Author: Ben

The little missions can be the best ones. Rode to the jetty in Taranna with Huon this morning, threw some stones in the water, looked under rocks for crabs, cast out a line, and said ‘hi’ to a kayak passing by. Good times.

Big storms rolled through Sunraysia this arvo. Hail stones shot holes through oranges in the orchards, left deep drifts that could be mistaken for snow, and drenched the only cyclist stupid enough to go and get a ‘closer look’.

Jim’s Camp, Nangiloc, Victoria. Mishmashes family have been regularly camping at this spot for over 50 years,  her ‘Poppy Jim’ ashes were spread there back in 1997 and we were married there in 2006, so as you can imagine it’s a special place for our mob.  Rode down from Irymple yesterday to spend the night. Picked up a six pack from the Nangiloc Pub and a subsequent headache as well.. hence the lack of typing ability this morning. Dodged a big thunderstorm on the way home.

The planned multi-day bike camping trip was thwarted by some poor road conditions on the High Darling Road 50km south of Pooncarie. That said, the Low Darling road between Wentworth and Para Station was awesome fun! The black top ended 5km north of Pomoma with the unsealed road a beautiful, smooth grey clay surface.. very fast rolling and a dream to ride.

From Avoca Station the road surface was quickly deteriorating with only short patches of the grey clay, regular sand drifts, corrugations, and a heavy gravel unsuited to my lightweight cx tires. The vibrations from the road soon became that bad I was unable to feel my hands and bolts on my bike were being shaken loose. I had to stop more than once to tighten everything up.

Knocked out a solid 83km on the first day and decided to pull the pin at half 3 as a good camping spot had presented itself. Set up my bivy on the bank of the Darling River somewhere north of Hazeldel Station. The river was quite low but evidence of the recent floods was everywhere. 15 meters up a tree you could see flotsam lodged in the branches and a muddy high water mark! Crazy stuff and hard to visualise.

The overnight temperature dropped to well below 0c, and even with three layers of 200 weight merino and a fire going I froze by backside off!! During the night I was visited by a herd of feral goats, who fast ran away when I sat up in my bivy. Saw loads of animals on this ride, a mama Emu and her chicks, some Red Kangaroos, a whole raft of stumpy lizards, hawks, eagles, and nine freaking Magpies who all decided to try and take me out!!

Anyway, I’m back in Mildura with a beer and a map working out my bike camping route for the weekend. Stay tuned!

Note to cyclotourists: The High Darling Road is currently impassable by bicycle. The recent floods have done a number on the road surface. Wheel ruts, ankle deep bull dust, sand drifts stretching kilometers, and heavy corrugations make bicycle travel er, … ‘difficult’. 60km south of Pooncarie I had to dismount as conditions were so bad I could no longer pedal the surface on offer. Pushed the bike another 10km and the surface condition only worsened. Two options on the table. One, walk the remaining 50km to Pooncarie in 36c heat, into a headwind; or two, turn back and ride 75km to a beer and a swim in the river. The latter won.

 

Tomorrow morning I’m setting out for eight days of bike camping. Solo. Just me and a bivy. Cold camp. No bitumen. No cars. No mobile telephone service. No shops. Two pubs. Two beautiful rivers and plenty of dirt. Just the way I like it!

The rough plan? ..from Mildura follow the Murray River downstream to Wentworth, head north along the Darling River to Pooncarie then on to Menindee and return via the opposite bank. Radventure at it’s best old salt! See you suckers in a week or so!

 

I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but just for the record, Magpies suck. Little bastard nearly took my head off, twice, and then chased me for three blocks (which in Mildura is an impressive effort).

 

Huon helped me shakedown the new build this arvo..

Danger Tim in all his Youtube gory glory. I second Mishmashes ‘knitting’ call..