After a rest day in Eucla we thought we would be ready for the second half of our cycle through the Nullarbor. Unfortunately, things don’t really work out like that. A single rest day is just not enough time to recover – it really just serves to give you time to contemplate how really tired you are. Yes the legs are sore but it’s more of a whole body tiredness where you feel you need to sleep for a few days continuously.

That said, we started cycling after our Eucla rest day hoping we were feeling better and that’s when we met an unwelcome guest to our cycle – Mr Bighead Wind.  When he blows from he north Mr Wind is warm and when he blows from the south (Antarctic) he’s pretty cold.  Either way, with no hills and trees for hundreds of kilometres, Mr Wind blows unabated and a cyclist in the Nullarbor gets battered relentlessly. 

Nevertheless, along the way we visited various lookout points on the Great Australian Bight. These cliffs look out across the Southern Ocean to Antarctica – I’ve never seen a more awe inspiring wild coastline. 

At one viewpoint we learned to speak a bit Australian – wherever we travel we try to use the local language when we can.  Susan spoke to an Aussie guy ‘I would like to see a whale’ (I knew he was a genuine Aussie as he was wearing flip flops with socks with a separate big toe to fit the flip flop). ‘A wheel?’ he replied looking puzzled ‘a wheel for your bike? as he pointed to the tandem. ‘A whale!’ ‘A wheel?’  I could see this was going nowhere fast so I stepped in and used the tried and tested technique for learning a language – I went over to the information board and pointed to the picture of the big black mammal spouting water.’Ahhhh you mean a  wayaal’ he shouted back smiling at us. Yes a wayaal! Hopefully by the end of this journey we will both speak Australian. Next step for me is to be brave enough to call a guy a ‘cobber’!

So after battling the wind and frequent viewing detours we stopped after 90km of hard cycling. Yes, it was another camp in the Outback as the next roadhouse was over 100km away. 

Looks great doesn’t it ?? It’s really not so bad and we have an established routine. Initial quick set up of the tent then Susan goes inside to sort outside sleeping mats, sleeping bag and gets comfortable.  I stay outside with the flies, the snakes, spiders and dingoes and finish pegging out the tent, arranging the bike and the gear, followed by setting up the stove and making coffee. Once coffee is ready I’m allowed in the tent with Susan. The morning is a similar reverse operation.  As Susan says we both have our jobs to do!

We didn’t sleep much that night as the tent rattled with the strong wind.  The following morning the wind was blowing at 40-50 knots – a motorcyclist later told us this.  Now maybe he was a sailor and that’s why he expressed wind speed in knots. Maybe it’s just the correct weather expression to use or maybe I just didn’t know that motorcyclists and yachtsmen share the same language?  So if you want to know how fast the wind was that day then please ask a sailor or a motorcyclist. All I can say is it was blinking fast!

How we struggled that day to cover 108km. Probably our hardest days cycling for a long, long time. Arriving at Nullarbor Roadhouse just before dusk we checked into one of the last available rooms and then it was an absolutely marvellous dinner – steak and Guinness pie with home made chips and a mountain of peas. Outstanding end to a very difficult day.

From Nullarbor Roadhouse we had another 4 days cycling to reach Ceduna, our current location. The cycling was tough but memorable.  I won’t post yet another photo of the next camp in the Outback even though Susan says it was her favourite spot yet. She’s as tough as old boots! 😀
The Nullarbor road is particularly tranquil late in the day when everyone sensible is somewhere more sensible. It’s a time we love. 

And before we leave the Nullarbor and camping in the Outback I thought I would post a picture of a roadhouse.  This is Nundroo where all water was from a bore hole and non drinkable, food was dreadfully poor and the state of the room was woeful. We tried treating and drinking the bore water but it was like drinking soapy salty water.  Oh and if you look at the picture and see signs for draught beer, well that part of the motel was abandoned. Camping’s not so bad after all!

We are now spending a couple of days in Ceduna to rest up after cycling 1,204 km (that’s 752 miles mum) across the Nullarbor region since we left Norseman. I’ve had my first beer in two weeks and we visited our first grocer shop in as long. We are at the Ceduna Foreshore Motel which is excellent and specialises in oysters and seafood. They serve draught beer and the carry out beer shop is next door – I’m in heaven!  

On Monday we will head down to Streaky Bay (114km) for a couple of days and some more beer. In case you’re wondering, Susan is fine too – she’s matching my beer drinking with cakes – one for one! My goodness this feels like a holiday!

Of course, we are now in South Australia and it’s the beginning of Spring and our weather is mixed. When it’s sunny it can be 35c and if its not the temperature is down to around 12c. Days can be a mixture of sun and showers. Thankfully we are not yet at Adelaide and Melbourne where they have been experiencing some extreme wet weather with extensive flooding.  Hopefully, it clears soon. Overall, to date, I think we have been reasonably lucky with the weather. 

