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Long Way Across for Childhood Cancer

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Day 14 French Line Camp to Ayre Creek

Another great day in the desert followed up with a camp site next to a creek - Yeah!

On the French line, heading to Eyre Creek.

Our camp last night at Salt Bush Flats was another cracker, but negotiating the 4000 rabbit holes around the camp site was like walking on broken glass. You could feel the ground under you crumbling every step and then if you pressed too heavy in one spot, down you would go into a Rabbits lounge room. It a good thing Shaymo didn’t park the 209kg monster in the no-go rabbit zone.

The last of the pancakes were consumed and it was off again to the ever increasing size in sand dunes, and into the rising sun over the Simpson. Shaymo is doing an incredible job keeping Nissan 1 from becoming two Nissans, and Matty is happier than a fatty in a candy store riding the 400EXC. Actually his cheeks are so puffy from smiling all day yesterday, he looks more like a squirrel with a mouth full of nuts!

The G-string, over the shoulder boulder holder (AKA warn 9000lb winch) seems to be holding the chassis straight and we wonder if we will get her to Noosa under her own steam?

The desert is the same as yesterday, simply awesome. Cresting large dunes hoping there isn’t a Land Cruiser coming west at speed and then the downhill run through the trough at pace to the next monster looming in the distance. Can it get any better? Hit me with a shovel to see if I am not dreaming! We are loving this part of the trip and Stat was learning how hard it was to tame the black widow tenere. (Shaymo used to call her Black Beauty until yesterday) For a combined total of bike and rider being 209kg+112kg=321kg one can only imagine the rider input the handy electrician has to exert to keep this baby in a straight line through the deep and unforgiving sand, check out the images of him slumped over the tank.

Stat was now on his own, his mates had left him, their dust only just visible now, he starts to see mirages of a cold Boags and a greasy big bacon burger!.. He needs to focus and get on with the job of riding his mates bike from the center of Australia’s harsh and remote Simpson desert. The bike has already beat Shaymo to despair, can it knock over the best and greatest Tasmanian on this trip?

We get further East and in our mirrors the faint lights (the Tenere has more lights than the QEII) the Stat man is getting closer and closer. He is on a mission, he wants to bulldog the Tenacious Tenere all the way to Big Red today. We said you can’t do it Stat, it can’t be done, she will take the life out of you, be strong but not silly. Stat realised that riding this big girl this distance was too far and the boys needed him for entertainment and cooking purposes around the nights camp fire!

With the huge amount of water still around there are 2 decent detours we need to take to get to Birdsville, one around Eyre creek of about 80klm and one almost at Birdsville of 34km.

We rumbled into the first detour section around Eyre creek and there was a feeling of an imminent race between Troy and Robbo looming just around the corner. All hell broke loose and they were off like Jewish foreskins. The detour road was epic, long fast sweepers and handle bar to handle bar dune after dune for 35kms. Robbo hit the edge of gully a bit to fast, held it together while Troy laughed into his helmet and went too fast into the next bend, got it all wrong buit stayed upright – Shaymo dreams of the day he can ride like this, after a quick blip of the throttle the mighty 690 sidled up along side Robbo once again and you can hear Robbo on the GoPro Helmet cam say “good to have you back Morrison” once he regained his composure and found the throttle stop again. This was truly a epic part of the trip, mates for nearly 30 years blasting flat out through the Simpson – you can't buy this experience of a lifetime. It is incredible how much water was around and how green the inner part of a desert can be. The detour track felt like it would never end and then finally we dropped down over a dune and across the only rocky bottom section across Eyre Creek, as usual Robbo with no hesitation straight through the knee deep river.

Eyre Creek was a ripper, about 400mm of water crossing the 15m wide track. Water temp was perfect and it wasn’t long before we were in for a well-earned watering. There was way too much lycra going on and luckily there were not any talent scouts out looking for the worst dressed yobbos in skimpy lycra. The trucks rolled over the last dune and we were once again setting up camp with this being be the first camp actually beside running water.

We grabbed the tinnies out of the first Engel, the cheese, tomatoes and salami from the other Engel and we were in for one of those afternoon sessions that hopefully would never end. Cold cheese, salami and tomato with black pepper on Salada biscuits. I just hope it’s not a mirage, and laying in the water having an ice beverage, perfect.

The last of the rib eye steak was cooked that night and Stat in his hilarious XXXX coma state thought it would be a great idea to cook Shaymo’s smoked bream fillet in the billy. The next day Stat was again severely chastised for the Salmon flavoured coffee and was relinquished from all cooking duties for the rest of the trip. If you have not tasted morning cappuccino that was poured from a fish flavoured billy, you aint missing a thing!

Drinks rolled on and when Stat fell over while laughing at Tony in his socks and thongs, it was time for bed. Again Matt felt like a discarded McDonalds cheese burger wrapper as Tony once again told him where he could set up his swag so he wouldn’t wake other 6 of the group. We all voted on Matt having a 30 meter perimeter, but Tony insisted he be pushed to a 50 meter so we couldn’t hear him chewing his adenoids all freaking night!

How Lovely!