 |
 |
|
 |
It had to happen sooner or later. Almost 12,000 km without a problem (well, except for that snapped tandem hitch back in
Geraldton, but that was Kev's fault). You may think a problem like this would slow us down
or have us crying into our Bart Simpson cordial, but not us. Find out how we solved the problem, and still put in a full
day's ride... right after this.
|
|
|
|
|
|
all's welded that
ends welded...
First of all, three cheers for Penninger Recumbents. Three quarters of the way around Australia without a single, er, hitch
(we're actually on our second hitch now). We've put these bikes through more crap than a latex glove at a
proctologist's office, and they just keep giving and giving and giving. They're awesome!
v v v s h a m e l e s s p l u g v v v
Gosh, if I were to cycle around a continent, Penninger would definitely be the brand I ride! Check out
www.penninger.com to buy your own right now!
^ ^ ^ s h a m e l e s s p l u g ^ ^ ^
At any rate, nothing lasts forever, and our unbroken streak had to end sometime. Luckily, the problem was tiny enough to be
temporarily mended with the handyman's best friend, duct tape. Also, just as luckily, the snap happened on a welded joint,
rather than an actual metal fatigue fracture (as we've heard about in numerous other cycling travelogues). Even more
luckily, we were only 10km out of Whyalla, the root'n'est toot'n'est downhome steeltown this side of Port Augusta. Surely
we'd be able to find a welder!
But first, to the mall. We hadn't seen a town in almost 100km, a city in almost 300 (for those of you who
just tuned in, that was sarcasm. those distances are ridiculously small for Australia) and needed to restock. At the mall,
we met a gentleman with a slightly less interesting bike than ours but still a far cry more interesting than the general
populace. As it turns out... Rob's dad is a welder!
See that guy welding? That's not Rob's dad. Rob's dad (hereafter cited as Reg) had the gear for an acetylene weld, but he said
that would have just shredded the aluminum seat (good thing he knows). He took us over to Paul McRitchie's place,
who had an oxy welder. BUZZ! CRACKLE! POP! SPSSSHH! Good as new. He even painted it black again.
And just like that, we were on our way. Paul even gave us an autographed poster of some super fancy race car to remember him
by. For all we knew about racing, we'd just had our bikes fixed by the pit boss of the hot rod champion of Bathurst! No wonder
he was so fast!
Just shows you, sometimes it's okay to talk to strangers!
|
|
|
|
these are the people in our neighbourhood...
Colleen
How weird is this: Two weeks ago we ask a random farmhouse for a place to stay, and we
meet Brian and Rosalie. This week, we reach Cowell, and meet Rosalie's mum! Holy Frickin' Frack!
|
Hannah, Skye, Alex & Phyllis
Just another bunch of roadside kids! But, unlike some who give us water and fruit, they gave us what we
really wanted: KFC and jam rolls! And the chicken was still warm!
|
Terese, Maddy & Kye
Every now and then you meet a mom who seems like a really great mom and some kids who seem like really great kids. Today was
such a day. Terese would love to cycle around Oz, but Maddy wasn't so keen on it.
|
Rob
Besides riding a vintage bicycle and having a dad who's a welder, Rob's an interesting sort. He may be dressed like a freedom
fighter, but don't let that fool you. He's only been arrested a couple of times.
|
Reg & Gladdys
Rob's parents. Gladdys made us a great cuppa, while Reg buffetted us with stories of his days as an outback truckie back in
the days of yore. Dirt roads back then, and you were better off carrying a gun. Eep!
|
Paul McRitchie
That's the man with the oxy welder. Got a problem with your bike or hot rod? Ask Paul. Say what you want about Whyalla, but
we found it the most convenient, friendly and helpful steeltown ever!
|
|
|
|
|
 |
what the hell is this?
Two contests in two weeks, you lucky dogs!
We spotted this gadget in the supermarket in Cowell.
What do you think it does?
