July 19: Barkly’s Bark Worse Than Its Bite

When the staff at Barkly Homestead reached out to me a few days ago to tell me they were having a problem with flying foxes and would be sounding loud sirens starting at 5:30am the morning I stayed there to repel the creatures, it didn’t sound like a very appealing place to spend the night. Turns out its bark was worse than its bite.

Apparently flying foxes is a name given to large fruit bats in Australia, some of which can have wingspans of up to five feet and weigh over two pounds. They look awfully cute online, but I wasn’t so sure I would want such a large mammal dive bombing fruits, flowers, and leaves with me in the vicinity.

However, when I checked in at the front desk, the clerk told me that bats are considered pests, not because they inflict injuries on guests but because they make loud noises, destroy the facility’s foliage, and leave large droppings everywhere. That was a relief!

The homestead itself was more like a retreat in the desert than a roadhouse, complete with beautiful flowering trees, inviting benches on a large front porch, red-tailed black pet cockatoos, and decorative statues. I posed with Adventure Baby next to a metal sculpture of a large emu with two chicks in tow, hoping that would be the closest my bike would get to one on this trip, given my earlier near miss.

Walking down the rust-colored gritty dirt road from my room to the main building for dinner, I stopped in my tracks to gaze at the spectacular sunset – vivid hues of red, orange, and yellow right below the remaining pockets of baby blue sky. Tall eucalyptus trees and several large road trains parked next to them cast striking dark silhouettes against the amber backdrop.

Waking up at 5:30 to get started for the day, I kept an ear open for the promised sirens, curious about what kind of sound would repel a bat. Either my ears are worse than I thought or the establishment decided against the sirens since I didn’t hear a thing.

Heading east from the homestead this morning, I passed into the territory of Queensland (my fifth on this trip) and gained another half hour in time. The landscape remained flat with lots of bright yellow and light green grassy fields and smatterings of trees to add a little more pop of color beneath the gorgeous blue skies. What a great day on the bike!