Whilst we rest at Ceduna, I’ve got a bit of bicycle maintenance to do. Guess what happened? Lardy Ass broke the supports for the bike seat!  Oh I know what you’re thinking – poor Susan, how will she cope with a broken bike seat!  Well, she will be fine because believe it or not it was my seat that broke!  Surprising I know – couldn’t believe it myself!  So Susan has put me on that low carb beer 😩 and all the Aussie guys call me Sheila 😀.  

Actually, occasionally the bike falls over because of wind or the stand giving way on soft ground and my seat takes a huge hit because of the weight of the baggage. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Thankfully, David at Laid Back Bikes and Henk at Nazca are arranging to send replacement parts to Adelaide where we will pick them up.  In the meantime, I’ve made a ‘splint’ from a piece of metal in my toolkit. I just hope it supports old Lardy Ass 😀

That’s enough for now as I’ve got to go and see how Susan is getting on – she washed my two pairs of shorts and long trousers this afternoon and if they don’t dry in the next couple of hours then I’m wearing my Lycra tights to dinner!  Bet you’re glad you’re not here!

1,965 km to date.

40% done. 

Arrived at Penong (pop. 215) famous for its windmills to pump water. Our first town/community since leaving Norseman on 3rd September – that’s 1,132 cycling kilometres through the Nullarbor wilderness.  Time for a beer! 

Sightseeing on the Eyre Highway. 

Arrived in South Australia after cycling nearly 1,500km from Fremantle. 

 

The Blue Dot is now at the Western Australia/South Australia border. 

Thanks to Google Maps

Leaving Caiguna on Wednesday we were pleasantly surprised to find the weather forecast had delivered – we had a tailwind. Blowing from the north west it made pedalling a whole lot easier and we made good time towards Cocklebiddy, 66km away and our intended destination for the day. 

Before we left the roadhouse I answered a question on the blog from Brian saying we had not seen any snakes. Talk about tempting fate!  Five minutes into our cycle there was the highly venomous western brown snake sunning itself by the side of the road reminding us to be careful at our next bush camp!  I’m now hoping Brian doesn’t ask me any questions about big hairy poisonous leaping spiders!

Further down the road we met Eric who was battling the wind in the other direction. He had started in Melbourne and was heading for Perth.

Eric was actually the first long distance cyclist we had met in Australia. Motorists tell us about other cyclists on the road but Eric was the first meeting. Incidentally, he had been hearing about a Scots couple on an ‘amazing machine’ for the last 6 days – I think that’s what you call ‘bush telegraph’.

We arrived at Cocklebiddy at 1300hrs and started lunch.  A nice chap from Adelaide spoke to us ‘you will catch the rain tomorow’ he said. I was puzzled because we keep a close track of the weather forecast. ‘Not on my forecast’ I replied. Undeterred he came right back ‘so do you like cycling in the wet’. ‘Well actually I don’t really mind but where’s the rain?’ I said as I theatrically looked at the blue sky. ‘Thunderstorms all over the Adelaide and Mebourne area’ he smiled. I looked at him and looked at the bike as it suddenly began to dawn on him that it would be a long time before we got to Adelaide!  These motorists are funny people – no concept of space, time or distance 😀

Susan and I quickly finished our sandwiches as we had decided to make use of this wind and go for the next scheduled stop at Mudura, a further 91km. Our race was to make it before dusk at 1700hrs. Unfortunately it was a race we were never going to win and we kind of knew it before we started. But on cycle journeys like this you always have to be positive and try. 

As dusk arrived we saw a ‘mob’ of approximately 50 kangaroos (yes that’s what they’re called)  sitting watching us. ‘Hoi’ I shouted and they bounced all over the place. Fantastic!  Bounce bounce bounce!  Then I got a row from Susan to spoil my bouncing fun. ‘Don’t, they may come down to the road and attack us!’ I briefly had a thought from my childhood of pictures of kangaroos with boxing gloves (where did that come from?) I also remembered Canada where Susan stopped me taking a picture of a gigantic Moose in case he charged us. This time I appraised the circumstances. The Moose was bigger than a horse and pretty scary but here I was the biggest thing for miles and the loudest. ‘Hoi’I shouted and oh how they bounced all over the place. Honestly it’s great how they bounce then stop absolutely still like they’re pretending they’re invisible. Then I shout and its bounce bounce bounce. 😀 I’m sorry but most immature men would do exactly the same 😀

Dusk on the road is a quiet and peaceful time (when I’m not shouting at the Roos) when we have the road to ourselves.

Unfortunately, dark followed dusk, the hills increased,the wind eased and our legs felt like they belonged to a rag doll. So it was time for me to reach into my ‘tactical tool bag’. Yes it was bike party time!  Susan loves bike party time! 

