Day 12 - Newscastle Waters to Mt. Grayling - 97km
First stop was Elliot, it comes out of nowhere, a small town with a clinic and school, mainly aboriginal population. The guy at the servo said they call it the forgotten town of Elliot as no one takes much notice of it.
I loaded up with 10 litres of water to get me to the next roadhouse, I sat and had a pie and a powerade. I watched as huge OVERSIZE trucks with a pilot vehicle came past one by one, hauling huge military tanks, I counted at least 8 go past.
You see all sorts of things on the back of road trains, cars, boats, hay, cattle, houses, containers, diesel, heavy machinery and more. Three or four trailers long they snake along the landscape majestically. When one passes it really wakes you up and gives you a good rattle.
In the middle of the day, I stopped for a rest and had to make my own shade, even the road signs had no shadow. A girl stopped and gave me a can of Monster, she said sorry its not cold, but it was colder than anything I had and went down nicely a welcome relief from my tepid water.
Past Elliot the green roadside markers have changed to "TC 210km", I think I'll get a room for the night there, reorganise a few things, wash my clothes, and stock up on some food and water. My clothes have had white chalkish marks on them for a while now, salt from my sweat crystallising.
The last 10km of riding today gave me my first site of rain for over a year, a light sprinkling, it was lovely to feel the rain again. As I sit at my camp I can see in the distance a giant downpour, slowly edging its way closer, should make for a great sleep.