Day 2 ~ Bush Camp to Bush Camp ~100km
For the duration of this trip I camped under the stars, seeing the stars in the middle of the outback is truly special however it can come at a cost:
"I woke up with frost covering me from head to toe, fortunately I slept alright"
With my damp sleeping bag packed I hit the bumpy road, determined to cover some miles. The first part of the day ran smoothly (albeit a little bumpy), I covered around 30km before hitting the junction between Larapinta Drive and Namatjira Drive where I stopped for lunch. Seeing lots of traffic turning onto the Mereenie loop was comforting, and some cars even stopped to ask what the hell I was doing and offered to top up my water supplies which I gladly accepted.
"The road post lunch wasn't too bad and I managed to get a few more kilometres under my belt, I'm not sure when it was but things soon went downhill after that. I got another flat tyre, which wasn't a big deal but soon after I noticed that my 5L bottle of water was leaking."
This almost made my pull my own hairs out, with the 5L bottle being my lifeline I would have no choice but to abandon my trip if I couldn't fix the problem. My first course of action was to reposition the bottle so that it would stop leaking out the puncture, but this lead to more nightmares when new punctures to the bottle would appear on the other side. I nearly broke into tears.
"Half an hour later I notice the bottle leaking some more, this time there are several holes caused by friction between the bottle and the rack. FUCK!"
I tried everything to fix it, including using my puncture kit to patch the bottle, but the glue was unsuitable for the plastic. In the end I resorted to using duct tape to patch the holes. The bottle continued leaking but at a much slower pace, I just had to keep a careful eye on it.
"The road conditions seemed to deteriorate, so many corrugations made the ride mind-numingly slow. I got another pinch flat but did a botch job of patching it and had to fix it several times after and in the end gave up on the tube and replaced it with another one. In the process of removing my tyre I managed to lose a nut in the loose sand surrounding me. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. Right then and there I was ready to give up. A clumsy error had ruined my trip. I was making a video regarding the end of my trip and by some miracle I found it! Made me so happy"
The only way to express my feelings are to share it with you right here.
"It was a bloody long day filled with problems, but in the end I'm still going and better off for it!"
For the duration of this trip I camped under the stars, seeing the stars in the middle of the outback is truly special however it can come at a cost:
"I woke up with frost covering me from head to toe, fortunately I slept alright"
With my damp sleeping bag packed I hit the bumpy road, determined to cover some miles. The first part of the day ran smoothly (albeit a little bumpy), I covered around 30km before hitting the junction between Larapinta Drive and Namatjira Drive where I stopped for lunch. Seeing lots of traffic turning onto the Mereenie loop was comforting, and some cars even stopped to ask what the hell I was doing and offered to top up my water supplies which I gladly accepted.
"The road post lunch wasn't too bad and I managed to get a few more kilometres under my belt, I'm not sure when it was but things soon went downhill after that. I got another flat tyre, which wasn't a big deal but soon after I noticed that my 5L bottle of water was leaking."
This almost made my pull my own hairs out, with the 5L bottle being my lifeline I would have no choice but to abandon my trip if I couldn't fix the problem. My first course of action was to reposition the bottle so that it would stop leaking out the puncture, but this lead to more nightmares when new punctures to the bottle would appear on the other side. I nearly broke into tears.
"Half an hour later I notice the bottle leaking some more, this time there are several holes caused by friction between the bottle and the rack. FUCK!"
I tried everything to fix it, including using my puncture kit to patch the bottle, but the glue was unsuitable for the plastic. In the end I resorted to using duct tape to patch the holes. The bottle continued leaking but at a much slower pace, I just had to keep a careful eye on it.
"The road conditions seemed to deteriorate, so many corrugations made the ride mind-numingly slow. I got another pinch flat but did a botch job of patching it and had to fix it several times after and in the end gave up on the tube and replaced it with another one. In the process of removing my tyre I managed to lose a nut in the loose sand surrounding me. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. Right then and there I was ready to give up. A clumsy error had ruined my trip. I was making a video regarding the end of my trip and by some miracle I found it! Made me so happy"
The only way to express my feelings are to share it with you right here.
"It was a bloody long day filled with problems, but in the end I'm still going and better off for it!"
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| Typical corrugations along the road |
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| One of many flats |
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| Some crazy guy taking a selfie |
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| Some temporary relief from the bumpy road |
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| Shadow selfie #2 |
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| Beautiful outback |
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| Shadow Selfie #3 |
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| The sun setting after a long days ride |
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