story can wait for another time.
“Here ya go … “ laughter again. “I
only have a spare Bundy and a Scotch
and Dry. You two sort it out.”
The laughter continued as another
traveller handed us the cold boozy
drinks. This was Windjana Gorge and
we were about to finish the Gibb Riv-
er Road. The generosity of strangers
made me smile, they all asked ques-
tions about the road ahead.
Through laughter we discussed
the pros and cons of this Australian
outback track. Was it rough? Was it
remote? Was it dangerous?
We couldn’t answer honestly. It is
an outback track. What we consider
rough might not be for others, while
some will be so terrified they’ll never
try.
Murray handed me another beer,
“Geez, you two must’ve done it
rough?”
“Three weeks without a cold beer
… yeah, we did it rough,” I laughed.
“When did the rough stuff start?”, I
asked no one in particular.
We all laughed ...
LW
The following morning we re-
turned to the Gibb River Road to ride
into Derby. Almost immediately
from the left hand turn onto the road
the rough stuff started … around 50
kilometres of corrugated sand and
bulldust (fesh fesh) holes. Sand is my
arch-enemy; I swore, I complained,
I wanted out. It was the toughest
day on the Gibb yet, the closest
to civilisation. Despite the last 60
kilometres being on bitumen we rode
into Derby with me still complaining
about the sand … silence the only
answer.
We still laughed.
TRAVERSE 92