Eungella Dam to Doongarra Downs

A big day today and one I will aways remember fortunately and unfortunately!

LyonsDen (42 of 66)

Raman capturing some of the great view

Sunrise over the Dam from the lookout

Sunrise over the Dam from the lookout

 

Got up early. The first hour and a half were the best riding of the day. The light was behind us and low angle. A little track leading through the hills and eventually dropping down into the valley. Some images that I never quite found the spot to get (too many trees) but I have them in my mind.

The decent to the plains was fantastic beyond what I have captured in this image

The descent to the plains was fantastic beyond what I have captured in this image

 

A little water remains in some of the big rivers. A dry landscape on the whole though.

Water in a few big rivers is a fantastic contrast to the dry of the plains

 

Fuelling up at Collensville for a long haul to Charter's Towers

Fuelling up at Collinsville for a long haul to Charter’s Towers. The Liquid Containment 12L fuel bladders pictured with 7L each. My fuel economy is quite bad after the carb “tune” in Brisbane. Under the same riding conditions and taking it just as easy as I have in the past I am now getting about 5.8L/100km up from 4.1L/100km.

 

Plains west of Collinsville

Plains west of Collinsville

 

Slippery as ice

Raman stopped before crossing this causeway. It is as slippery as ice. I went down as soon as I hit it. The bike slid only a little way as I had slowed up to about 20km/h.

 

A little scar on the right side box from the grind

A little scar on the right side box from the grind. This isn’t the bad part of the day! In fact I was fine.

 

A rocky knoll by the way

A rocky knoll by the way

 

View back over the plains from which we just climbed.

View back over the plains from which we just climbed.

 

Here we are out in the middle of no where (on a route suggested by Rob of course) and there is a familiar sticker on the sign.

Here we are out in the middle of no where (on a route suggested by Rob of course) and there is a familiar sticker on the sign.

Tyres for Bikes

Tyres for Bikes

 

Lunch under date palms

Lunch under date palms

 

 

I didn't realise this was still happening. Scrub clearing chain pulled behind a dozer or two

I didn’t realise this was still happening. Scrub clearing chain pulled behind a dozer or two. Yes that chain is huge! Possibly the biggest I have ever seen

 

View south from the red dirt of the Turton Highway

View south from the red dirt of the Turton Highway

 

Termite towers next to my tent near

Termite towers next to my tent, camped near Doongarra Downs

 

Today was a long day. Over 400km of dirt. There were places with really bad bull dust!

 

So you are thinking, “you’ve got to camp without anything untoward happening, what was the bad part of today?”

I noticed my bike was idling a little low when we stopped to camp just on dusk. This was the first sign for me of an emerging iceberg! Raman then mentioned he had seen a little puff of smoke from the exhaust late in the avo when I took off. Oh!

I went to sleep with these little, and yet damning, bits of information running around in my head. Maybe it is running really rich from a clogged air filter…I’ll have a look in the morning.

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