week 2 ... into the outback

We've just completed week 2 of our journey across Aussie, and yesterday were officially welcomed into Outback NSW!

We're now stuck for the second day out of three due to weather.  We spent two days at our last stop, the tiny village of Maude (where we were very kindly invited to stay in a local's cabin on a farm).  Made the 100km to Balranald yesterday without a drop but decided not to depart this morning due to heavy rain.  There are rain and wind warnings for the next few days, but we hope tomorrow it will have cleared a bit and we'll be OK to head west to Robinvale/Euston.

Along the way the landscape has changed from lush, rolling and tree-covered farmland filled with sheep and cattle, into flat empty fields with hardly a tree in sight.  No trees means very little shade, which has made our lunch stops harder to find, but it also comes with the bonus of no more swooping crazy magpies dive-bombing us along the way.  The wildlife has also changed.  There's hardly a kangaroo in sight, but emu's have become quite plentiful.  We saw our first a few days ago; a lone, curious ranger who was just as interested in looking at us as we were at him.

 
We have also seen a few new types of birds, as well as a big stubby-tailed lizzard,  too many spiders, a couple of huge centipedes and even some scorpions.  
However, our most interesting animal encounter was in the kitchen at the Maude pub where we got up-and-personal with their pet kangaroo!
 

Yesterday, along the stretch between Maude and Balranald we ran into another crazy-looking cyclist heading in the opposite direction.  He had come from Perth and is almost finished his journey to Sydney.  It was great to meet another like-minded traveler and get some advice and inspiration for our journey.  Good job Steve, and good luck!

 

We expect to be in Adelaide in about a week, or depending on the weather, just over.  Keep watching our tracking map and we'll update you on our progress again soon.