Day 57 (December 29)

Relaxing at the finish line at Bondi Beach in Sydney

We have arrived in Sydney!  The distance pedaled since Perth is 4394km.  We have been pedaling for about 393 hours (this includes break times during the day).  It would be curious to know how many cans of tuna we’ve eaten since Perth, granola bars, Snickers, ice cream bars, etc.  We left Perth on November 9th.  Not including the days we did not pedal, it has taken us 48 days to cross the country from Perth the Sydney.  We are done pedaling!!
Read more

Day 56 (December 28)

A view of the Pacific coast just south of Royal National Park

Today was an interesting day. We woke up thinking we’d have an easy, leisurely pedal north along the coast. We didn’t really  investigate in advance the terrain we’d be covering, so we were a bit surprised to see that we’d have to tackle quite a few hills.

Read more

Day 55 (December 27)

Two seabirds and the Pacific Ocean at Shell Harbor, 100 km south of Sydney

The title of this blog is “Indian to Pacific”.  We began the trip in Perth on the Indian Ocean and today we made it to Kiama on the Pacific Ocean!  It has been 4300 kilometers since we left the Indian Ocean at Perth.  Our first glimpse of the ocean was from the top of Jamberoo Pass.  My first swim in the Pacific was at Shell Harbor.  We crossed Australia without an internal combustion engine (just the unleaded gas for our cook stove).

Read more

Day 54 (December 26)

This mango care package was left on the roadside for us by an anonymous driver. The note reads, “Free mango for cyclists. Enjoy! Have a lovely day.” Thanks much, whoever you are!

Like I said in the title of yesterday’s post, expect the unexpected. That was true again this morning, when we expected that several bike shops in Goulburn would be open, so that I could buy a new tire and inner tube to replace my defective ones. It turned out that the shops were not open today, as it is Boxing Day in Australia (the day after Christmas). It’s sort of an unofficial holiday, so the bike shops didn’t open. As a result, we continued on out of Goulburn with my field-repaired tire. It was still holding well and I’m confident it will hold until we get to Sydney in a few more days.

Read more

Day 53 (December 25)

Our progress as of December 25, 2016. We’re approaching the Pacific coast and are only a couple hundred kilometers away from Sydney.

Today was yet another typical day for us – up at 5:30 am and on the road by 6:30 am. We left the town of Gunning, and rather than riding on the shoulder of the Hume Highway, as we did yesterday, we decided to take a less-trafficked back road. It was sort of a loop road that made its way back to the Hume Highway after about 30 kilometers. It turned out to be a great decision on our part, as we saw no vehicles at all for the first 15 kilometers. Perfect!

Read more

Days 51 and 52 (December 23-24)

Typical landscape in the hills west of the Great Dividing Range

Most days, our daily route shows as just a small squiggly line on the map. Collectively of course, they track our progress across Australia. But from day-to-day, the change is rather small. But today, December 23, we marked a bit of a milestone – we switched to the Sydney side of the map. We have a roadmap of the state of New South Wales, which shows the western half on one side of the map and the eastern half (the side with Sydney on it) on the other side. We got to the town of Coolamon last night, and this morning we had the pleasure of switching to the other side of the map to do our daily route planning. It’s a definite motivational boost to now look at the map and see Sydney getting closer day-by-day. Only a few more days now!!

Read more

Days 49 and 50 (December 21-22)

Meeting a rehabilitated Galah (note the missing eye).  Great to have an upclose and personal interaction with an animal that has made cameos and entertained us with humorous antics during our entire trip.

As I pedal down the road, I preoccupy my thoughts with planning blog content.  Much of what I experience day after day and end up writing about is likely “not worth writing home to Mom about”… which is ironic because she is guaranteed to read these posts!  Unexpectedly, December 21st held three events worthy of Mom’s (and your) time.

Read more

Days 47 and 48 (December 19-20)

The Hay Plains at sunset – flat and featureless

On December 19 we started across the Hay Plains. It’s an area of flat, nearly treeless plains about 150 kilometers across, and is directly between Adelaide and Sydney. We’ve been hearing from locals for the past several weeks that the Hay Plains will be hot, flat, and boring. They got the flat and boring parts right, but luckily we haven’t yet experienced the hot part (and I hope we don’t). By the end of the day we pedaled only the western-most 30 kilometers, and have many more to go in the next couple of days.

Read more

Day 46 (December 18)

The rollercoaster that is Highway B-12

Today we had our longest distance pedaled in a day so far on the trip – 134 kilometers from Walpeup, Victoria to Tooleybuc, New South Wales. That, despite the persistent crosswind from the south and southeast.

