Monday, 24 August 2009
Sydney
Took the train into Sydney on a pensioner's ticket $2.50 ! Was I glad. The scenery from the carriage window was monster hills all the way to Sutherland on the southern outskirts of this huge city (same population as the whole of Queensland). Would have been slogging away all day and then not getting access to a suburban train. Also I had slept in after a night of over eating and an extra vino. From the Town Hall station in Sydney I wheeled the bike (wasn't risking getting zapped at the last minute) to the bike shop in Clarence Street near the city centre. A humourless sod of a chief mechanic only finally agreed to box it in three boxes. But it would not be ready until 3.00 pm on Wed. Tried charming Emirates Airline into giving me a 'goodwill gesture' by increasing the weight allowance but no go. A frieght company is going to send two boxes by air and I plan to take the third on the plane....when I change the booking from Brisbane to Sydney. Hopefully before the weekend. This place is so fast and frenzied, I'm looking forward to the peace and calm of Bangor. Clocked up close on 4,500 kms. Five days off and a few half days. Not exactly a world record. Anyone want to buy an almost brand new Thorn Nomad?
Adios amigos.
Adios amigos.
Sunday, 23 August 2009
Wollongong..trip over....well almost
Dipped my front wheel in the Pacific at Wollongong this afternoon...symbolic? Nearly had to leave the fully loaded Thorn on the beach as it sunk in the sand. Celebrated the end of west to east crossing of this vast country with a cup of hot chocolate and a bath in an up market room overlooking the ocean.
Off to Sydney tomorrow to get the bike boxed up unless the shop offers me a decent price for it. It worked without a hitch but we never became buddies!
Nearly got zapped several times along the Princess Highway coming into this resort town... no hard shoulders and crazy Sunday afternoon traffic. Nerves were very frazzled.
And that was after I survived the Macquarie Pass decent from the Southern Highlands- 700 metre drop over 12 kms with very hairy hairpin bends. The whole of Sydney's Hells Angel mob were racing up and down like madmen.
On the more sedate Illawarra Highway earlier( very lumpy in places) historic moment- I met my first self-support cyclist- a 69 year old from Brisbane cycling to Melbourne. As we exchanged details and took snaps, my bike fell over in the wind. That was the first time it had been on its side over 4500 kms.
Last night spent the night in a tiny room with no window in a boozer at Marulan off the Sturt Highway. Tania sends everyone her good wishes.....her dad comes from Bangor. Her other job is selling performance enhancing pills.....for horses
Before leaving Wogga bought the local paper. Hicks with his NDCC shirt made page 3. Load of contrived codswallop I dreamed up! I followed a route laid out by my 'bent' friend Pete Heal. I think he was indulging in a cruel bout of Pom bashing....pain by hard hill climbing.
Three seriously heavy duty hills slowed me up on the road to Cootamundra (birth place of Sir Donald Bradman). I thought I had time to make the next 40 kms to Harden before dark but I ran out of gas in just another 18 kms of climbing. (Terry will confirm all these hills on his Google maps !) So I was forced to wild camp on the edge of a sheep station. Bonus thrown in was a visit from a group of seven kangaroos- not close up.
The next day was close to the toughest on the trip- 90 kms to Yass. Some of the hills were so hard I had to use the lowest gear on the Rohloff 14 speed gear hub. The only way to descibe it is when you see the battery of hills towards the end of of the Tour of the Glens you say:"Oh FUCK". There were a lot of those. And then it rained harder and harder. And then I had 18 kms of the Hume Highway getting sprayed by trucks etc. It is the same as a motorway. I Felt I was breaking the law and expected to hear a police siren. To blacken my mood the manager of the motel says:"I don't you have a credit card?" Patronising sod.I had hoped Pete Heal could have popped up from Canberra but he was tied up.
The next day the weather was perfect so I ignored Mr Heal and his back roads and stuck to the Hume Highway- the main route to Sydney. Missed the turn off for Goulburn so took pot luck and ended up chatting to Tania. Anthony the chef was very nice too!
Terry....look up the Macquarie Pass on google maps.
