Kroombit Tops - Day 3

 I slept in a bit this morning which was much needed. I felt much better in the light of day (and after 11 hours sleep!)

Some yoghurt, muesli bars and a banana for breakfast and I was ready to get going. The following photo sort of gives the game away. My plan for the day was to head out to the Beautiful Betsy crash site, then loop back around onto Tableland Road and check out The Lookout.

The main road out to The Wall day use area was a pretty easy ride with just a couple of steep-ish rocky climbs. I parked up and began the walk in. It was getting warm and the trail was quite sandy in places so the almost three kilometre walk was a bit taxing in moto boots. The one steep pinch was clad with this cool corduroy decking.

Once I reached the site the first thing I came across was one of the engines - or what was left of it.

The site has a few informative boards located along a looping walkway. It is sad that she sat here for 49 years before she was discovered. Families would never have known what happened to their loved ones, lost somewhere in Australia.

She hit pretty hard with the engines being thrown about one hundred metres up the hillside from the impact point.

Engine numbers on the back of a crankcase.

The nose leg strut, still gleaming in the sun, about fifty metres from the impact point.

A supercharger impeller with blade marks imbedded in the cast stator blades.

Below is the tail of the B24, inverted, about twenty metres from the impact point. I sat here and let the scene soak in. This is now a memorial site and it is sobering to sit here and think of how these guys would have been whooping it up, so glad to get out of Darwin and get back to the safety and civilisation of the east coast - some 3000 miles behind the front lines in early 1945, only to be tragically killed. They wouldn't have known a thing about it, likely in the dark and quite possibly in cloud.

One wing, with the flaps hanging off of it.

 

A still shiny bearing in the flap track.

One of the main landing gear hanging from the remains of the wing.

Concertina walkway hanging from the upturned floor of the tail section.

As I was walking out I heard some bikes quite close. These guys rode around the fence and saved themselves a long hot walk in. Maybe I should have done this.🤔

Back at the bike I geared up and rode on to The Wall day use area. This is where I should have parked and walked in from as it is only a 1.6 kilometre trek. It turns out I went in via the old access road. Oh well….I had all day after all....

The Wall track was a one way 4WD track that linked back onto the main access road that I had ridden in on earlier. Initially I thought “this Wall track is a doddle!” That was until I came to a steep left hand corner that was chewed up by 4WDs so much that my front and rear wheels were in separate holes so deep that my bash plate was almost dragging on the ground! Unfortunately I couldn’t see a line that I could rail the bend on, so had stopped.

Shit. 

This is going to be hard to get out of. So I straddled the bike, standing over it and clutched her out. Despite the deep loose powder the rear tyre hooked up and tractored the bike out of the hole! I jumped on and powered up the hill, avoiding the other rough spots. Gotta love the Heidenau Ranger rear tyre!

The rest of the trail was mainly flowy with just a couple of steep, loose uphills-around-a-bend that were no trouble with some momentum. I parked up at this lookout for a minute to take in the view.

Soon enough I was back on the main track. The Wall track was fun but I was glad the bike was unloaded as fully loaded would have been challenging in places.

Back at Tableland road I turned south and went down to The Lookout. The road was wide and recently graded so I powered along here. Arriving at the lookout a guy and his wife were there on a KTM1290, having a picnic. They were up on a day ride out of  Monto. Their fresh sandwiches looked very enticing. They soon choofed off, leaving me to take in the view alone.

I took the opportunity to get a photo of the bike on the deck and I could see from the knobby prints on the timber that the other guys had done the same. 😉 There was also mobile phone coverage here so quite a few messages poured in, having been offline for a while.

I motored back to the campground after a while, filtering some more water on the way back past the tap. I made a cuppa, sat back and read Toby Price’s biography - “Endurance”. It was an easy, entertaining read that I could relate to. Well, the growing up in the bush without much was the relatable bit. His skill and courage are on another plane that I can only wonder at!

The sun set and I lit the fire, boiled some water and chowed down on some Backpacker's pantry Spaghetti Bolognese. A new one for me. It wasn't bad but could have used some tomato sauce to liven it up.

Just a small day on the bike with 53km today, but a moving one. I think I needed the easy day. The campsite certainly was peaceful, the weather pleasantly cool and the book good.

Cheers.

Days 4 and 5 here.