I turned off at the track I'd programmed into the GPS and was flying along at a good pace. A twin track of gravel and clay. At one stage I was basically following indentations in the grass - either the GPS lead my astray or I missed a turn somewhere. Things came good soon enough and the track was much more defined. I could see a shower coming across so I pulled over to a stand of trees for a smoko break. After the rain passed I head off at the same pace as before, but it took all of 5 mins before I nearly ended up on my arse. There was just enough rain to make the clay as slippery as.. hmm.. very slippery anyway. It became a pain as I wouldn't know when I could get a move along or when I was about to end up on my backside. There were sections of rock which I had to take it easy on, connected by greasy clay. It was pretty hard going for a while.
Eventually I came across some rocky tracks that lead me to the edge of Australia. Awesome views of sheer orange and white cliffs that dropped 50 m or more straight down to the ocean. It's an incredible view. So incredible that I reckon it was a good place for lunch. Fire up the stove and cook up some Spaghetti Bolognaise and a cup of coffee. The only noise was the sound of the ocean and everything is right in the world. I could've stayed there all day.
I headed off - back into the endless stretches of rock gardens separated by greasy and sticky clay. 3rd gear sometimes got a look in, whilst 4th and 5th were off on holiday. At times the rear tyre was at a 90 deg angle to the track whilst the front was still in the right direction. The next second the front wouldn't turn at all and was sliding out. It was starting to get dark and the GPS was telling me I still had 17 kms to go before arriving at Caiguna. There was no way I was going to get there in one piece if I had to do this stuff in the dark, so I pulled over into a bit of a clearing to setup camp.
My tent was still wet from when I packed it up in Kalgoorlie so I tried to dry the inside a bit with my towel. Good enough. By now, it was dark and the only wood I could find was soaked, so I didn't bother trying to get a fire going. I had a pretty early night after having a dinner of muesli bar and some choccy. I don't think I covered 160 kms today - and that was with 75 kms on the road that was covered in pretty quick time.
Start of the track into the coat
I thought this was the track getting faint - but it got worse later on.
Edge of Australia - not happy with what my camera does sometimes - need to work out how to use it better.
Spag Bol on the cliffs.
It's got me how mud can be both sticky AND slippery.
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