Scott Discovers the Pleasure of a Heavy Bike and Deep Sand (6th June)

On the way to Musgrave Station we headed out to a large lagoon which had a track that consisted of 3kms of deep sand. I found the bike a real handful, but Scott found it to be no fun at all with three crashes. When I got to him he was pretty frustrated and upset. I told him to buckle up and use it as a learning experience, and practise in deep sand will pay off for our Simpson Desert component. A few pointers and his riding in sand has gone forward in leaps and bounds, really good to see.

From Musgrave to Archer River the road was an easy gravel affair. Banger had one of many near death experiences in one of the dips which had a creek crossing through it, he hit it at his customary "Warp Factor 9" pace and had more than a little sphincter puckering.

I called Sam from a payphone and it looks like he's getting a new bike as his is a write off. He's already put a deposit down and will pick it up on Saturday before riding towards Cairns to meet up with us and continue on. Great news!

My GPS has developed a fault and I'd crack it open except for the warranty, I'm not very happy about it, as it's definitely part of out safety equipment. I'll talk to a dealer in Cairns when we get back there.

Archer River Roadhouse is an excellent setup with great grassy campgrounds in amongst the more arid terrain. They've got great food, beer and showers, all of which we sampled. We had a well deserved swim in the river and had some tucker. We had a proper introduction into the boys on the other bikes that we initially saw at Cooktown. We met Andrew(KTM 640 Adventure), John(KLR 650/"Lowrider") and Mick(DR650), it turns out they're doing pretty much the same route as us and will join us tomorrow and camp at Chili Beach. I won't detail their profession, but I reckon if we get into any sort of trouble from here on in, then they might be just the blokes to have around. ;-)