On The Road Again

Day 20 (11/23): Alice Springs to Katherine; 1170 km; Katherine Motel


Day 21 (11/24): Katherine to Halls Creek; 870 km; Escarpment Walk/Gregory Nat. Park (3km); Kimberly Motel


Day 22 (11/25): Halls Creek to Broome; 680 km; Kimberly Klub Hostel


Back in the late 1990's when I still had my old technical writer's job, while daydreaming at work I'd occasionally check the weather in Broome, West Australia. Just seemed like one of the farthest places on earth from where I was at the time. Well, today I began the long journey from Alice Springs headed toward Broome. Granted it was nearly 3000 km and three days drive away, but that was where my mind was.

Even though 3000 km gets smaller when converted to miles, it is still a longggggg way. Especially when the temperature outside goes up above 40 C (104 F)! In both Katherine and Halls Creek when I arrived early each evening, the temperature was well above 30 C, with humidities pushing 70% or more. Even with an air conditioned car, this heat just sucks the energy from you. Rather than prolong this experience an extra two days/600+ kms more of driving, I decided shortly before reaching Katherine to forgo heading all the way to the "top end" and Darwin. Thus, at the crossroads in Katherine I turned west for the coast and Broome directly.

In light of the heat/humidity, except for a short walk around the Devil's Marbles and a longer walk up the Escarpment Walk in Gregory National Park (see pictures of both below), these last three days were spent mostly in the drivers seat or hiding in air conditioned rooms. I did see one loaded touring cyclist yesterday but did not attempt to stop or talk to him. Can't say I was jealous this time at all as I usually am seeing a tourer!

Arrived here in Broome yesterday afternoon and made my way to the Kimberly Klub YHA hostel. This is a pretty big hostel but also very nice. Much like Hawaii, it is mostly open air, except for air conditioned sleeping rooms. Its is warm and sticky, but I really like the fresh air!
I wrote last night in my journal that I'd like to come back here one day in their dry/cooler season (April--October) with Nola and spend about a week. Not sure it would be biking, but I think I'll put it on the long-term list. I'll only scratch the surface with my one day layover, but there is lots to do here. Of course I am getting ahead of myself, that will have to wait for the next post.

For those of you with a map, FYI, I will be taking the coastal route down towards Perth. Next destination from here is Monkey Mia (two days drive). Not sure if I'll do another layover day there. In the interest of time and because driving in busy cities is still pretty tense for me (left side of the road thing), I will probably bypass downtown Perth and make my way east once I get down that way. But again, I get ahead of myself.

Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving day here. I'm glad to have the Internet/cheap phone cards to help stay connected to you all back home, but it will be nice to come back too. In the meantime, I'll give thanks tomorrow as I have the opportunity to traverse another small slice of this huge country. Perhaps I'll be swimming with the dolphins on your actual holiday.

Cheers all.

Rest in Alice

Day 19 (11/22): Alice Springs Layover

This is going to be a quick post as I have no pictures and did not do much of anything this day. About the only productive thing I did was go for a nice run in the morning along the Todd River, which is normally dry but has now started flowing again as they have had some good rains here lately. I also got in a good shopping trip for (cheap) groceries at Woolworths (woolies). Have to take advantage of Woolies or Coles (the other big chain here) when I see them as they are about half the price of food stores in the smaller towns. I have also found that eating "out" is pricey here so it is much more economical to cook your own dinner--but you must have something to cook to do so. Oh, also got a good nap in this afternoon; perhaps the highlight of the day!

Off on the road again tomorrow! Cheers all.

Kata Tjuta and Uluru National Park

Day 17 (11/20): Yulara to Kata Tjuta N.P. and back; 110 km (bicycle); 23 kph; Valley of the Winds and Olga Gorge Hikes (10 km); Pioneer Motel/Hostel

Day 18 (11/21); Yulara to Alice Springs; 460 km (car); Uluru Base Walk (12 km); Alice's Secret Hostel

Thursday was a very full day! Got a good early start and headed out by bicycle (with a single partially loaded pannier, man that felt good) for Kata Tjuta National Park (The Olga's). Had a nice tail wind for most of the 53 km ride over--that was sweet as well. Once at the Olga's, I did the two main hikes there, the Valley of the Winds and the Olga Gorge hikes. Both these trails were very scenic as I walked around/below/past a number of the dozens of red sandstone domes that make up the park. It was quite hot too I might add, probably pushing 40 C in the sun (over a hundred F!).

