Days 12, 13, and 14 (November 14, 15, 16)

Wave Rock to Norseman – 310 km of nothingness

November 14 was the start of what we believed would be the most difficult part of the trip across Australia. Our route took us eastward 310 km from Wave Rock to the town of Norseman, nearly all of it on a remote dirt and gravel road with very little vehicular traffic. The defining characteristic of this segment was the near total absence of towns, gas stations, or other places to obtain water. The only thing between Wave Rock and Norseman was a nickel mining operation, at the 75 km mark, where we anticipated we might be able to refill our water containers. But more about the water situation in a bit.

The first day of the crossing, November 14, we got a fairly early 6:00 am start from Wave Rock. The information we had showed that the first 32 km of the road were paved, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that the pavement continued another 13 km, making 45 km of pavement, after which the dirt and gravel began. The riding wasn’t too difficult and the temperature, while a bit hot for this Alaskan, wasn’t intolerable. We rode until 5:15 pm, covering 108 km, when we came across a roadside picnic table at the boundary between Kondinin Shire and Dundas Shire (a shire is analogous to a county in the U.S.). The Moon was full that night and lit up the remote Australian landscape around us.

The wind picked up in the early morning of November 15, and by the time we were packed up and on the bikes, the wind had turned into a strong 20-25 km headwind, which very unfortunately for us, continued all day long. Coupled with the hotter temperatures (37 degrees C), the conditions radically decreased our speed. After knocking out the first 50 km, and not being able to refill our water bottles at a second mining operation (it was closed down), it got to the point where we would pedal 5 km, then stop for an extended break in what little shade we could find. The slow pace was due primarily to  my difficulty dealing with the heat (hey, I’m from Alaska – gimme a break!). The heat and hot headwind reminded me of the hot blast of air you get when you open an oven door. To deal with it to some degree, I soaked my travel towel with some of my precious water and kept it in a Ziploc bag in my pannier. When we’d get to a rest break, I took the soaking wet towel out of the bag and let the breeze blow through it. The rapid evaporation cooled it quite well, which when then applied to the face and neck, provided some welcome cooling action and temporary relief from the heat.

An Australian Bobtail lizard – a cute little fellow!

Such a vicious little guy!

Unlike me, Mattie seemed totally unfazed by the heat. She is, after all, a firefighter, so a little heat is nothing to her. She took the lead up front, while I did my best to keep up. I think the worst part of it for her was having to put up with my long rest breaks, knowing all the while that we could have already been at our destination for the day if I wasn’t slowing things down.

Despite the heat and the slow pace, we covered 87.5 km to Johnston Lake, making it there at 5:00 pm. I should also mention the flies. The flies here are epic. The second you stop moving, they are all over you. The only relief is our head nets, which although the flies still buzz around our heads, at least they’re not in our face.

Mattie and her Thorny Dragon friend

The morning of November 16 dawned with increasing clouds and a wind from the west – all in our favor. We woke up at 4:30 am and were on the road at 5:15 am. The cooler temperature, 100% cloud cover, and a nice tailwind did wonders for our forward progress. We originally planned to do about 60 km, but when we reached that mark after only about 4 hours, we decided to take advantage of the situation and continue all the way into Norseman, which we pulled into at 12:15 pm, after putting a quick 108 km of road behind us.

I originally figured that the 310 km from Wave Rock to Norseman would take at the very least, four days, and possibly even five. We did it in 2 1/2 days. Pretty remarkable progress, I’d say!

Now, about the water situation. We knew that water opportunities would be very limited. Before we left Wave Rock, Mattie asked around Hyden and the campground about what we’d heard might be the possibility to get water at several mining operations along the way. She was able to get the name of a contact person at one of the mines, and phoned her. The woman at the mine assured us that we would indeed be able to get water there, and possibly even at the next mine further down the road. At mid-day on the first day (November 14), we pulled in to the mine and were welcomed and given a short tour of some of the operation. Best of all was, what seemed to us, the seemingly limitless supply of water. And they even had an ice-making machine, chock full of ice-cold ice! Wow, what a treat!

We took a nice long lunch break at the mine, chugged as much water as we could, refilled all of our bottles, and hit the road fully loaded. Mattie had about 11 liters of water, and I had about the same. We figured that would be enough to get us to the next mine further up the road the next day, so were feeling pretty confident in our water supply. The next morning (November  15) our bottles were down several liters, and when we passed an unexpected pond/puddle next to the road, we decided to put our three water filtration/purification systems to the test. Despite the water being quite muddy and gross looking, the filtered and purified water looked as good as regular tap water. Our system was first to filter, then chlorinate, and finally purify the water using a Steripen UV light purifier. I think the three stages – filtration, chlorination, and UV purification – worked very well (at least we didn’t get sick – yet!).

Impromptu roadside water supply

After filling our bottles at the puddle, we continued on down the road toward the second mine where we hoped to refill again. Unfortunately, the mine was closed with a locked gate across the access road. So there was no possibility to refill there, and by that point we had only about half of our water left, with 150 km still to go to Norseman. We figured that we just didn’t have enough water bottles/containers, so we picked up several 1.5 liter water bottles (with caps)  that we found along the roadside, in the event that we would come across an opportunity to get more water. Later in the afternoon, luck was with us on three separate occasions when we came across friendly caravaners (RVers) who were kind enough to give us some water. Much thanks to those friendly Grey Nomads! With our bottles at full capacity on the morning of November 16, we easily made it into Norseman by mid-day on the 16th.

Perth to Norseman – 770 km down, thousands more to go

We’re now in Norseman taking a rest day at the Railway Hotel (a quaint little place that Mattie really likes). Tomorrow we’ll start the long 1,200 km trip across the Nullarbor Plain, so don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from us for a few days!

Posted by Scott