Birdsville ... at last

Despite another pre-dawn wakey wakey, there was a spring in the boys' steps as they struck camp early on Saturday morning. With only 53 km to ride, and the lure of a bacon & egg breakfast, cold beer and a rest day, the excitement was palpable.

With AP hauling the first bike train out of camp, the peleton covered the first 10 km in a tad over 26 minutes - testament to the relative smoothness of this section of track, the stillness and coolness of the conditions, and the lure of Birdsville.

We captured some video footage of us riding along on the next leg with Ric hauling the train, and the boys continued to clip along at 20 + km/h. As we got closer to Birdsville the impact of the recent floodwaters became more apparent, with the road washed away in sections, and pretty torn up. This slowed our progress, even for AP after his front wheel slipped into a rut, his bike standing on end (the rarely seen front wheel wheelie) and Ric narrowly missing him to his right hand side.

Alan captured some shots of us crossing into Queensland at the border, and a few kms later we passed our thousand kilometres done point. Alan was again on hand just on the outskirts of town for some photos. A few final shots at the fabled Birdsville Racecourse were pushing the friendship with a hot brekkie just a tantalizing few moments away.

With our dusty, muddy steeds tied up at possibly the only licensed bakery in the country, Dom, Pete, Ric and Andrew dug into enormous plates of bacon & eggs. Alan joined in, while Julie opted for the curried camel pie - a local favourite.

With Alan reporting to the local medical centre again, the boys set up camp, did some washing, and cleaned themselves up. Another visit to the bakery for lunch, and our first beer, and then a relaxing afternoon resting our legs and butts. Dinner was at the picturesque Birdsville Hotel, with the hardy travellers turning in a little after 9pm.