After the hike, I hopped back on the bike to find the wind had shifted to a northery breeze. That made it hotter but also mostly a cross wind on way back, not the head wind I was expecting. I really liked that as I had had enough of the sun when I got back to the hotel about 4 pm. No sunset on Uluru tonight, was out cold by about 8:30 pm (alone this night in my 4-bunk room, shared with a german couple previous evening).

Next morning packed up, gassed up, and headed back to Uluru. My dilemna as to whether to climb Ayers rock (you are allowed to do so but strongly discouraged by Aboriginal owners--they ask you to "choose not to climb") was made easy--the climb was closed because rain was forecast. So along with many others, I did the walk around Uluru. Fortunately, they all went clockwise, I went anticlockwise (not sure why I did this) so passing large groups went very quickly and I was alone most of the time. While Uluru is probably more impressive from a distance it is quite powerful and moving up close and personal. Like many things in nature, it is amazing how large it is too! The number of intricate features you can see from close up are also fascinating; cracks, gashes, streaks of color, hollowed out holes, pockmarks, etc. Many of these have aboriginal stories attached to them, some described on signs, others revealed only to properly instructed individuals (not yours truly of course).

Again, it was quite warm on the hike and subsequent 5-hour drive up to Alice Springs. I even closed up the car and used the a/c for the first time on the trip. Made my way through busy town to Alice's Secret hostel, a small, friendly, cosy place 5-minutes walk from "downtown." Getting back into a busy town (already tired from day's activities) I had to be careful again driving on left. Did pretty well navigating--didn't get lost a single time! Walking into town for dinner after showering I did get soaked in a 5-minute downpour, but it was hot enough that it felt kind of good.

I feel a bit typed out and have some other web research to do so will close. Hope everyone is well and happy so far away. Cheers!

To The Red Center

Day 15 (11/18): Pt. Augusta to Coober Pedy; 530 km (car); Redeca's Underground Hostel

Day 16 (11/19): Coober Pedy to Yulara Ayers Rock Resort; 730 km (car); Pioneer Hotel Hostel

I must admit, as I drove away from Pt. Augusta at about 11:00 am and quickly got into remote, outback country, I was a bit sad not to be doing so on my bicycle. Couldn't tell what the wind was doing from inside the car but the road was long, straight, and deserted--just as I had expected it to be as I thought about this trip over the previous months (years). It was inviting! That turned out ok as I just went with the feeling and recognized at the same time I made the correct decision. On a later driving break I noted a stiff north breeze, I'd have already been struggling against my nemisis of late.

Arrived at Coober Pedy near dinner time and went straight to Redeca's Underground Motel/Hostel (I had seen of it on the web in Pt. Augusta). Check out the photos' below--this was one of the coolest/most interesting places I'd ever seen much less slept at. The amenities (showers/toilets/kitchen/etc.) were on ground level and the sleeping rooms were 3.5 meters below grade in old opal mine dugouts. Besides being cool, quiet, and dark--ideal for sleeping--the walls were beautiful tints of red, orange, white, gray, etc. I bunked in a 4-bed "room" (alcove really) and ended up the only one in the four beds (no snoring!!!).

After a short run in the morning I set off for the longer drive up to Ayers Rock (Uluru). On my way in I saw a lone male cyclist hammering his way toward Uluru--he was about 130 km out. I later found out from a German couple I shared my 4-bunk room with that he was 24 years old and a student from Japan who had cycled down from Darwin. I actually saw him at the resort on the 21st at breakfast before I headed out but he was on the phone so I couldn't speak with him.

Anyway, I arrived about 4 pm at Yulara in time to get dinner and make the pilgrimage along with most everyone else out to watch sunset on Uluru. Up until the sunset the colors were stunning with the rock turning deeper and deeper red. Once the sun was down, it was like someone shut off the lights (I guess they really did). The rock almost instantly became a washed out pale brownish color, completely unphotogenic. So like everyone I jumped in the car and trooped back to the resort for a fairly early evening's end.

Note the fourth photo shows tailing piles from opal mines. They just dig out vertical shafts about 10 meters deep and sift through the diggings for gems. These piles are everywhere around Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world.

Check it out Fern--they had these at Woolies in Coober Pedy--too soon to buy them now but I am confident they'll have them as well in Sydney at trip's end.

