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They said it couldn't be done, but we DONE IT! And look at Kevin! He's happy as a... as a... um... hmm. Happy as something, anyway.
The Nullarbor is officially in our wake. Nothing can stop us now! Except
maybe the Great Ocean Road. And the Blue Mountains. Possibly city traffic. Melbourne weather? Drop bears? Eep! Guess
we're not out of the woods yet!
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goodbye nullarbor road...
To all of you motorists around the country who said the Nullarbor was boring... PAH! To a cyclist, who already knows
he's not going to make it across in a single day, there's HEAPS to see and do! Have a burger
at a roadhouse! Have a toasted egg sandwich at a roadhouse! Have a cellophane pie at a roadhouse! There's no end to
the excitement. Count 'em: Eleven major stops! Here's what you need to know about each...
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Km 193: Balladonia
Balladonia reminded us of how much we hate roadhouses. They seemed nice enough, and had a
fine outback museum, but $2 for hot water is a little steep.
Features: Museum, Skylab
In a word: Touristy!
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Km 374: Caiguna
Great welcome at the end of the 90-Mile Straight. Passing cars said they weren't very nice,
but we didn't have any problems. Don't ask for water, though.
Features: Blowhole, Time Zone
In a word: Humdrum!
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Km 440: Cocklebiddy
Your classic, forget-what-it-looks-like-the-second-you-leave roadhouse. I think we were here
for ten minutes. Cute pictures of roadkill on the door.
Features: Old Magazines
In a word: Forgettable!
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Km 532: Madura
Ruined a good downhill, but worth the stop to get clothes dry and watch Winnie the Pooh.
Hint for future cyclists: The dryer will run indefinitely on one token.
Features: Can Opener, Anonymity
In a word: Hidden!
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Km 648: Mundrabilla
Great breakfast: Pick six items for $12. Trust me, this is a bargain! Not only that,
they even filled our water bottles with hot water! For free! And they smile!
Features: Aliens, Guestbook
In a word: Friendly!
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Km 714: Eucla
They had our package! Isn't it ironic that the only Post Restante package we've ever successfully
received was in a location with no Post Restante? Curious.
Features: Telegraph Stn, Whale
In a word: Busy!
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Km 726: WA/SA Border Village
There's no better welcome to South Australia than a ruder-than-rude publican. Thanks a lot,
jackass. Good customer service is no substitute for parallel beer coolies.
Features: Free Fruit at Q
In a word: Rude!
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Km 912: Nullarbor Roadhouse
Wow, can these folks talk. Get them started and you'd better be prepared to stay the night for
a good feed and a few beers. In fact, that's exactly what we did!
Features: Dingoes, Gary
In a word: Relaxing!
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Km 1006: Yalata
The friendliest welcome ever! Also, a huge collection of Aboriginal artwork
by the community. According to Sarah, they also make a mean bowl of pasta.
Features: Art, Whale Info
In a word: Stopworthy!
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Km 1056: Nundroo
As with most roadhouses, it's the people that make the difference. We began our stay at
Nundroo in front of the fire and ended it jammin' wit da locals. Word!
Features: Arcade Games, Videos
In a word: Modern!
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Km 1136: Penong
Penong is actually a 'town' that consisted of a pub, general store, petrol station, and a
laundromat. If you're coming from the west, it's practically a metropolis. The petrol
station makes a burger to die for at a great price.
Features: More than one building
In a word: Cheap!
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Smokin':
Name: Gary
Origin: UK
Reading: Basics of Buddhism
Start: Perth
KM/day: 90-100
Intended End: Sydney
Probable End: Adelaide
Previous Trip:
South America
Opinion: Wouldn't recommend it by bike.
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meet gary the pommy cyclist
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Believe it or not, we actually CAUGHT UP TO SOMEBODY. No joke! Gary is taking his time riding from
Perth to Sydney, stopping everywhere and meeting everybody. As a result, at every stop someone asked
us, "Have you met Gary yet?" In Ceduna, we finally did...
So how is the trip going? I've made it this far, so it must be
going pretty well. I've just spend three days here in Ceduna and I spotted you on my way out of town.
I've heard about you.
We've heard about you too. How's the wheel? Don't talk to me about the
wheel. $800 for a wheel and it breaks out in Nundroo. I sat there for days waiting for the replacement
to come in. Bloody hell.
We arrived at Nundroo the evening after you left. The gang at Nullarbor told
us about you too. Yeah, I'm on holiday, not a speed trial, so I decided that if I liked
a place I'd stick around. I checked the windsock every morning, hoping for a tailwind. Stayed there
for three nights waiting.
By the way, Sarah told us to say hi. Sarah? You ran into her too? What
did she say about me?
Nothing, just to say hi to you. You're sure she didn't say anything
about me?
Not that I recall. Just hi. Okay, good I guess.
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these are the people in our neighbourhood...
Barb
Three nights at Barb's holiday house (just up the street from Barb's regular house) was more than enough for us to get
rested up for the next leg of the trip. If you're ever in Ceduna and need a place to stay, call into Barb's! Book it direct
and save 10%! Call her at 8625 2471!
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Don
Don just got home from a very interesting job... he was working on the radiation cleanup crew up in Maralinga, Central South Australia.
About 20 years ago, the Yanks were testing nukes in the Aussie Outback. And Don got to clean up their mess! Neat!
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Bindi
Barb's hyper pup loved to run! Run and run and run and run and run. And he loved people. But, for some reason, whenever
I took out the camera, he yelped and ran away. Must be under Witness Protection.
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CK
Barb's even more hyper dog was so hyper, he had to be kept in the other room. Otherwise he would have gotten out and went
FREAKY! He still managed to sniff our presense.
