Rest Day - Birdsville

The boys enjoyed their sleep in on Sunday morning, content in the knowledge that they had the whole day off in Birdsville. Pete, Dom & Andrew headed off to the pub for breakfast where they affixed themselves to the dining room, and Pete impressed the country bar staff by ordering two skim lattes. Pete reported that he received a "look" reserved only for ripoff merchants, parking inspectors and yuppies.

Meanwhile Ric had headed off for another run and bacon & eggs with Dusty at the bakery. With the lads whiling away the morning sipping yuppie coffees in the pub, Ric headed off to the tourist information centre to skype his gals, and then back to camp for a spot of reading.

The boys rendezvoused again at the information centre and mapped out the next few days. A key decision was made to not ride the current bypass road, and instead to make an attempt at riding through Cuttaburra Crossing that has been closed due to flooding for months. We'll save about 80 km if we stick to the crossing rather than taking the detour.

Lunch with Dusty, and then the lads headed around to the Blue Poles gallery where we met ex-pat German, now local artist Wolfgang John. He had some excellent paintings and prints on display, and was kind enough to chat with us for half an hour and explain his current work, the local area and even our upcoming road conditions.

Andrew and Pete then returned to the pub for some more relaxing, reading and work. Dom and Ric headed back to the Internet facilities at the campground to load up the photos for the blog. The boys then reconvened to wash some pretty dusty bikes, and conduct some minor maintenance.

As the sun began setting, drinks were called and we headed off to the Birdsville pub for one last (okay, a few last) beers before our next stretch.

A final feed of sausage sandwiches, and a cup of tea before we retired earlyish, now well-rested after an excellent and enjoyable break in Birdsville.