Return to Adelaide

Day 11 (11/14): Near Craddock to Orroroo; 78 km; 16 kph; Motel

Day 12 (11/15): Orroroo to Clare; 134 km; 17 kph; Trailer at Caravan Park

Day 13 (11/16): Clare to Mallala; 88 km; 21 kph; Caravan Park

Day 14 (11/17): Mallala to Adelaide (bike) to Pt. Augusta (car); 61 km/305 km; 20 kph (bike); Poinsetta Motel

Taking up where we left off...so I got on the bike on Day 11 and yet again started peddling into a head wind. Fortunately, the town of Orroroo was not too far so the day's ride went pretty well and I arrived mid-afternoon. After my bush camp the night before I was really tired and REALLY stinky so I went straight for a motel room--huge/nice room for about $45 (US)!


Got back on road next morning relatively fresh hoping to make up some distance/time to make my last days ride to Adelaide somewhat shorter--hoped to do 130+ km. First 90 km to town of Spalding went quite well, wind not too bad, weather great. Left out of Spalding after lunch at about 1:30 pm with 40 km to go. Ouch...wind came up with a vengance, road got hilly, I got tired. Limped into caravan park 4 km PAST town of Clare at about 4:30 pm completely trashed. Self-cooked (hot--yay) dinner perked me up and got good night's sleep.

Over the next two days on into Adelaide the riding went very well. Winds were mostly across instead of against me and the long day into Clare made my distances manageable. Yesterday I peddled into the busy city stopping at the hostel where I hid hidden my duffel bag above the drop ceiling in a common room (I was pretty pleased to have thought of that one). I then went to RAA and bought another map the headed for a major transition point for this trip...Avis Rentacar!

As noted in previous posts, reality hit me like a brick over the last week's rides. Since I still wanted to see the red center and west coast I checked on car hires and found them quite reasonable--cheaper than states actually. So, yesterday afternoon I set out north from Adelaide again on the wrong--no--left side of the road in a cute white Hyundai Getz. Was really careful driving out of town as this left side thing is VERY odd but once in country settled down for the nice three-hour/300 km ride to Pt. Augusta (which took four days on the bike!).

So begins the next leg of this trip, a long road trip up the red center then around the west coast and back across the south eventually back to Adelaide. My plan is to take about three weeks to do this drive, headed for Coober Pedy tday after I leave here, shop, and gas up. Should be about 5 hours drive. One thing I am not sure of yet is what type of accomodation I will use along the way. I hope to car camp most of the time just to save some $ and because that helps me experience the area I am in a bit more versus holing up in a motel room. The larger towns along the way will also have hostels which are a good option where available (except for old men snoring!).

Wow, all caught up on posts. Hope everyone back at home is doing ok. David--glad you are ok after your incident--that must have been very scary. Hope you were able to salvage your laptop hard drive.

Cheers all--I think my photo ability is improving, let me know. BTW, that sunset shot does not do justice to what it looked like in person. Truly amazing.

To The Flinders Ranges

Day 8 (11/11): Pt. Augusta to Hawker; 108 km; 17 kph; Caravan Park

Day 9 (11/12): Hawker to Wilpena; 55 km; 15 kph; Hills Homestead Hike; Campground

Day 10 (11/13): St. Mary Peak Hike; Wilpena to Near Craddock; 86 km; 20 kph; Bush Camp

Hi all. First a quick, hopefully interesting story. On 11/10, evening before leaving Pt. Augusta I was watching a movie about rebuilding of Marshall University football program after team/staff/etc were killed in 1970 (?) plane crash. The new coach could not remember the names of all his new players so he had an assistant write their last names on their helmets. Apparently a relative tried out for that team because they showed the assistant writing "Meckstroth" on one of the helmets--spelled correctly I might add. I found that a compelling connection to the past especially being so far from home.

Ok, on to "business." This segment of my trip was a bit of a test in that I wanted to verify that riding long distances across the "bush" (i.e., the outback) might not be the wisest plan. Continuing the trend for this trip so far, I once again battled the wind for two days riding the 160 km up to the Flinders Ranges National Park. These days were not too bad since I had towns/services at reasonable stopping distances along the way (Hawker was actually a quite pleasant caravan park/experience). The second day's ride to the park was only 56 km meaning I arrived at lunch time and had time to do a nice 4 mile--sorry--7 km hike to an old homestead and view point.

Anyway, the above two days ride clearly demonstrated that my original plan to continue out of Pt. Augusta by bike the LONG ways to Ayers Rock/Alice Springs and points north would be foolish at best. I just can't make the distances I'd have to within the limits of the food and water I can carry between service locations (i.e. towns) when I have any kind of headwinds--an all too common occurrence it seems. And to grind out long days to stay "on schedule" against the wind (the schedule thing being a safety issue not a vanity thing) then bush camp in the heat/flies just isn't fun (I'm on a public machine or I'd use stronger words). Bottom line, a change in plan is needed but you'll have to read the next post to find out what!

