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.