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wally's amazin' facts!
The Right Whale was called the Right Whale by whalers, because by all hunting standards, it was the right whale to
hunt. It had a good blubber content, and unlike some other whales, it floats after being harpooned. I
guess if you hooked the wrong whale you'd have to hurry before it dragged your boat to the bottom! Har dee har!
This Week's Amazin' Fact: As you know, we've arrived in South Australia. Despite the rain we've been getting
pretty much every day, did you know that South Australia is the driest state in Australia? If that doesn't knock your
wet socks off, it's the driest state in the second driest continent in the world! Somebody get this
wombat a drink!
The area we're in down here has some really old convict houses and early settlers' dwellings. One thing I
can't figure out is: why are the windows on these early buildings so skinny? Maybe I'll have the answer for you next week. Toodles!
Don't forget to look for Wally this week!
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 super big thanks, erin!
Here's a letter we just got someone called Erin!
Aimee & Kevin,
Just read about your journey across the US and was sucked into the Australia trip. Wouldn't you know,
I was searching the web for a high resolution photo of the "world's largest ball of twine" and came across
your travels.
In any case, I don't want you to starve on your next leg. Rationing tuna? Not acceptable! And it's just
plain wrong that there's a food boss at all. So hopefully, my paypal contribution will be enough to fire
the boss. Well, at least, lay him off for a day or two!
Happy trails!
With it, she donated $100 to our adventure, and that paid for all the accommodation this week! Wowser Yowser!
Hey! You can donate too! Buy us something nice!
giftshop.beimers.com!
Get yourself something too!
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| Distance this week: 53km | Distance since Day 1: 11111km |
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What is Bikeabout? Click here to find out!
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Day 261: No more tuna! We're in Ceduna!
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13.0km
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16°
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2.0h
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0L
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Short Morning Ride
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A1 Cabins, Ceduna
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 where did the time go?
Well, that went by in a big blur.
The Nullarbor wasn't nearly as bad as
people make it out to be. Or maybe it's a case of tempered expectations... you know, like when you walk into a movie that
everyone and their neighbour has told you is magnificent, and you know that it will never live up to the hype. In the case
of the Nullarbor, so many people warned us about the huge expanse of nothingness, that we made the mistake of bringing
along enough "activities" to keep us from getting bored. Our main weapon of choice was the Time Police Series, sent over
from Canada, thanks to our enterprising pal, Danny Nawrocki!
By the time we'd read the first one over again (you have to get into the mood for Time Police, you know), we were
already at the Border Village! We were just able to sneak through the second in the trilogy, (Time Police: Trapped!), when lo
and behold, we were in Ceduna! Were we too, just like Jackson, victims of time? Where were we? When were we? What were
we? And why does it smell like ammonia and oranges around here?
Anyway, it's over. The self-labelled biggest hump of the trip, done just like that (snap!). I feel like Chris on Christmas
morning, opening all of his presents in ten minutes, then saying, "That was it? Sigh."
"You and that fish could be second cousins!"
- Aimee.
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Day 262: Champagne Wishes & Stir-Fry Roo Dreams
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0.0km
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14°
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Ceduna
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 shaken, not stirred
Time for that bottle of bubbly that we've carried 1,200 kilometres! It tastes even better knowing that we've got real
food to go with it. If you choose to call honey sesame stirfry kangaroo real food.
Here's to another
chunk of this continent
conquered!
Kevin: "The room came to $81 for three nights, but she only charged us $80!"
Aimee: "Awesome! That pays for the butter!"
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a final roadhouse rant...
First off, no offence to the Balladonia roadhouse. In fact, everyone who told us about the stops along the way told
us that Balladonia was rather nice. And it probably was. But, for the sake of this rant, it had the unfortunate
circumstance of being geographically first. First of a long line of roadhouses. Sorry guys.
Anyhoo, as soon as we hit Balladonia, we were struck with the realization that we despise the roadhouse experience. Sure,
roadhouses are nothing new to us, but with the luscious break we'd had in civilization, we were able to push them
into the dark recesses of our memories. It's similiar to childbirth... you have to wait for your memory to fade
before you give it another go. It's only once you're in the delivery room that you recall the anguish of the last
time you put yourself in that situation. So says my sister, anyway.
Balladonia was our delivery room. We should have been thrilled at making our first milestone of the trip, but instead, we
were smacked in the face by roadhouse reality and feeling left out of what appeared to be a buying frenzy of reheated pizza
and seven-dollar Pringles. Of course, it was all beyond our budget (on this segment of the trip, so is milk). All we could
do was wonder how people could possibly spend three dollars on a can of Coke and four bucks on a muffin. Basically, there
wasn't much for us to do except stand around twiddling our thumbs for a few minutes and then get back on the bikes to
leave, depressed and frustrated.
The difference between roadhouses on the Kimberley and the Nullarbor is that in the former case, we depended upon them
for survival. We used a roadhouse stop to have a full day out of the sun and rest a bit. Here, there was no such excuse,
which probably added to our frustrations. There's nothing like cycling
for three days to get somewhere and leaving it after a three minute toilet break. That's like driving to Toronto, taking
a pee in the Tim Hortons and turning around again. You'd begin to wonder what you came for, wouldn't you?
But, our hate-hate relationship with the Roadhouse is over now. Penong was officially the last one on this entire
expedition. That's almost as big of an accomplishment as crossing the Nullarbor.
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melting moments:
(n.) shortbread cookies. On no less than two occasions, Aimee offered someone a shortbread cookie, and they said,
"Ooh, melting moments!" And, while we're on the subject of baking...
smack!
home for the holidays
the perfect excuse
time share
to eyre or not to eyre