As to Flinders Ranges, it is a very nice park and the two hikes I did, especially the second to St. Mary peak were quite scenic. That second hike was pretty a strenuous 14 km trek with about 700 meters of vertical rise (on a very steep rocky trail). It was too windy to use my camera timer and I was the only one on top so the "peak shot" below has only my hat! I think cousin Cathy, you did this hike in 1992 didn't you?


Because the wind was forecast to shift the day I hiked (from a tail to head wind based on my direction of travel--I was just thrilled to see that forecast), I mounted my bike almost immediately after finishing the peak hike and eating lunch. Got about an hour and a half of tail wind averaging nearly 30 kph(!!!) before it shifted to pretty much in my face yet again--arrgghh--and I slowed back to my more usual 15-18 kph. The town I planned on camping at--Craddock--turned out to be pretty much deserted (no services) so I had to get water from the rainwater tanks of an unattended home then ride down the road a bit and bush camp in nasty scrub. No cooking (too tired, too windy, too many flies, too dry that I might start a wild fire) so had a (surprisingly tasty) cold dinner in my tent--that's cookies, cold spaghetti sauce, crackers, and water (see picture). I was actually quite proud I held it together with the afternoon/evening's events and other than tent being very hot (had to put on fly/cover because rain threatened), I even had a reasonably pleasant night.

I know it's an artificial transition, but that will do it for this post. You'll have to jump to the next post to hear what happens next (hint, the key words begin with H and W). Cheers all.

Day 3 - Day 7: Beautiful Country, Harsh Reality

Day 3 (11/6): Adelaide to Balaklava; 97 km; avg spd 18 kph; caravan park

Day 4 (11/7): Balaklava to Clare; 53 km; 16 kph; Western Motel

Day 5 (11/8): Clare to Wirrabarra; 110 km; 20 kph; The Chester's Guest Cottage

Day 6 (11/9): Wirrabarra to Port Augusta; 90 km; 19 kph; Poinsetta Motel

Day 7 (11/10): Port Augusta Layover Day; Pointsetta Motel

Ok, I promise this is the last photo of me, my bike, and all my ..... Immediately after having a passerby take this photo I hit the road for good from Adelaide Central YHA only to find out that all the weight on my bike made my front wheel unstable (VERY wobbly). Went straight to a bike shop and with help of mechanic dicovered that handlebar bag was culprit (weight on bike stem caused instability). It reduced my carrying capacity to remove that bag and put it in a pannier but after doing so I was back on road within an hour.

First four days riding have been tough. Between my bike being very heavy, duhh!, and having generally strong cross or head winds every day, the riding has been physically exhausting. Realizing that my ambition to ride 150 km/day in order to complete my hoped for route was/is impractical (crazy!) has been psychologically (sp?) difficult. Being alone and missing Nola pretty badly has been emotionally draining. Boy, this post is shaping up to be downright cheerfull, eh?

Ok, all that said, as I told folks before I left, I'm not here to torture myself or take undue risks so adjustments definately seem in order. The idea is to enjoy myself as I am supposed to be on holiday! So, I'm holed up for an extra day or two here in Port Augusta figuring out how to adjust my plans and expectations. And since I'll likely be back here tomorrow to post again (at the library which has free Internet), Ill hold off on any details--good thing cause I don't know them myself yet. Anyway, here's some more traditional blog content (and some photos) on the ride so far.

As I remembered from 1992, this is beautiful countryside. It is pretty much a mix of mostly flat golden wheatfields and rolling hills filled with vineyards and gum tree forests. Spotted along every 20-30 km are towns of anywhere from 200 to 2000 population. They all have a pub (called hotels here), general store/milk bar (take-out food counter), and caravan park (camp ground). Bigger towns have progressively more stores and services (e.g., libraries, public pools, bowling greens, motels, etc.). All have phone booths (yay!) and lots of trash cans (there is essentially no litter here). Roads generally have very good pavement but are not overly wide. And though traffic is mostly light and courteous, they do drive fast! People are exceptionally friendly.

Two more things worth mentioning. First, the birds. Sometimes I feel like I am here just to scare the birds, which are exceedingly noisy and virtually everywhere. As I ride down the road, they flee the trees and bushes screaming, squawking, howling, etc. There are crows, magpie-like birds, gallahs (parrot like), lorikeets, mackaws, cookaburrahs, and lots of LBBs (little brown birds). If it were not hillarious it would be irritating.

