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.

So far, the trip has had four major phases:

Phase 1: Rottnest Island
Phase 2: Perth to Hyden
Phase 3: Hyden to Norseman
Phase 4: Norseman to Ceduna

Today we began Phase 5; Ceduna to Adelaide. It’s a distance of around 775 kilometers which we expect will take about 8 or 9 days. We’ve left the remoteness of the Nullarbor behind, and have now entered a region of wheat fields and more frequent signs of civilization. Instead of widely separated, isolated roadhouses, we now encounter small towns every 50-90 kilometers. Having completed what we believe to be the most difficult phases (Hyden to Norseman and Norseman to Ceduna), we are feeling more at ease, as our loads are lighter (we don’t have to carry as much water) and we can travel a bit faster.

Today we covered 115 kilometers in 8 hours (actual moving time was 5 hours, 30 minutes) from Ceduna to a point 5 km west of Cungena. We lucked out and had clouds all day, cool temperatures, and even a bit of a tailwind in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the flies are back. They swarm us at rest breaks, making a peaceful rest impossible. We can put on our headnets, but that makes eating and drinking difficult. The only respite is to quickly gulp down some water and a few bites of food, then get back on the bike and get moving. But even then, the flies can keep up with us to about 20-22 km/hour. Going up hills, which necessarily slows us down, is almost torture. The flies attack us from their hideout in the roadside bushes, getting into our eyes, ears, and nose. I’ve considered resorting to riding with my headnet on, but have not yet done so, as that would bring on a whole new set of problems.

The Wirrulla general store

We reached the little town of Wirrulla (the town with a secret, as stated on the roadside signs for the town – we have no idea what the secret is; it’s probably just a gimmick to get people to stop there) at 1:00 pm and had the requisite ice cream bar and energy drinks (Coke, orange/mango juice). At one point in the ride today, we saw 7 or 8 horses in a field several hundred yards away from the road. I walked over to the fence and figured I’d try calling them over, which to my and Mattie’s surprise, actually worked. They all came over to us and let us pet them for about 10-15 minutes, at which point they figured out that we didn’t have any food for them, and they ambled away. We continued on down the road, paralleling a water pipeline, for 20 more kilometers where we found a nice roadside pullout to set up our nightly camp.

Sitting on the roadside water pipeline – water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink

The next phase of the trip – one that we’re really looking forward to – is the train ride from Adelaide to Darwin, 2,000 kilometers north across the desert middle of Australia. That’ll be a nice little mini-vacation from our vacation; four days to rest and relax, eat lots of gourmet food on the train, and in general just decompress before resuming the final phase of the trip – from Adelaide to Sydney, some 1,300 kilometers.

Posted by Scott