Will try sending some last snaps when I find an internet connection that doesn't gobble up $2 coins at a rate of knots.
Mrs Hicks is quite concerned that I will arrive home before the kitchen is finished!!!!!!
Off to Sydney tomorrow to get the bike boxed up unless the shop offers me a decent price for it. It worked without a hitch but we never became buddies!
Nearly got zapped several times along the Princess Highway coming into this resort town... no hard shoulders and crazy Sunday afternoon traffic. Nerves were very frazzled.
And that was after I survived the Macquarie Pass decent from the Southern Highlands- 700 metre drop over 12 kms with very hairy hairpin bends. The whole of Sydney's Hells Angel mob were racing up and down like madmen.
On the more sedate Illawarra Highway earlier( very lumpy in places) historic moment- I met my first self-support cyclist- a 69 year old from Brisbane cycling to Melbourne. As we exchanged details and took snaps, my bike fell over in the wind. That was the first time it had been on its side over 4500 kms.
Last night spent the night in a tiny room with no window in a boozer at Marulan off the Sturt Highway. Tania sends everyone her good wishes.....her dad comes from Bangor. Her other job is selling performance enhancing pills.....for horses
Before leaving Wogga bought the local paper. Hicks with his NDCC shirt made page 3. Load of contrived codswallop I dreamed up! I followed a route laid out by my 'bent' friend Pete Heal. I think he was indulging in a cruel bout of Pom bashing....pain by hard hill climbing.
Three seriously heavy duty hills slowed me up on the road to Cootamundra (birth place of Sir Donald Bradman). I thought I had time to make the next 40 kms to Harden before dark but I ran out of gas in just another 18 kms of climbing. (Terry will confirm all these hills on his Google maps !) So I was forced to wild camp on the edge of a sheep station. Bonus thrown in was a visit from a group of seven kangaroos- not close up.
The next day was close to the toughest on the trip- 90 kms to Yass. Some of the hills were so hard I had to use the lowest gear on the Rohloff 14 speed gear hub. The only way to descibe it is when you see the battery of hills towards the end of of the Tour of the Glens you say:"Oh FUCK". There were a lot of those. And then it rained harder and harder. And then I had 18 kms of the Hume Highway getting sprayed by trucks etc. It is the same as a motorway. I Felt I was breaking the law and expected to hear a police siren. To blacken my mood the manager of the motel says:"I don't you have a credit card?" Patronising sod.I had hoped Pete Heal could have popped up from Canberra but he was tied up.
The next day the weather was perfect so I ignored Mr Heal and his back roads and stuck to the Hume Highway- the main route to Sydney. Missed the turn off for Goulburn so took pot luck and ended up chatting to Tania. Anthony the chef was very nice too!
Terry....look up the Macquarie Pass on google maps.
Will try sending some last snaps when I find an internet connection that doesn't gobble up $2 coins at a rate of knots.
Mrs Hicks is quite concerned that I will arrive home before the kitchen is finished!!!!!!
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Wagga Wagga (Wogga)
Aboriginal: wagga means crows. Plural means plenty crows. I prefer the modern meaning- "staggering like a drunken man".
Today R & R and admin. Fixing up Sydney shop to box bike and trying to get freighting ex-Sydney to NI. That's if I cannot find a buyer!
Spent lunchtime being interviewed and snapped (wearing NDCC shirt) by the Daily Advertiser. Great to see a town the size of Bangor sustain a daily newspaper. I wonder who tipped them off!! Told the reporter I'll return with a 12 bore shotgun and wipe out the whole magpie population if I come under any more aerial assaults in the morning.
Ride (99 kms) across from Narrandera ytdy woke me up to the grind of long hills. From here to the Pacific coast below Sydney there will be plenty of stiff climbs to get me over the continental dividing range. Heading for Cootamundra-Yass-Goulburn and Wollongong. At Sutherland, just outside Sydney, plan to take the train into the city centre to retain any chance of staying alive. Before you scream 'wuss' all the cyclists do this! Weather holding with fine blue skies 16 C but very chilly dawns. 0 C at night.
Today R & R and admin. Fixing up Sydney shop to box bike and trying to get freighting ex-Sydney to NI. That's if I cannot find a buyer!
