Snuck out of my discrete camp in amongst the nitre bushes a couple of km from the (abandoned) Mt Hopeless homestead and on to the Strezlecki track. Mostly good road but long stretches of corrugations.

A highlight was the stock route bore (capped but still flowing and very salty, tanks held rainwater from the roof of the picnic shelter which was great).

Around midday the road got a bit soft from rain overnight and in the morning. A 10 tonne crane truck came down passed me and checked if I was OK. I asked how the road was ahead and he said it was so wet that he had had to wait to let it dry out so he wouldn’t slide around. How long? About 45 minutes! That is the difference between slipping everywhere and stability after a mm or two of rain on these fine dispersed clay roads.

For a bike, one section of about a kilometre was too wet and muddy to ride – get off, push, clean mud from under mudguard, ride, repeat.

Finally crossed the Strezlecki Creek and got onto beautiful polished clay road (grader crew working) with a strong tailwind. Whipping along a good pace when a water tanker driver stopped me to advise on a good camping spot near another old stock route bore. He also told me to watch out for 30 foot long King Brown snakes (a world record!) but Steve was thoughtful enough to offer both bits of advice to a vulnerable traveler.

Still, the wind pushed me way beyond the offered camp to another, less felicitous but acceptable camp 20 km closer to Moomba.