Second great occurrence. Saturday night I stopped in store in Wirrabbara to book camp site at caravan park. Weather was fien but I had riden 110 km and was pretty tired (probably showed). Upon hearing I was alone on a push bike (as they say), gentleman there (Paul of Paul and Mary Chesters) basically insisted I come to their home instead and stay in their guest cottage (see photo below). They fed and housed me and we talked for hours that evening. Slept for 10 hours that night. What a wonderful experience!

Day 2: Recovery

Day 1: Travel (Santa Fe, NM to Adelaide, South Australia)

Day 2: Adelaide (no riding)


Hi all. Last Friday while visiting Nola in Santa Fe after the long journey from Kentucky previous two days I blurted out on a short hike "I'm tired of travelling." I was--of driving--of course. When she stopped laughing at me we restarted laughing together at my impending journey. I'll tell you, about ten hours into my LA to Sydney flight (and 24 hours after leaving Santa Fe) I was really exhausted only to realize I had 5 more hours on that plane and another plane flight (and it turns out) 15 more hours of travel to go that day. You were right Nola, that comment was patently ridiculous!


It is now Wed evening (FYI, Adelaide is 17.5 hrs ahead of Mountain Daylight time--yes, 17 and one half, don't ask me how that works) and I've been at the Central YHA Hostel in Adelaide for 23 hours. I am still recovering from the journey but after sleeping the night and most of this afternoon (after morning errands) I feel mostly human. Headed out on bike tomorrow assuming I feel ok in morning.


Must admit it was great this afternoon seeing the election results; mainly because I felt proud to be American in a foreign country for once (versus being in Canada in 1998 at height of Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, e.g.). Pretty amazing we elected an African American president. Hope he can live up to the promise he seems to show. Ok, enuf politics but this is more about how I feel anyway and its my Blog too!!!


After packing my panniers today I realized travelling solo reduces my carrying capacity (versus 1992 with Sandy) as I've got one of everything and no one to share them with (e.g., tent, cooking gear, first aid kit, etc.). I have plenty of room for my "stuff" now but will be real tight when I stock up on food for long "no services" sections of this trip. I'll keep you updated.


Sorry, no Australia pictures yet. I'll do better once I feel better for good and am out on the road with my camera at hand as I ride. Its been a long time since I've even owned a camera so bear with me. Here's what I've been worrying about--can you see my bike box in photo below? I could and was happy as it was in cart next to the plane that took me from Sydney to Adelaide.


All for now. It will likely be about 3 days before I post again (from Port Augusta). Take care all until then and thanks for visiting.

Ready or Not

Well, everything is packed for the third or fourth time so I guess I am as ready as I am going to get. The idea of this trip and its many challenges have been daunting as it has approached (ok, down right scary at times). Today as the time nears to head down to Albuquerque to begin the first of three plane rides I feel a mix of anticipation that soon I'll be "out there" finally doing this ride; sadness at leaving Nola for three plus long months; and general unease that I may have fogotten something I need or that something will "go wrong." None of this is surprising but it does have my stomach churning.

As anyone who has done a long tour, backpack trip, etc. has experienced, packing is an exercise in repetition. My shtick (sp?) this time is that I have too much stuff. So I have made some modest efforts to leave a few things behind. Some are silly--no q-tips for me; others not--I am taking only one paperback book, not four and will buy more as I need them. I am sure everything I am taking will fit in my panniers or on my rear rack...the problem is I have no food to pack yet!

For those of you that I have not seen or talked to recently but who are checking out this blog, here is some background about this trip to bring you sort of up to speed. I am leaving today (Sunday, 11/2) from Albuquerque, NM and will fly to Los Angeles then Sydney, then Adelaide, which is on the southwest coast of Australia's eastern "lobe." I'll start riding from Adelaide probably on Thursday, basically north with about 3 days of towns and relative civilization before I enter the "red center" where towns are hundreds of miles apart. After passing Ayers Rock and Alice Springs and possibly visiting Darwin on the far north central coast, I'll eventually turn west and head down the west coast to Perth. From there its east across the south coast back to Adelaide then to Melbourne and finally Sydney. If I do the whole route I'll be pushing 8,000 miles riding. My tentative return date from Sydney is February 17 meaning I'll have to ride at least 80 miles a day to make it in time.... We'll see!

Well, time to try to add a photo to this post then hit the road. When we speak next, there will be no more miles, farenheit, or greenbacks...and we'll hopefully have a new president elect. Cheers all.