Spent lunchtime being interviewed and snapped (wearing NDCC shirt) by the Daily Advertiser. Great to see a town the size of Bangor sustain a daily newspaper. I wonder who tipped them off!! Told the reporter I'll return with a 12 bore shotgun and wipe out the whole magpie population if I come under any more aerial assaults in the morning.
Ride (99 kms) across from Narrandera ytdy woke me up to the grind of long hills. From here to the Pacific coast below Sydney there will be plenty of stiff climbs to get me over the continental dividing range. Heading for Cootamundra-Yass-Goulburn and Wollongong. At Sutherland, just outside Sydney, plan to take the train into the city centre to retain any chance of staying alive. Before you scream 'wuss' all the cyclists do this! Weather holding with fine blue skies 16 C but very chilly dawns. 0 C at night.
Monday, 17 August 2009
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Hay
Have more pictures to post but cannot work the machine. Noone here to con into doing it for me. Have been only shown three times how to do it in other places!
From Robinvale on the Murray took a short hop to Balranald (81 kms) Hottest day so far..29 C on the road. Another Saturday ghost town...everyone was at the footie. Big storms were forecast for Sunday (toda). Overnight the heavens opened and the wind whipped up but everyone said the winds would blow me the 131 kms to Hay across the Hay plain. Oh yeh. At crack of dawn cycled straight into a strong ten to twelve headwind and slowed to 9 kms an hour. Felt desperate. At that rate I would never make Hay before nightfall. But slowly the road took a gradual bend in my favour and slowly it was helping me....happy days. The plain was even more desolate than the Nullarbor with not a tree in sight for 70 kms. Here they call this wind 'a lazy wind'- it cannot be bothered to go round you but goes through you. Another seven hours in the saddle. Probably take 3 days to get to Wagga (called Wogga)
Two quotes.
1. Lady in cafe back on trip asks me where I have cycled from etc."Did nobody tell you how big Australia was before you left home?"
2. Lady fruit seller at outback roadside stall." Is there an engine on that thing (bike) for when you get tired?"
From Robinvale on the Murray took a short hop to Balranald (81 kms) Hottest day so far..29 C on the road. Another Saturday ghost town...everyone was at the footie. Big storms were forecast for Sunday (toda). Overnight the heavens opened and the wind whipped up but everyone said the winds would blow me the 131 kms to Hay across the Hay plain. Oh yeh. At crack of dawn cycled straight into a strong ten to twelve headwind and slowed to 9 kms an hour. Felt desperate. At that rate I would never make Hay before nightfall. But slowly the road took a gradual bend in my favour and slowly it was helping me....happy days. The plain was even more desolate than the Nullarbor with not a tree in sight for 70 kms. Here they call this wind 'a lazy wind'- it cannot be bothered to go round you but goes through you. Another seven hours in the saddle. Probably take 3 days to get to Wagga (called Wogga)
Two quotes.
1. Lady in cafe back on trip asks me where I have cycled from etc."Did nobody tell you how big Australia was before you left home?"
2. Lady fruit seller at outback roadside stall." Is there an engine on that thing (bike) for when you get tired?"
Friday, 14 August 2009
New South Wales.....at last.
T'was ever thus. When the cat is away, the mouse comes out to play. Yes indeedy. Mrs Hicks has just signed a contract for a new kitchen at chez nous. Megabucks. It's going to be ivory. Now isn't that just dandy."Wonderful darling....yes I will stay away until the job is finished."
Am spending the night in a Murray River side cabin in a caravan park at Riverdale, Victoria....don't ask. Been to the doctor's to get a prescription for drugs to treat cracked lips and cough, Back in NSW tomorrow for the trek along the Sturt High to Wagga Wagga ( Wogga to Aussies). Only going there to send a card to a friend!!The 'bent' has planned my route thereon to Sydney....only 950 kms to go.
Weather turning hot...down to just one layer. Early spring downunder but cold front threatens to wreck Sunday. Might hold up in Balranald.
