Wilsons Promontory to Cape York by bike - Cunnamulla to Charleville

Day: 014
Date: Thursday, 10 August 2006
Summary: Riding from Cunnamulla to Charleville.
Start: Cunnamulla
Finish: Charleville
Daily Kilometres: 203
Total Kilometres: 1758
Weather: Cold early (1°C) but mild and sunny for the rest of the day with a moderate south to south-east (following and cross) wind.
Accommodation: Motel in Charleville , Queensland
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Apple and peanut butter roll
  Lunch:  Hamburger and chips
  Dinner:  Take-out Thai chicken with cashews for dinner.
Encounters: One emu, a couple of eagles and incredible amounts of roadkill.  There would not have been a single 400m that I travelled today that was not home to a piece of roadkill in some phase of decay ranging from just hours old through to bleached indeterminate bones.  Mostly it’s kangaroos and wallabies, but also includes occasional emus, eagles, foxes, rabbits, sheep and cattle.
Highlights: I was relieved to have a tail/cross wind all day which enabled me to cover the 200km in very good time without getting too tired.
Lowlights: Thinking about my step-brother whose funeral and wake is being held today in Melbourne .

Journal:
I was on the road by 6:15am in the early dawn light and was pleased to find that yesterday’s headwind had disappeared.  It was cold but not freezing and the road was very flat passing through seemingly well-grassed plains.  There was quite a lot of water lying around in ditches and I noticed an increasing number of pink and blue wildflowers.  I heard on the radio that humidity was close to 10% which meant that visibility was excellent (it also means that my bottom lip, which is already in a sad state from wind/sunburn will need more regularly-applied lip salve).  When I looked out across the plains I could see lines of trees in the very far distance.  There was very little traffic and I frequently felt like I was the only human for many kilometres.  There are less trucks and road trains on this road, but still plenty of grey nomads with their caravans and an increasing number of dilapidated 4WD pickups (remember Wolf Creek , someone said to me before I left on this trip!).

In late morning I arrived at the very small settlement of Wyandra and stopped in at the tiny general store/post office/take-away food outlet.  It was surrounded with pieces of disconnected junk/memorabilia and I was invited to take a tour by the proprietor while they cooked the burger they had persuaded me to buy.  I ate it at a table in their front yard.  For the entire time I was there, the next door neighbour was watering and tending her immaculate garden, which seemed somewhat out of place in this remote outback community.

The afternoon passed quite quickly with the countryside becoming slightly undulating and heavily timbered, though on seemingly very dry bright red soil.  Every so often a track entered from the left or right and you could get a glimpse of the olive green scrubby forest stretching far into the distance.

For the whole of today’s ride, a railway line (Cunnamulla was the end of the line) paralleled the road 50 metres to the left.  There was no rail activity whatsoever.  I suspect it’s not a very profitable line.

I got to Charleville about 4:15pm and found a budget hotel/motel in the centre of town and felt satisfied with a good day on the road.  Two more 200km days and hopefully the winds stay favourable.  Charleville is the largest town I have passed through since Griffith and seems stately and prosperous relative to the towns of the last few days.