Eric Grant knows, but you'll have to find out on Week 66.
|
|
|
|
|
|
wally's amazin' facts!
Heck, if your first question last week was "Who's Pete Best and replaced from where?" then you've already lost.
Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr! That's right, Pete Best was the original drummer for The Beatles, back when
they were still called "The Clarences". Did you know that I once dated a gal named Eleanor Rigby? She loved my hair back in the day. Said I looked
just like Mr. Spock.
This Week's Amazin' Fact: About 400km northwest of Port Augusta on the Stuart Highway is a little town called Coober
Pedy. What makes Coober Pedy so unique is that everyone lives underground! It's an opal mining town out in the Red Centre, where it's always super hot, so all of the houses are dug into the
ground! It may be 45 degrees outside, but in the caves it's always a cool 25. Not only that, but miners can get from work to home without going outside! Just pop your head out of the trapdoor
in the floor and say "Honey, what's for dinner?"
Coober Pedy is an aboriginal word. Guess what it means! I'll tell you next week. Until then, remember,
all you need is love!
Don't forget to look for Wally this week!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Distance this week: 274km | Distance since Day 1: 11875km |
|
|
|
|
 |
What is Bikeabout? Click here to find out!
|
 |
|
|
|
Day 293: Where the name has no street
|  |
38.0km
|  |
18°
|  |
7.5h
|  |
1.0L
|  |
Gale Force Headwinds
|  |
Bernie & Ben's, Pt Augusta
|
|
 welcome back, cotter!
The Eyre Peninsula is just full of amazingly nice people. Bernie and Ben Smith are a prime example of this. We'd met their
friend Martin in Port Lincoln, and, through Martin, they'd contacted us to say that when we cycled through Port Augusta,
we'd be able to stay at their house.
They thought we'd be there soon, but as we've all learned by now, this quincycle is unable to speed through South Australia. We ended up planning our arrival for school holidays, and they're teachers.
Otherwise nice (but not amazingly nice) people would have said that it was "too bad we'd missed them and stiff bikkies for
us." Not Bernie and Ben. If you can believe it, they told us where they hid the key, how to get to their house, and to help ourselves to anything in the house. Wow!
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start with this morning. It was pure, unadulterated, crap.
This morning ranks as one of the all-time crap mornings. Last night we'd cycled well into the dark so that we'd be able
to get close enough to Port Augusta to be able to do a nice, easy cycle in the morning. Unfortunately, Kev made the
mistake of saying, as we tucked ourselves in, that "wouldn't it be funny if we had a headwind."
As every cyclist knows, this is the equivilent of waving a red flag at a bull.
Not only was the wind directly against us no matter how many right angles we turned, but there was a duststorm
that completely concealed Post Augusta and covered us and our lungs in grit (this was the same duststorm that closed down the Adelaide airport). Add to this enough traffic to choke on and the final mileage was a grand 36 kilometres in seven hours. I'll let you do the math on that one.
Ahh, but arriving in town was not the end of the fun. Remember Bernie and Ben, the nice people who said we could stay in
their house? Well, they'd given us directions, but as usual, I'd stuffed them up. This resulted in us not being able to
find Cotter St. We looked in the street directory - no Cotter St. We asked the locals - no Cotter St.
It got fuzzier when even the Post Office denied that Cotter Street even existed. They'd never heard of it. This is the Post Office! The only people who know the streets better than the pizza man! After an hour of asking and riding around, Kevin
spotted the street out of the corner of his eye! Bingo! We'd found Cotter St.! Guess where it was? Only two streets
away from the Post Office. Bloody postmen.
"Oh, this must be Aimee's Notion of the Week. Quick, show her a shiny object."
- Kevin.
|
|
cobble-co:
(v.) fix something with the inferior tools at hand. "Cobble Co." was a horse & cart delivery
company. When one broke down in the outback, the driver fixed it any way he could. Like MacGyver.
objects in motion
lunch money
don't you eat here?
mall rats
tell a book by it's cover
home alone
