Ramble Out Yonder

The rain that kept coming and coming and closing roads and prematurely ending my ride did not abate after I got home. No, it kept up its unseasonable precipitation well into August.

Nigel’s neighbours, who were caravanning in South Australia and Western NSW, ended up coming back home two weeks early also. And the Mundi Mundi Bash, near Broken Hill, had massive interruptions due to all the rain. In one interview, the organiser said, “well, normally it is just cool and dry this time of year.” See this link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-19/mundi-mundi-bash-music-festival-heavy-rain-nsw/107053550

So, while I hate that other people’s plans were also ruined, I at least don’t feel so wimpy for calling an end to things a week early on this latest tour. I was truly over it by the time I got home. It was definitely the right decision.

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The bike went for some love upon return from the ride. The derailleur couldn’t be saved. It was $270 for a new one. The bottom bracket got a service and a brake cable got replaced. Atlas is now ready for the next adventure.

I sequestered myself in a cabin at a caravan park on Lake Hume and pounded out the journal entries for two weeks. And now I’m ready for the next little adventure – a short trip to America to see family and friends and go to a Bob Mould/Sugar concert.

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8 July 2026 – 101 kms – Annuello to Swan Hill

Wamba Wamba, Barapa Barapa, Wadi Wadi, Tati Tati, and Latji Latji Country

It’s the final riding day of the trip. You’d think we could casually pedal down to Swan Hill and enjoy our last day on the road. It will be sunny. There is no threat of rain.

But, no, that would be mistaken. That is just not the character of this ride. That is like driving a freeway, whereas this trip has been one of those where you always seem to be out in the lumps, bumps and weeds. This last day goes down as a string of challenges, just like so many days on this tour.

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7 July 2026 – 145 kms – Dareton to Annuello

Barkindji and Tati Tati Country

The mobile roadworks sign says River Road is closed and it is ‘local traffic only’. It says Detour via the highway. However, I think this needs further investigation. I really don’t want to do 20 kms over on the highway if it can be avoided. So last night, some internet research suggests it’s really only the last bit into Buronga that’s closed for reconstruction. I remember this was the case when I rode through a month ago. And I remember there was meant to be a bike path along that section, too. Are we willing to take a gamble this fine, dark morning?

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6 July 2026 – 120 kms – Pooncarie to Dareton

Barkindji Country

The wind swings heavily in a our favour. It was not meant to be, but it is. We are travelling south and west. The wind was meant to be out of the south and east. But that is an east northeasterly if I ever felt one. It is giving us a very good shove on the easterly runs allowing us to clock 30kph with little effort. We’re going for a ride today.

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3-5 July 2026 – 0 kms – Pooncarie

Barkindji Country

The days go by. One after another. Slowly.

We bide our time. Waiting to see if the roads might reopen.

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2 July 2026 – 240 kms – Broken Hill to Pooncarie

Wiljakali and Barkindji Country

Oh man, I’m so, so sorry. There’s nothing I can do about it. If there was an alternative, I would do it.

But everyone is just going to get a wake-up call, via a slamming door, at 5.25am this morning.

Because that is when I get out the door, and slamming the door is the only way you can get it to latch. That’s what the housekeeper told me when I was having trouble with it the other day. And she was right. You have to slam the door when you leave.

Sorry!

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29 June – 1 July 2026 – 0 kms – Broken Hill

Wiljakali Country

Well, it turns out it’s SAM’s fault. When things go poorly or not as planned, there’s always got to be someone to blame. Or some thing. Humans need to make sense of things, to know why things happened. We need closure and understanding. And to do that, to make complex things simple, we need someone to blame – think migrants taking jobs or houses or doing other things the data does not support.

So I’m blaming SAM. SAM screwed with me in spring 2022, also.

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28 June 2026 – 70 kms – Roadside Camp to Broken Hill

Wiljakali Country

Are there degrees of silence? Or is it an absolute? Are there only degrees of quiet?

Regardless, I’ve enjoyed these hours with no human sounds, no smelly goats, no thump of kangaroos, no rooting around of wild pigs (I saw some dead ones by the road yesterday). The wildlife stayed away last night, or at least poked around quietly enough I never woke. No vehicles went by.

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27 June 2026 – 65 kms – Mutawintji National Park to Roadside Camp (65 kms)

Pantjikali, Wanyuparlku, Wiljakali, Barkindji and Malyangapa Country

We head back into the great wide open, leaving behind the reliable water sources and protected valleys of the ranges. We head out into the Bancannia Trough – a basin full of sediments that the NSW Government is opening up for gas exploration. (They’ve just reduced the exploration licence fee from $50,000 to $1,000 – even though this government campaigned on stopping gas development!).

The rocks we just walked through lie underneath this basin, they were just never uplifted over here. All the creeks from the national park dump their loads in this trough via terminal floodouts, shallow ephemeral lakes and clay pans.

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