The most frightening part of the trip so far was 50 kms from Mildura I came under a fierce assault by two frenzied black and white aerial assailants. The dirty cowards came in from the rear with the sun behind. Yep...a magpie attack. They have started nesting and I was a potential threat. On each high speed swoop they pecked at my blue helmet, sending me swerving all over the place and flapping my arms stupidly. I had visions of getting peck stabbed in the back of the neck and left to bleed to death or veer off into the path of an Aussie truckie. In the end I stopped and shouted at them. They just went and sat in the nearest tree....great fun.
Am spending the night in a Murray River side cabin in a caravan park at Riverdale, Victoria....don't ask. Been to the doctor's to get a prescription for drugs to treat cracked lips and cough, Back in NSW tomorrow for the trek along the Sturt High to Wagga Wagga ( Wogga to Aussies). Only going there to send a card to a friend!!The 'bent' has planned my route thereon to Sydney....only 950 kms to go.
Weather turning hot...down to just one layer. Early spring downunder but cold front threatens to wreck Sunday. Might hold up in Balranald.
The most frightening part of the trip so far was 50 kms from Mildura I came under a fierce assault by two frenzied black and white aerial assailants. The dirty cowards came in from the rear with the sun behind. Yep...a magpie attack. They have started nesting and I was a potential threat. On each high speed swoop they pecked at my blue helmet, sending me swerving all over the place and flapping my arms stupidly. I had visions of getting peck stabbed in the back of the neck and left to bleed to death or veer off into the path of an Aussie truckie. In the end I stopped and shouted at them. They just went and sat in the nearest tree....great fun.
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
restful Renmark,SA.
Starting to have cyclo visions. Now and again I spot solo cyclists ahead or coming towards me.....but they all mirages. Am clearly going gaga. Clocked 2,000 miles and have yet to see a single self-support rider. That tells a tale !
Feel I have broken the back of the crossOz ride though still a long way to go. Going for Sydney. Gave Brisbane the chop......too far.
Arrived here in Renmark, a lovely town on the edge of the mighty Murray River, at lunchtime meaning to just have a flat white but opted to linger awhile. Tomorrow will made a bid for Mildura in New South Wales (only 146 kms) but winds may change. Weather is warming up.
From the Eyre Penninsular took ferry to Wallaroo to cut out the foul industrial Port Augusta and save 150 kms! Opted to give the vino country of Barossa Valley a miss. It was too far south for my route (backroads) and went to Auburn, the gateway to the Clare Valley and very Irish. Got a real soaking but the panniers did their job although I have no booties and jettisoned my 'social' shoes some time ago to save weight so the hotel room hair dryer got a blasting. En route went into Balaklava for a coffee, a quiet farming town. Cafe owner got all excited and asked if she could phone the local reporter of the Plains Principal !! I told her a lot of people do this ride. "But none of them stop in our small town," she retorted. No reporter available. That night beside a roaring fire sampled a coule of the best local Reislings.
From Auburn fought 30 kms of damp foggy hills to Eudunda and then a great 60 kms down to Morgan on the Murray with a fantastic tail wind. Finished at Barmera shagged out after 196 kms. have ahacking cough. Tan the local cafe boss says I should take lots of garlic and spring onions.
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Cowell (pronounced Cow...)
Survived last night in the pub with a bunch of shearers. A good deal of Pom bashing. The landlord (also a shearing contractor) sparked huge hilarity when he asked me whether I wanted my beer 'warmed' in the microwave! Most Aussies call cyclists 'pushies'. A shearer woman partner leaving the pub well tanked shouted out:"Well goodbye pushie man- you mad bastard..." Am sure Mrs Hicks would concur!!
My 'bent' friend Peter Heal (that's the recumbent supremo I met on the Nullarbor) texted me last night to say he had completed Perth to Sydney in a record 11 days 17 hours and 20 mins- a truely fantastic achievement. I phoned straight back to congratulate him. He was very modest.
Great salty Aussie quote in The Australian newspaper about Malcolm Turnbull, the Liberal opposition leader who is embroiled in the Ozcar scandal. A disaffected Liberal MP said:"Turnbull is like a prize poodle just shitting on the front lawn and the rest of us are going to have to clean it up."
