DAY 5: Fletchers Creek to Charters Towers (41.6km)

41.6km ridden today
527.5 ridden so far
2221.4 est to go
218 m up
164 m down
1220 calories burnt
2/10 pain factor
Something I learnt today: Even in the middle of nowhere, you can find awesome Nepalese people too.

Excuse my languagebut faaaaaaaaaark! My brand new Alton sleeping mat has a (slow) leak. It was fine back in Atherton. I camped near a park bench so I must have dragged it over a piece of glass or something. Sucks because I liked it. It was a slow leak as it would take an hour or more to go flat. After topping it up around midnight I gave up andjust slept on the hard floor. I still somehow managed to pull off a 6 hour sleep. Anyway, the dag had come down in the night. Wet tent. Another drying night tonight. I heard the road trains once or twice in the night. It was so quite you could hear them for several minutes before passing. I didn’t mind it. Kind of soothing actually. Anyway, I packed up and dumped all but two bottles of water for the leap to Charters Towers. Pretty easy and uneventful ride.

So far, I have come across (actually on the road – alive); kangaroos, wallabies, 2 cows, galahs, crows, a fox (feeding on you know what) and 3 or 4 Emus. Man Emu’s are stupid. They’d see me and they’d just run around in circles -their brains obviously not capable of thinking to run in one direction to escape.

Wasn’t long before I reached Charters Towers.

Relenting to my crazy fixation on distance signs, Ben’s Stinking Sock agreed to pose for a photo, ala pole dancing style….

Rocked up to the motel. The owner was awesome as I said I “may” be there the night before. He lives onsite and knowing what I was doing said to call afterhours if necessary. He also gave me a $10 discount (for being stupid in doing this ride I guess). Had a good yarn to him. His friendliness made sense once he told me he was Nepalese (of which a very good mate of mine is). His story struck a chord with me. A city accountant that escaped to live a quieter rural life…

So after a chill, I bee-lined for the shops for supplies. Quant town. Very old historical builds now occupied by modern day stores. I now have a gas canister (which I should have picked up 100’s of km’s ago), a new sleeping mat and FINALLY somewhere to get some gloves – not so much for the grip but the back of my city boy office computer hands were getting red and burnt on the back. The mat and gloves are not perfect, but beggars can’t be choosers where Amazon deliveries probably take days days or weeks (or maybe they just throw them from a plane and hope they hit the mark?).

Oh and again on water. I went to the local camping/supplies store. When I asked the lady for purifications tablets she looked at me odd and said no. When I explained why and asked about the creeks/rivers she said, “oh, just drink it”. It made sense to her when I said where I was from….

I recall on my ride from Brisbane to Sydney several years ago that Chinese food is exotic in country towns. Things haven’t changed. Cashing in on what this place is known for. Gold. Do you find this enticing?

Random photo of the main street of Charters Towers. circa 2026. Or it could be 1986. Or could be used as a photo in 2036…

Ok now, sh1t is really going to get real. 373km to the next town, with only a roadhouse in between (200km away). Rest assured. There are dongers there. So it will be a heavy load with water. While the body and legs (bar the bum) are good, I felt it wise to rest before the hardest stretch of the ride. After Emerald, small towns get a bit more regular. So with 525km under the belt (slightly ahead of par) I have designated tomorrow a rest day.

Song of the day. Pretty mellow, beautiful day. The Eels- Mr E’s Beautiful Blues (it’s a road trip song for those familiar with the movie).