re going to fall, and no matter how fast you’re going, it’ll hurt. Going faster meant we could get through it quicker and move on with our lives.

 After being somewhat let down by the allure of Australia’s most inland town, I was hesitant to get my hopes up of yet another label, the biggest sand dune in the Simpson Desert - Big Red. However, arriving at sunset after a long day of riding it was a sight to see. After a few sand stacks on the track in, we were treated to one of the best sunsets I’d ever seen. The whole landscape glowed red, the clouds lit up like cotton candy and we had the whooooole place to ourselves. VERY NICE!

From then on, the roads improved somewhat and we got some more relaxed days on the asphalt along with some naturally heated hot pools. Wahooo.

Finally, after finishing Australia’s longest road, we were rewarded with the beautiful town of Mount Isa. We needed to get a few repairs done in Mt Isa and everyone that we dealt with was extremely nice and helpful. However, I should mention that they have an interesting way of doing business up there.

We’d been trying to contact the Post Office for over a week to see if they had our package yet but no one there noticed that the phone wasn’t working until we rocked up and told them. They then assured us they would get it fixed but gave us their email just in case. Sadly, they accidentally gave us the wrong email address…

By the time I got around to writing this blog, it’s been a few months, and I can still confirm that this post office in particular still does not have a working phone. And we are still waiting on our package.

Next up, we hit the mechanics. We were told the apprentice was running the shop that day cause the mechanic didn’t seem to be around. After chatting to him a bit, we found out that wasn’t the full truth. The mechanic had quit seven months ago and this 17-year-old, first-year apprentice had been the only mechanic in the shop since then. It was at that point we decided that most of the things we needed done probably weren’t that urgent and we would just get our tires switched and be on our way.

Mt Isa was also where I saw my favourite state licence plate slogan, “Queensland – The Smarter State”. And that is not made up, it’s one of their real state slogans. Google it.

I’ll let you guys make up your own minds on that one folks and I think we’ll leave it there.

Until next time.

P Cordz