The first thing that got me thinking was the heat, the last 2 days have been 40 degrees plus, and riding was at time very uncomfortable. It was only going to get hotter as I traveled further North in to Central Australia.
The second thing hit me while we were out at Radium Hill, and I looked around at the complete isolation surrounding me. The thought of being out in that sort of area, alone, was quite frankly unnerving. If anything serious were to happen, well, it's a long wait for someone to come along, then another long wait to get to help.
The third thing was probably the most serious....hard panniers are a REALLY bad idea for offroad riding! I dropped my bike pulling up at a rest stop between Mildura and Broken Hill. I was probably moving at 1kph and turned the bars too quickly on the gravel carpark, the front washed out and I dropped the bike. Pretty much a nothing incident, but the weight of the bike falling on the panniers broke the rear bracket, meaning the pannier was now only supported from the top, no rear support. This was OK on the bitumen, but any serious off-road work would be putting a hell of a lot of load on the single top mounting point. And if that pannier were to fail, I'd be screwed. There was no room to move all the contents out of that box should the need arise.
So I have a new plan, I'm going to head back towards Melbourne with Chris, then part ways around Deniliquin. From there Chris will continue South to Kyabram, and I will head East in to the Victorian High Country. Sounds like a plan!
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