Read more

Days 43, 44, and 45 (December 15-17)

Hay bales and water pipeline – farmland in South Australia

From Adelaide to here (Walpeup, Victoria) we have covered about 350 km in three days; not too bad!  As we meet people along the way, the most common statement is “Wow, I couldn’t do that” (second most frequent being “You guys are crazy”).  Scott and I have met only two other cyclists crossing Australia, but we have read countless blogs of others doing to journey.  Trust me when I tell you this, most anyone can do this journey.  Our daily distances are lower than most others (others traveling 150 to 200km per day!).  Really if you travel reasonable daily distances for yourself, set achievable/short-term goals and actively work on staying positive, this trip is doable for anyone.  But I digress, let me tell you able the trail for the last three days.

Read more

Day 42 (December 14)

Our progress as of December 14, 2016. Our route begins in Perth (on the west coast) and goes eastward to Adelaide, two-thirds of the way across Australia. From Adelaide, we took the train north to Darwin (the wiggly line from Adelaide to Darwin) and then flew from Darwin back to Adelaide (the fairly straight blue line from Darwin south to Adelaide).

Well, we’re now back in Adelaide after our break to ride the train up to Darwin. We flew on Qantas from Darwin today, back to Adelaide. We checked back into the same hotel that we were in on the evening of December 10, retrieved our bikes from the storage room, stocked up on road food at a store next to the hotel, and we’re now packing our panniers in preparation for hitting the road first thing in the morning.

This is the last major phase of the trip; from Adelaide to Sydney. We’re planning to take a fairly direct route east from Adelaide, with a diversion southward as we approach Sydney so that we can ride along the coast for a day or two up to Sydney. We’re hoping to arrive there in about 14-18 days.

As usual when we start out on a new section of road, we’re not sure how much Internet access we’ll run across, so it could be anywhere from several days to a week or two before our next post. Stay tuned for more!

Posted by Scott

Days 39, 40, and 41 (December 11-13)

The Ghan at sunrise in Marla

Two and a half days of relaxation: The Ghan.  This train ride is definitely not what I was expecting, but none the less, it is a welcome break from the ride.  We are about three hours out from Darwin, the final destination for the train.  Scott has been diligently GPSing our track as we go while I have been reading, napping, drinking and intermittently brainstorming blog content.

Read more

Days 37 and 38 (December 9-10)

When we were out on Rottnest Island at the beginning of our trip, one thing that struck us most was the relaxed, laid-back pace of island life. It mirrored the temperament of the quokkas – calm, cool, collected, not a care in the world. We came up with a saying to describe it – living the quokka life. That’s how we feel now that we’re in Adelaide and are taking a break from pedaling for a few days. We’re relaxing and taking in the sights and sounds of Adelaide. We’re living the quokka life.

Quokka. What more is there to say?

Read more

Days 35 and 36 (December 7-8)

We’re now in Adelaide, two-thirds of the way across Australia. Total distance pedaled so far: 2,842 kilometers

To summarize the seventh of December I say “tailwind”.  To summarize the eighth I say “hills”!  The two days of the seventh and the eighth are distinctly memorable for our trip thus far.  Let me tell you about them…

Read more

Day 34 (December 6)

Australian road hazards – camels, wombats, and kangaroos

Today was a bit of a milestone for us – one month since we arrived in Australia (November 6 to December 6). We’re now only 170 kilometers from Adelaide, and nearly two-thirds of the way from Perth to Sydney. We’ll get to Adelaide the day after tomorrow, on December 8, then take a much-needed break from cycling for several days.

Read more

Days 31, 32, and 33 (December 3, 4, and 5)

Riding in the rain.

As the kilometers and days since departing Perth increase, I find myself battling traveler’s apathy.  The effects of cumulative exhaustion, poor diet and many miles of road have resulted in my loss of excitement for the daily happenings of this journey.  I am only going to bike across Australia once: I should NOT let this be mundane!  Luckily for me, I found the perfect cure in the little town of Wilmington.  Nothing like minature horses, feeding wildlife and enormous spiders in the shower to rejuvinate your traveling spirit!

Read more

Day 30 (December 2)

Pedaled 112 km today.  We passed through two towns and took gloriously long rest breaks making for a nine and a half hour day (three and a half hours of breaks!).  These breaks included eating snacks, catching a lizard, eating a hamburger, shopping for food, buying stove fuel, and more eating.  We are now seated at a picnic table drinking mint tea, eating  (chips, tuna and candy) and mulling over the days behind and those yet to come.
Read more

Day 29 (December 1)

After nearly a month on the road, we’ve come to see that this trip is all about phases – mini-milestones that are attainable within the time span of one or two weeks. While we have to keep the ultimate goal of reaching Sydney in mind, we can’t dwell on it day-to-day. If we did, it would just be depressing. As of today, we’ve done 2,120 kilometers, and Sydney is still around 2,000 kilometers away. By breaking the trip down into separate phases, we can focus on the day-to-day details and can attain our goals within a matter of days, instead of weeks or months. It’s a way to maintain our sanity while pedaling 100 kilometers every day, day after day.

Read more