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!

December 3rd and 4th were of similar pattern, but with different weather.  On December 3 we pedaled from Kyancutta to a bit past Kimba still on the Eyre Highway.  After making our distance for the day (111 km) we camped off the road bush-camping style (just our tents tucked back in the gum trees out of sight of passing cars).  The day was hot and temperatures did not cool down that night until it started sprinkling at 4:00 am. 

The persistent, but light, rain continued till around noon.  December 4th was our first day riding in the rain.  The air temperature was quite warm so the rain was very pleasant without a jacket.  One of our rest breaks we took under a conveniently broken down semi trailer.

Raining break, complete with a conveniently parked semi trailer as cover!

Rest from riding and the rain.

Once the rains stopped the temperature started rising.  When we arrived at the Nuttbush Caravan Park (I couldn’t make up a better name myself!) we were grateful for the shade, shower and swimming pool!  I have vowed not to pass by another swimming opportunity till I return to snowy Idaho!  That night was very windy with a crying baby and barking dog nearby.  Scott has ear plugs; I do not.  I slept poorly.

From Nuttbush we cycled the short distance into Port Augusta where we became proud members of the South Australian Public Library network.  This allowed us access to wifi to upload our completed blog posts.  While Scott worked on the blog I Skyped with the family then Googled “cycling from Port Augusta to Adelaide.”  I found an invaluable blog that recommened the route used by locals (only 14 km longer than the route straight down highway A1).  This route, on B82, brought us to Wilmington with less of a headwind, a fraction of the traffic and our first real hill climb (Horrocks Pass).  I assume we will have to deal with higher traffic volumes when approaching the cities, but A1 had absolutely no shoulder and loads of vehicles roaring past, plus the headwind was really horrendous.

An example of the large gum trees lining Horrocks Pass.

At Wilmington, we had a beer at the pub, talked and laughed with some local self-proclaimed rednecks then continued to the Beautiful Valley Caravan Park.  The park amentities include showers (complete with giant spiders), wild, adorable possums, a minature horse (I shall call him Lil’ Sebastion) and the best grass lawn we’ve seen in all of Australia!  Today is a great day!

Scott and Lil’ Sebastion at Beautiful Valley Caravan Park.  Lil’ Sebastion is wearing a face bug net to avoid the pesky flies.

As the sun set, Jack, the former owner of the caravan park, introduced Scott and I to the wonderful brushtail possums.  Unlike the possums (opossum) of America, these little guys are adorable!  We were able to hand-feed and pet these creatures as they crept out of the trees and climbed up our pant legs eager for carrots and bread.  Although a wildlife ecologist would scoff at feeding wildlife, I was grateful for the opportunity to meet more charismatic Australian fauna.  I am dissapointed with our limited wildlife sightings: few snakes, only one wombat, no camels and no koalas (yet!).  The possums were a great treat.

Common Brushtail Possum in its daily sleeping spot (a hole in a gum tree).

The nightly feeding of the brushtail possums at Beautiful Valley Caravan Park.

The next few days will bring us into Adelaide.  We are both eager for our long rest there which includes a train ride (The Ghan) from Adelaide to Darwin.  We will fly back to Adelaide from there to continue the cycle to Sydney.  We are more than half the distance across Australia and I look forward to a bit of time out of the saddle before the final phase of our ride.

Posted by Mattie