Ramble Out Yonder

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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27 June 2026 – 10 kms? – Byngnano Range Track, Mutawintji National Park

Pantjikali, Wanyuparlku, Wiljakali, Barkindji and Malyangapa Country

I walk up the sandy creek bed with the red sandstone creating rounded walls on each side. Trees grow from cracks, and flat surfaces on cliff walls and under overhangs reveal yet more aboriginal rock art. Water has pushed the sand into thick mounded hills in the creek bed and sculpted the rock where sand has not settled. The landscape is an oasis of water, vegetation and protected valleys that lie in the middle of the desert and its flat, open expanses. It is no wonder it has been sacred to the First Nations peoples for thousands of years.

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26 June 2026 – 11 kms – Mutawintji National Park

Pantjikali, Wanyuparlku, Wiljakali, Barkindji and Malyangap Country

The site tour at Mutawintji National Park begins in a dark room at the former Visitor’s Centre where a multi-media presentation tells us the creation story of the area and its people. It explains how features in the sky and landscape came to be – it’s a story of drought and abundance, of temptation and punishment, of ranges and ridges, of plants and animals, of water and stars and fantastic beings and tracks and trails.

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25 June 2026 – 80 kms – Hazel Vale Station to Mutawintji National Park

Pantjikali, Wanyuparlku, Wiljakali, and Malyangapa Country

The sun is shining. The wind is at my side instead of in my face. The road is empty and travels through country invigorated by rain. The bike is built for this sort of road and eats up all the terrain that can be thrown at it. I feel strong and capable and excited for the landscape to come. It’s one of those days where all the external variables line up positively and you can’t imagine being anywhere else but on the bike. These sorts of days are few and far between on this ride, so I enjoy it while it lasts and take none of it for granted.

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24 June 2026 – 87 kms – Broken Hill to Hazel Vale Station

Wiljakali, Malyangapa, Wanyuparlku and Pantjikali Country

The road curves and climbs and weaves. It runs between the waves of ranges through the broad valleys of red sand and rocks. We make our way through the ramparts of the Barrier Range, so-called because they presented a barrier to explorer Charles Sturt’s progress on his way north to find a mythical inland sea in 1844. (There was an inland sea once, he was just about 810 million years too late).

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23 June 2026 – 0 kms – Broken Hill

Wiljakali Country

Broken Hill got its start as a mining town. It is still a mining town. It is rough and gritty and polluted. It mines lead and silver and zinc. Around 40 percent of children here have unacceptable levels of lead in their blood. There are handwash stations at the playgrounds so that you can wash the lead dust off your kids’ hands after they are finished playing in the park.

But the town also has a thriving arts scene and more artists per capita than anywhere else in Oz, apparently. Every building you look at seems to have historical significance. There are plenty of things to see and do as a tourist. So let’s go check some of it out.

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22 June 2026 – 0 kms – Broken Hill

Wiljakali Country

The woman peers at me from behind her glasses, unblinking and unsmiling. She is late 50s and the most sour and dour person I’ve met in a loooong time. She seems like she should be an old school librarian shushing unruly patrons instead of someone behind the information centre desk welcoming people to her town.

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21 June 2026 – 113 kms – Menindee to Broken Hill

Barkindji and Wiljakali Country

I’m riding by feel down the dirt road at sparrow’s gurgle once again. I’m away by 5.30am, trying not to outride my front light on the slightly gluggy road. This cut-through saves us 4 kms than if we rode out the entry road and double-backed on the main road. This short cut is the third side of a triangle in that sense. But in the dark and fog, it does ride a wee bit slow.

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19-20 June 2026 – 33 kms – Kinchega National Park to Menindee Caravan Park

Barkindji Country

I’m sitting, lizard-like, in a plastic chair facing the sun. My butt is on the edge of the seat and my head is reclining on the top of the chair back. I’m sitting on one of the concrete footpaths out of the strong and cold westerly wind that has pushed out the warmth of the past few days.

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18 June 2026 – 0 kms – Kinchega National Park

Barkindji Country

It’s a long process, and in the end, it doesn’t really get me anywhere.

I thought I’d have a go since we aren’t going anywhere anyway.

It started raining last night around 10pm. It’s 8am now, and it shows no signs of abating.

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