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Finished The Birdsville Track in a flurry of dust, flies, chain lube and rocks :)
The Track ends (or perhaps starts - depending on your perspective) in South Australia at a town called Marree. It used to be the base for many of the old Afgan camel drivers who ventured up the track taking supplies to the remote stations and bringing back good produced up there. Some of these Afgans - or "Ghans" as they were called - (you might have wondered where The Ghan train got its name - it follows pretty much the same route as the Afgan camel traders) - anyway - some of the Ghans has 700 - 800 camels!!! So they could haul a lot of stuff. The really were a lifeline for those early settlers up the track. Anyway Marree is still home to many of the descendants of those original Ghans.
Of course trucks, a driveable road and a rail line put a halt to the camel drivers and all the camels were just let loose into the desert to fend for themselves, which they have done quite well - its over a hundred years later an Australia still has a feral camel population that needs to be culled regularly.
Another interesting thing about Marree is the story of Tom Kruse - the original outback Mailman (particularly relevant to a bloke riding a Postie Bike) - have a read - can you imagine any of that stuff happening today - the idiot OH & S guys would have an aneurism!!!
After looking around Marree I. Rode on to Lyndhurst and a nice cold drink at the Pub.
Then on to Copley and Leigh Creek.
A funny (???) thing happened on the road to Copley - I was riding into a fierce headwind and up some hills and when I opened the throttle fully the little Postie began to struggle and die - half throttle cruising it was great, but as soon as I opened the throttle fully - it died ..... Couldn't understand what was going on - it had run like a dream so far.... Things going through my head - only at full throttle, so maybe a fuel problem? Maybe the carby jets got clogged by dust from the big dust storm and its not getting enough fuel at full throttle - that dust got everywhere!! Maybe the air cleaner was clogged with dust and the little fella just wasn't getting enough air to go with all the fuel at full throttle - like the little fella was getting choked. CHOKED!!! The choke! Remember them?? We used to have them on cars - well Postie's still have them. A quick look at the choke and it was ON!! I must have bumped it last time I was refuelling - D'oh!!! Flicked it off and the little Postie took off like a shot!! And running like a dream ever since :)
On to Leigh Creek and stocked up on fuel and water - Leigh Creek is a nice little Coal mining town of about 600 people just north of the Flinders Ranges.
I met a bloke in the petrol station who told me there was a big Australia Day breakfast on The Oval tomorrow morning. That was all the encouragement I needed so up to the oval and set up camp for the night. It was actually quite chilly! It was the first night I needed to get into my sleeping bag!! It may have got down as low as 30!! Maybe lower!!
So that's where I am now - curled up in my sleeping bag waiting for breakfast tomorrow morning :)
Sleep!
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