Day 24 - Bang Bang to Normanton

For our last bush camp, the ashes from the previous night's fire were hot enough to rekindle for our breakfast - shame it was muesli again! Nevertheless, another day started at 6:00 am with the sounds of zips on the tents and swags together with the billy being boiled by Alan for the morning coffee.

With a 110km day in front of us, we were prepared for some tough hours of riding into Normanton. The variable wind forecast had us cautious, with the expectation of headwinds for part of the day.

The cyclists have got into the groove of riding for 10km, and then taking a break to stretch the legs, have a drink or snack and generally shoot the breeze. For some parts of the day we ride together, and other parts we spread out over 500 metres or so depending on who is feeling stronger at any one time. When the head winds picked up later in the day we again rode peleton style, so that only one rider takes the brunt of the wind. This makes it easier for the other three, and we then switch over every couple of kms.

The landscape changed again through the day, from flat plains with one metre high grass, to scrubland and delightful rivers with substantial bird life.

We have never seen so many Wedge Tail Eagles - just majestic. And we have also been captivated by the Brolgas. These birds are like over-sized Flamingos with huge wing spans. They seem to travel in pairs or fours, and they really like the long grass near the roads. As we rode past they would take flight.

Julie made some great curried egg sandwiches for lunch that we demolished in Normanton. The caravan park had a great spa which the team relaxed in for 30 minutes, until the discussion of "was this layer of scum on the water here before we were?"

We did a pub crawl starting at the Central Hotel, and then the Albion, finishing at the Purple Pub. Alan had checked them out earlier in the day, and we went from worst to best. The Central Hotel was essentially a large room with a barrier between the punters and the rather tough looking bar staff.

Dinner was good fun at the Purple Pub, with most of the team opting for steak and prawns.

It has been a day of little celebrations, as it was our last "significant" day of riding with only 70 km to ride tomorrow.

We went to bed with expectations of completing our epic sometime before lunch tomorrow.