I knew it was going to be another long haul from Miles to Taroom so I had an early start. As I moved further north there’s more light and yes folks it’s true, it’s warmer!

The ride had everything today: Overcast condition through hilly bush land, long flat stretches in the building warmth of the afternoon, a highway that was more like a goat track in parts that required concentration, waiting at the top of a rise a truck driver called to me “Watch the descent Bud, there’s no shoulder and she’s pretty steep!”

Just outside of Gulgubya, a small hamlet Bob had a conniption, shedding a locking pin ,the right hand arm came off the skewer, in other words- My trailer broke .

Stranded, with no verge or shoulder I had to unhinge Bob, take off the panniers and think about making my way back to be able to pull off the road behind me. A green ute came speeding to a halt and out hopped Jo who promptly piled my gear into her ute and drove it back to the rest stop while I rode back. I had a spare pin and with a little roadside mechanics, I was good to go within 10 minutes.

Jo and I chatted while I worked. She was a country lady who always stopped to help others. Jo was on the way to her shift at the BP service station in Wandoan about 20 kms up the road. She also wore green pants “I just love green.”

I stopped amongst the bottle trees alongside Wandoan Cemetery for a quick lunch and was struck by the grave of 4 children all lost on the same day 50 years ago, was it fire? A car crash? I felt the melancholy of the moment and sympathy for a family I never knew.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted what turned out to be an abandoned farm house, so went off road and did a little exploring. Again I felt the stillness and the melancholy of a lost time.

Rolling in Taroom I see the Ludwig Leichhardt tree, where the explorer left his mark back in 1844. I wonder what else he left his mark on and of course no monuments here to the indigenous people

Oh and I got sunburnt today!