Fine 117 km ride from Lock to Cowell on the Eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula today. Chilly 1 C dawn start but warmed up to 22 C. Very green farm country- sheep and more sheep- barley-wheat-canola (oil). Fields the size of Bangor. Two long grinding hills to end the day with a 9 km downhill into Cowell ready for the ferry to Wallaroo from Lucky Bay on Sunday.
My 'bent' friend Peter Heal (that's the recumbent supremo I met on the Nullarbor) texted me last night to say he had completed Perth to Sydney in a record 11 days 17 hours and 20 mins- a truely fantastic achievement. I phoned straight back to congratulate him. He was very modest.
Great salty Aussie quote in The Australian newspaper about Malcolm Turnbull, the Liberal opposition leader who is embroiled in the Ozcar scandal. A disaffected Liberal MP said:"Turnbull is like a prize poodle just shitting on the front lawn and the rest of us are going to have to clean it up."
Fine 117 km ride from Lock to Cowell on the Eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula today. Chilly 1 C dawn start but warmed up to 22 C. Very green farm country- sheep and more sheep- barley-wheat-canola (oil). Fields the size of Bangor. Two long grinding hills to end the day with a 9 km downhill into Cowell ready for the ferry to Wallaroo from Lucky Bay on Sunday.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Lock
Lousy rough bitumen B road, horrid headwinds and hills forced me to abandon riding today at Lock just 91 kms from Elliston instead of Cleve (164 kms) where I had planned to get to. I'm heading for the ferry at Lucky Bay across the Spencer gulf to cut off 200 kms of riding via Port Augusta. Today rode over part of the high sheep country of the Eyre Penninsula. Apart from the wind which slowed my average down to 16 kph it was dry, sunny and 18 C. En route I was invited into a shearing shed to watch a couple of powerful Aussie brothers (Durdin) 'crotching' sheep ready for the shearers next week. For you townies that means shearing their bums of the shitty wool! Am booked in at the Boomerang (that rings a bell). The owner is the father of the shearers. He's promised to throw in a free cooked breakfast at 6.30 am. Probably cost me a bundle at the bar.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Elliston
DAY OFF (What? Another) Going whale watching today. Great excitement. A mother and calf are in the bay at this small gem- a coastal village on the Eyre Penninsular. The pub's pretty friendly too!
Got my first 'Fair Dinkum' yesterday whan an Aussie tourist asked me how far I had cycled. High praise indeed- up the complimentary ladder from ' good on yer '.
Met a biker the other day- got chatting. He got out a camera and asked "Can I take a picture mate?. "Sure I said, no worries", and prepared to pose proudly beside my laden Thorn Nomad. "No mate, I don't want a picture of you- just the bike." !! Very humbling. I had wondereed why he was more interested in the Rohloff Speedhub than where I had cycled!
Two near perfect riding days down the coast to Streaky bay and Ellistonn before I cut inland to Lock. Windless, blue skies, little traffic, few lumpy hills but no killers. They've had a bucket of rian recently and everying is green And the farmers are still whinging about drought conditions. My landlord and his wife have just sold there sheep staion of one millions acres.....the size of Cornwall.
Got my first 'Fair Dinkum' yesterday whan an Aussie tourist asked me how far I had cycled. High praise indeed- up the complimentary ladder from ' good on yer '.
Met a biker the other day- got chatting. He got out a camera and asked "Can I take a picture mate?. "Sure I said, no worries", and prepared to pose proudly beside my laden Thorn Nomad. "No mate, I don't want a picture of you- just the bike." !! Very humbling. I had wondereed why he was more interested in the Rohloff Speedhub than where I had cycled!
Two near perfect riding days down the coast to Streaky bay and Ellistonn before I cut inland to Lock. Windless, blue skies, little traffic, few lumpy hills but no killers. They've had a bucket of rian recently and everying is green And the farmers are still whinging about drought conditions. My landlord and his wife have just sold there sheep staion of one millions acres.....the size of Cornwall.
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Oztrip
No bubbly. Celebrated with a stubbie and a luxury bed in Ceduna-South Australia last night- 10 days and 1200 kms across the Nullarbor from Norseman, Felt a little tired and emotional....literally. Could do with a reviving hands on special from Harry Adams.
