It was a cool morning to kick off but the sky was pretty clear so I was hopeful of it shaping up to a sunny day. After checking out I headed for my bike where the other fellas were waiting. Originally I planned to head home on my own but since Dave and Slim offered to come along, I thought, why the hell not! Dom and Nick from the Central Cost HOG also heard about my route home and decided to join. These were both great guys so I was happy with our group of 5. Should make for a good trip home. We fuelled up on the way out of town and then headed straight for Ti Tree. After a few days off it felt great to be back on the bike again. I was still doing it a little tough mentally but another long day on the bike was exactly what I needed.
From Ti Tree we made a run for the Devils Marbles. About 50km away from the marbles I was watching an eagle swooping around having fun. It mustn't have seen me as it made a big dive toward the ground which was exactly in my path. Now, when you're doing 130km an hour and a bathtub sized eagle strays into your path, you just duck and hope for the best! I swear its talons dragged across my windshield as it went past. About 10 minutes later we stopped to fuel up and the guys behind me were all still in hysterics about the eagle. They thought it was going to pick me up and carry me off!
The Devils Marbles were absolutely stunning. How anyone could grow tired of the scenery out here is beyond me. We had a good walk around and really took it all in. Tennant Creek was only 100km from here so we pressed on.
With about 500km under our belts we decided to have a good stop and grab something to eat. When I walked inside to pay for fuel I saw a very familiar face. It was Sabrina, my little Swiss backpacker friend! She came running over and gave me a big hug. We couldn't believe the chances of running into each other 1,200km and 5 days later. She was on her way to Darwin and making her way down the northern coast of WA before heading home. I wished her all the best and headed back to the bikes. Naturally, all the guys teased her relentlessly.
Back at the bikes we got chatting to a guy named Baz from the Gold Coast HOG. We asked him to join us for a few days to which he gladly accepted. Back on the bike we had 200km to go before resting at Barkly Homestead for the evening.
The final leg to Barkly was full of massive anthills. The funny thing was people dressed them up. Some were perfect looking scarecrows other were tarted up women, right through to ones in bikinis. It was hilarious! It wasn't long before we pulled up at Barkly Homestead and checked in for the night.
Dad was right, this pub was awesome. Huge beer garden and really friendly people. I swear the outback is run on backpackers as all but the manager were from somewhere in Europe. We all sat down for happy hour and smashed as many beers as we could in the 1hr window. After that I really needed dinner so a big steak it was and then off to my room to crash. Tomorrow was a 900km run across the QLD border to Winton.
Back at my room I chilled on the balcony with a nice Cuban and watched the road trains go by. Stunning, really. Best go to bed. Big day tomorrow with 5 guys in tow.