We fixed the Bluetooth speaker to the handlebars, started the 80’s playlist, drank Red Bull and ate Mars Bars. Immediate energy boost. With the bike lights on and the extra high intensity flashing rear light bouncing off the reflective road marker posts and the GPS unit shining a light into the sky we genuinely looked like a mobile disco cycling down the road. It was pitch black and I bet unseen Kangaroos everywhere were bouncing as we cycled along. 

Thankfully, 45 mins later we reached Madura, our roadhouse stop for the night. 156km that day so I devoured my T-bone steak and chips that night whilst Susan had roast pork and a mountain of vegetables. 

The following day the wind was even stronger and we sailed along to our next stop at Mundrabilla, 116km later.

I think we finished just in time as the wind was becoming unmanageable to cycle. This roadhouse, like all roadhouses is reasonably rubbish but as least they served a good lasagna. 272km in two days. 

The following day was a shorter cycle of 65km to our present location at Eucla. Our cycle across the ancient seabed at Nullarbor has been excellent. The ground is sand, shells and sparse vegetation with the ancient shoreline cliffs on our left and the present shore on our right several kilometres always. Photos can’t do this place justice and nor do I think you can appreciate such wilderness driving though it in a car at 100km/hr. Oh yes that’s me on my cycling soapbox again – cycling is a great way to travel and ‘properly’ see a country. 

Unfortunately, the tailwinds are now away to be replaced by cross and headwinds. Oh how we cried last night.  Actually, it was only me that cried and that was because I have only had one small bottle of beer in the last week. £6 for a small bottle all over the Nullarbor!  You can’t enjoy a beer at £6 a gulp! Now that I think about it, if I was driving I could have a case of beer in the boot!  So let’s revise my earlier statement – the only way to see the Nullarbor is to drive and have a big boot!!

Today we are having a rest day after 712km in 7 days since Norseman.  That’s 442 miles mother (my mum prefers a coversion to miles).  

Tomorrow we start heading for Ceduna and should, hopefully, arrive next weekend depending on the weather. Looking forward to a bush camp tomorrow as we have no alternative. Just don’t mention snakes!

1,471 km to date. 

Short updates just now as there is no wifi and everything is by mobile phone. Thankfully, coverage for mobiles is reasonable on Australian highways even if we are 100km from anywhere. 

Leaving Balladonia Roadhouse we cycled to the start of the 90 mile straight road, took the usual photographs then headed on. We had a northerly crosswind and although everyone said the road was flat I think we can officially label it as ‘flattish’. Google maps please take note – it is not ‘level’! It didn’t help that we were carrying 24 litres of water (an extra 53 lbs  of weight) as we expected to bush camp by the side of the road that night.  I think the combined weight of the trailer with water, food and camping gear was about 100 lbs.  Realistically, we should have a truck to tow that! 

It was 181km of nothingness between Balladonia and Caiguna with dusk around 1630hrs. It was never going to be a one day journey  – the wind, the weight and the continual small incline meant steady but gradual progress. 

It was a hot 35c day with a very warm wind that dried me to a prune. Susan and I had two different strategies to fight heatstroke. Myself (Captain Sensible) covered up with leggings, long sleeve top, hat and fingerless gloves whilst Susan (Suzie Malaga) sunbathed on the back of the bike with shorts and a t shirt (yes she did also have sun factor 5o). Neither strategy was particularly successful as we melted all day. I did have to give in and strip standing on the road and put shorts on. 

Eventually after a 100km we pushed the bike off the road behind a few bushes and set up the tent. The bush tucker trial that night was a re hydrated bag of savoury rice with corned beef mixed in. We’re not sure how tasty it was because in the dark I overdid the chilli powder. Vindaloo corned beef rice was a first! Susan is always complimentary towards my camp cooking though it’s dark in the tent and I suspect she is just shovelling it into a pocket. 

We had a great sunset that night and later we enjoyed a wonderful starry sky. 

The following day we set off along the very straight slightly uppy downy road. I have come to the conclusion there actually are no flat roads in the world!  Today, however, that was the least of our problems – we had a 30mph headwind  and another 35c temperature.  As there were no trees or any kind of protection on the road, the wind hammered us all day.

It was unrelenting and although the road was ‘flattish’ we felt like we were tackling hills. It stayed like this for 81km all the way to our destination at the Caiguna Roadhouse.

So 181km Balladonia to Caiguna was completed and yes we did drink all that water plus an additional 2 litres donated by a passing motorist who was returning from a cycle race in Perth. Cyclists of the world unite! 

Tonight we’re pretty tired again but a shower and food has helped. Tomorrow the forecast says it’s a tailwind. I’ll believe it when I feel it. However, I’m so excited I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight. It’s like Christmas tomorrow. ‘Please Santa give me a westerly wind. I’ll be really good’. 

1133km to date.