Archive for the ‘Australia’ Category

Day 423. 82km. 30km from Katherine – King River Rest Area

Posted: August 8, 2016 in Australia, Cycling
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And there she stood, the Chinese girl dressed in her pink nightie and high heels on the side of the road next to the camping area. She followed us after changing her attire, and watched in fascination as we set up our tents. We took a shower (improvised using a drink bottle) in front of her for a bit of titulating amusement. ☺

Our Chinese friend

Our Chinese friend

Today was a day of meeting interesting people.
We crossed a solitary Japanese cyclist with minimal luggage. We had just completed a shopping spree for food for ten days, and our panniers were very very full. He just had two small back panniers and that was it. I don’t know how people like him do it.
We met a very friendly park ranger at Cutta Cutta caves who helped us out with food, water and information as we had a rest in the air-conditioning.

The park ranger

The park ranger

The Katherine hot springs were surprisingly nice. Lovely warm water flowing over rocks into a string of pools. It was perfect for removing 3 days of accumulated dust and dirt.

Katherine hot springs

Katherine hot springs

And then there was the road – straight and onward through the wooded dry landscape. Not many kilometres, though – we spent too much time shopping and relaxing in the hot springs.

Stuart Highway

Stuart Highway

And we slept next to Ned Kelly (aka Tony Abbott).

Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly

Day 422. 119km. Hayes Creek – 30km from Katherine

Posted: August 7, 2016 in Australia, Cycling
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Cycling down the long, endless road, I was wrenched from my podcast by a toot. This was not a car – it was from above. A helicopter was flying above us. The toot could only have been for us. We were the only ones there. Outback cycling in Australia.

The Stuart Highway

The Stuart Highway

Today was cycling into the wind from resthouse to resthouse – between 30 and 50km apart. We ended up in a hidden little camping area and got chatting to a French couple. They’ve been travelling around Australia and New Zealand for several years, and had lots of stories to tell. They told of the road ahead. It is long, with a lot of nothing. I am looking forward to it.. ☺

Day 421. 135km. McMinns Lagoon – Hayes Creek

Posted: August 6, 2016 in Australia, Cycling
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His friend came up from Adelaide. It’s cold there. She said she will keep on driving north until the butter melts. Many people are heading north. For us, the weather is cooler, but for those coming from the Adelaide winter, it’s hot. And, yes, the butter melted.

The butter melts

The butter melts

We sat in front of their caravan, towed by the Nissan Patrol – our first ‘grey nomads’. They’d come all the way from Perth, through Adelaide, and were heading north to Darwin. They gave us water, and then some more, as we talked and talked. The time flew by. The plight of the aboriginals was a big topic. It is true, the ones we have seen are in a bad way. History has left this people drunk at the bottom of society, and there seems no way up.

The road was straight and mostly flat and we made good speed until a slight wind picked up. We are camping in a little river bed next to a camping ground and pub. It was lovely cooking outside, and watching the stars. The outback is beautiful.

A long way to go

A long way to go

Day 420. 37km. Darwin – McMinns Lagoon

Posted: July 22, 2016 in Australia, Cycling
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Clement and I followed the Stuart Highway to my school-friend Bec’s house 30km out of Darwin. We experienced a string of firsts on this, the next very different leg of the adventure. The new orchestra of birds – familiar for me, new and exotic for Clement. The ‘fuck-off you wanker!’ abuse that cyclists get dished out all the time from motorists in Australia. Clement’s introduction to Aussie Rules football as we kick a footy around the back yard. And an amazing dinner with food we haven’t seen for so, so long.

Is there a resemblance here? :-)

Is there a resemblance here? 🙂

Bec and I spent the late evening looking through our old school magazines, spotting us and our class-mates – the girls with their frizzy hairdos and the boys with their haystack ones – so popular in the 80s. It’s been almost 30 years. Ouch!

It was great to see Dad again, who came up from Adelaide to meet me. When I see him again I will really be in the home stretch – in the last kilometres before Adelaide. The end is nigh, and I am excited and scared at the same time.

Dili – Darwin. About 400km by sea

Posted: July 21, 2016 in Australia, Timor Leste
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I sit on the quay in Darwin, my father at my side, taking in the surroundings – the bird calls, the trees, the clear blue skies. The Australian accents, toilet block building with a drinking fountain, the utes with the Australian number plates, the Northern Territory flag. We have only sailed 400km and it is so, so different. I can feel the desert lurking beyond the horizon as the heat of the day mounts, and I feel a welling up of emotion. I have come all this way to be here, through so many places, meeting so many people, and now I am here. I am home.

The crew of the Sue Sea

The crew of the Sue Sea

Dozens of dolphins jumped around as – playing with us – as the boat passed through the calm waters. Amazing sunsets and sunrises were presented before us on the open seas – alone in this beautiful place with only sea and sky. As the sky turned from blue through oranges and pink to black, the full moon rose and lit the seas with a shimmering beam, all through the night. We threw-up as the boat was pummelled by the violent ocean, and then returned to health and to a rhythm of cook, eat, sleep.

Sunrise on the Timor Sea

Sunrise on the Timor Sea

We have had a real sailing adventure. Thank-you to the crew of the Sue Sea who let us (Clement and myself, together with Romain – a backpacker from France) on board to take the boat back from Dili to Australia after taking part in the Darwin to Dili yacht rally. From the second we met them in Dili, they have welcomed us onboard and to their sailing family, and found a way to transport us, our luggage and our bikes on the 15m yacht.
The bikes, after the most thorough clean they have ever had (for Australian quarantine), were disassembled and stowed in with the sails at the very front of the boat. A little bit wet and jossled, they arrived safe and sound on Australian soil – all the way from Europe without a flight on a plane.

Igor, Gus, Betsy, Fons, Michael and the rest of the sailing family we met in Dili – you are legends!

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