Day 132: Nundroo to Penong

October 6, 2022

IStart: 9:45am
Distance: 83km
Ride time: 3:38hours
Average: 23km/hr
Max: 43km/hr
Finish: 2:35pm

Yesterday I had pitched my tent in the back corner of the park. There was no one near me and the park was pretty quiet too. It made it easy for me to sleep in.

While packing up, I saw Geoff in the park. He had done a big day yesterday and caught up to me.

I had a fabulous tailwind today.

I must be nearing civilisation, as this is the first time I've seen powerlines on the Nullarbor since Norseman.

Today's big thing is a grain harvester I think.

This massive mining road train has 4 trailers and 94 tyres. Commonly known as 'quads.'

I used to think the trucks must have bigger engines than the regular road trains as I could hear them coming from 1km away. I was later informed their engines are no bigger, they just have different gearing.

It is transporting ore from the world's largest zircon mine. Another one of Australia's mammoth operations.

He is walking from Sydney to Perth to raise money to plant 1 million trees for Landcare. You can see his web page here. Or Insta.

He was a friendly and enthusiastic fellow and we chatted for a long time. I could have spoken to him for an hour or more.

We spoke about food, water, tyres and flats. I was pleased to hear he has been the recipient of kindness from others, giving him water or food.

I gave him some jerky (he'd never tasted it before), 2 apples, and 1.5ltrs of water.

It felt like we were old friends before we kept going on our own adventures.

There has also been march flies the last few days. They bite really hard but aren't itchy like mozzie bites.

As I got closer to Penong, the wind turned into a big crosswind.

The EJ is one year older than the best Holden, an EH.

Penong has one of the biggest windmills in Australia at 35ft.

Next to the windmill was a swing pump. I swung it and it worked.

Penong is a tiny town. It has a primary school, pub, several houses, and a general store/post office. I had a coffee at the general store to warm up during a small rain shower.

I saw a truck carrying two headers. They are Claas 1230 Convios.

I spoke to the nice truck driver Warren, who didn't want his pic taken. He said they are worth about $150,000 each. His truck is worth $500,000 and the trailer $100,000.

He said the farmers out here only get to harvest about 1 in 4 crops as the weather is so unpredictable. He also said the transport costs for the grain and fertiliser is great making it hard for the farmers to make a profit.

Then I went to the caravan park which is 500m from the highway. This is a nice park and has good water that was offered free to fill up caravan tanks etc.

This is unique on the Nullarbor and I enquired why. I was informed that the water comes 900kms from the Murray River. It stops 10kms from the town and the caravan park has a private pipeline that connects to it. Very impressive.

They gave me a superb sheltered campsite for $20.

Today's ride: 83 km (52 miles)
Total: 7,790 km (4,838 miles)

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