Well the day started out really well.  I spent time thinking as I rode across  the open flats how small we are in comparison to the hundreds of thousand ofgalaxies that are out there.  And at our current speed of travel in space it would take us 150 thousand years just to reach or nearest star (other than our sun).

My first stop for the day was Tambo for fuel.

Then the dramas began.  As I was passing a road train the bike began to violently lurch then died momentarily.  Not good!  On the wrong side of the road and half way past a 53 meter road train.  With steady throttle it wasn’t too bad but anything more and the bike would buck and lurch.

Then as I pulled into Barcaldine the bike completely died.  After about 10 minutes it started and I went up and looked at the ‘tree of knowledge’, which memorialises the wages dispute between shearers and pasturalists in 1891. This being one of the integral events behind the formation of the Australian Labour Party.

From here the bike seemed to be fine so in full denial of the situation I headed for Longreach.  About 20km out it completely died again. So I sat by the side of the road for a few minutes and then tried it again and it fired.  So do I struggle for the next 80 to a bigger town or back track. .. I didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere so I head back to Barcaldine … slowly … As the bike played up the whole way.

The only thing I could think it could be was bad fuel from my previous stop as that was when the problems started.

So I pulled into the servo and preceeded to pull the bike apart.

I had to remove the fuel pump out of the bottom of the tank to drain the fuel.  I didn’t take a photo of the drained fuel but there was a heap of crap in it.  So after rinsing the tank, pump and filter I put the bike together.
I half filed the bike and took it for a spin and it felt good.  So with faith in my diagnosis skills I filled the bike up and repacked it and headed off.

The bike was running perfectly again!  That was a huge relief.

I had planned on having a quick look at the Stockmans Hall of Fame in Longreach but with the time I had lost with the dirty fuel meant I really should push on.

I seemed to have picked up a passenger.

Sunset out of Winton was very nice.

From here I pushed on in the dark at a reduced rate to Cloncurry where I met up with Russell who traveled from Cairns and only beat me by ten minutes.

Day 3 – 1,103km
Total – 2,779km