Well, Peter Massey- will you allow me to take the Boomerang out of the 'draw of shame'? Ever since I aborted this trip last year (without cycling a yard) I suffered pangs of renorse. I can now sleep easy!!
After cycling through an ocean of inhospitable scrub- day after day, it was startling to ride back into 'civilisation' again- Roadhouses ( there are 11 strung along the Nullarbor) don't count. They are just a dot of fuel pumps, a limited store ( Mars bars at $3.20 ) and a motel. I wild camped 30 kms east of the South Australia border- 187 kms to the next roadhouse was outside my range. Agh.
At Mundbrilla Roadhouse ( a dump) I met staffgirl Katerina (32) a Czeck on a working holidau visa. Previously she lived for 4 years in Newtownards and remembered cycling with Ards club member James MacFarlane (55 ?) and getting pushed up the hills!
Next day a caravaner told me a 2 wheel recumbent was 20 kms behind me, We were the first 'cyclists' on the Nullarbor for several weeks. When he caught me I was gobsmacked. He was also self-support- covering a fantastic 300 kms plus a day and averaging 37kph. A minimalist carrying all his gear in one small aero style box behind his seat. Peter Heal (google him) 53- a veteran of the PBP Audax event was out to beat the self support cycle record from Perth to Sydney (4500 kms) in 14 days. He was on target for 12 days. God bless tailwinds!! A great guy. Talk about the tortoise and the hare,
The Nullarbor must be one of the friendliest places in Australia. Most drivers and even roadtrain trukies, wave, toot, flash their lights- sometimes all three. The only truckies to give me grief were on the last day- with a full blast of the horn to make you hit the dirt and wobble all over the joint. But you cannot argue with these monsters when they are crossing The Paddock- the name they give the Nullarbor.
Day for R & R today (maybe another!)Have to try to get another mobile phone- mine and the charger drowned in a flood of my emergency water supply inside a pannier! Hey ho.
Hope to get some snaps on the blog curtesy of the kind Ceduna tourist board staff.
Well, Peter Massey- will you allow me to take the Boomerang out of the 'draw of shame'? Ever since I aborted this trip last year (without cycling a yard) I suffered pangs of renorse. I can now sleep easy!!
After cycling through an ocean of inhospitable scrub- day after day, it was startling to ride back into 'civilisation' again- Roadhouses ( there are 11 strung along the Nullarbor) don't count. They are just a dot of fuel pumps, a limited store ( Mars bars at $3.20 ) and a motel. I wild camped 30 kms east of the South Australia border- 187 kms to the next roadhouse was outside my range. Agh.
At Mundbrilla Roadhouse ( a dump) I met staffgirl Katerina (32) a Czeck on a working holidau visa. Previously she lived for 4 years in Newtownards and remembered cycling with Ards club member James MacFarlane (55 ?) and getting pushed up the hills!
Next day a caravaner told me a 2 wheel recumbent was 20 kms behind me, We were the first 'cyclists' on the Nullarbor for several weeks. When he caught me I was gobsmacked. He was also self-support- covering a fantastic 300 kms plus a day and averaging 37kph. A minimalist carrying all his gear in one small aero style box behind his seat. Peter Heal (google him) 53- a veteran of the PBP Audax event was out to beat the self support cycle record from Perth to Sydney (4500 kms) in 14 days. He was on target for 12 days. God bless tailwinds!! A great guy. Talk about the tortoise and the hare,
The Nullarbor must be one of the friendliest places in Australia. Most drivers and even roadtrain trukies, wave, toot, flash their lights- sometimes all three. The only truckies to give me grief were on the last day- with a full blast of the horn to make you hit the dirt and wobble all over the joint. But you cannot argue with these monsters when they are crossing The Paddock- the name they give the Nullarbor.
Day for R & R today (maybe another!)Have to try to get another mobile phone- mine and the charger drowned in a flood of my emergency water supply inside a pannier! Hey ho.
Hope to get some snaps on the blog curtesy of the kind Ceduna tourist board staff.
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