August 6, 2024 to August 8, 2024
Cycle days 77 & 78 - Border Village RH to BC 10km west of Nullabor RH
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Cycle day 77 – Border Village RH to BC 100km east of Border Village RH = 100km. 6145km cycle toured so far on this trip.
Another cold night but not below zero – it was 2.4 degrees and a clear night. We thought that being under these trees there might be less dew but the foliage was a little too sparse and we had lots of condensation from our breathing! Had a nice outlook for brekky as we faced the sunrise, it is a shame there wasn't any clouds to accentuate the pretty colours. Todays high is around 20 degrees with a northerly wind at 15km per hour.
We thought that the clocks on our tablets and phones would transfer over when we connect to the internet but it hasn't as it is pinging of a tower back in Eucla which is in WA. So we are going to assume that as we get to Nullabor RH (184km away) that once we switch on the mobile internet there all our clocks will change. So we are having to calculate the actual SA time using the WA time zone that we have got! SA is 1 hour 30 mins ahead of WA. Neil has manually changed his phone to SA time so we can set the alarm to get up early.
We were on the road at around 8am as we got up at 6.30am SA time. Not bad timing really! It was quiet on the road and straight away you are in the Nullabor Wilderness Protection Area or the treeless plain!
The road swings south east for about 12km to the coast line and to a lookout that has stunning views – unfortunately it is early in the morning and any photograph taken eastwards would not show greatly but looking back westwards towards WA it offers a lovely outlook.
And from here you can see there isn't a tree to be seen and if there is one it is more likely to be an oversized shrub the height of a basketball player! As you can see from the photo below – Neil is the tallest living thing around for kilometers!
Traffic is light again like yesterday (no cops! Although one did pass us on within the first 12km, maybe the same one as yesterday checking up on us as they came from the WA direction. Not that they have jurisdiction as we are in SA!) We have no shoulder and the road lanes are narrower than what was in WA. What trucks overtook us today we are now finding they are slowing down for us (we can hear their gears changing) as we get of the road or as they move into the next lane. Probably because the road is narrower and with us as far left as we can go without falling of the verge of the road the trucks are being more cautious.
Getting of the road when we have to is a little precarious as the gravel is very loose and it is easy for the loaded bike to skid in it and we can come a cropper so we like to get of early if we can so we can get of slower rather than at speed.
This road will follow the coastline for most of the way to Nullabor RH but it will swing up inland to the roadhouse in the last 50 odd kilometers.
Sometimes as you are riding along you can see it and then sometimes you can't. Not alot of wildlife to be seen. We can hear lots of small birds and sometimes we can see them flying from bush to bush chirping away. But no big birds at all. There are signs to watch out for wildlife.
Since I have to walk about a 150m off the road just to get some privacy to go for a pee, on my way I can see there are what I think might be wombat scratchings but nothing else.
We decided that the cross winds we have today we might be able to do 100km and we will decide at the 80km mark. At 80km we felt ok, a little weary but Neil thought the road went close to the coast at the 85km mark, that came and went and no coast so I said maybe it is the green marker at 84km, well that was no where to be seen and should coincide with our 100km mark but we could see that the coast was not in sight so we decided that this was a good spot – the only gum tree/shrub around for a few kilometres
We are not far from the road but they can see the bikes. It is close to 4pm SA time, late but we noticed yesterday that it won't get dark until around 6.15pm so we have plenty of time and we also noticed that it doesn't get bitterly cold at 3pm like it did on the first week of being on the Nullabor.
Dinner tonight was a freeze dried meal – wild mushrooms and lamb risotto with parmesan cheese. It doesn't look great but again it was a delicious meal. One of our favourites so far.
Tomorrow we will be either just before Nullabor RH or just after pending how we feel. We think we will have a northerly cross wind again but blowing a little stronger than what it was today.
CYCLE DAY 78 - BC 100km east of Border Village RH to BC 10km west of Nullabor RH = 77km. 6222km cycle toured so far on this trip.
5 degrees this morning but felt alot colder than that as the wind was already up before us and made it feel alot colder than what it was.
The wind blew for most of the night so the tent was not wet. We set the alarm for 6am SA time and it was dark while eating brekky and fortunately for us a whole heap off traffic went through while we were eating and packing up that by the time we got on the road at about 7.45am there was no traffic!
We came to a scenic lookout and decided to go down to have a look. It is a lookout looking eastwards at the cliffs and it is a shame it is so early in the morning as the camera is looking in the sun direction but it certainly is impressive looking in real life.
We jumped back on the road and there was a little bit more traffic than what there was the past 2 days. We have a cross wind to start that is blowing about 20km per hour so it is ridable. But eventually the road swings north east and it becomes a cross headwind that by mid morning was blowing quite strong consistently at around 25km per hour. We knuckled down and maintained a nice easy cadence around 15-16km per hour without putting too much strain on ourselves.
The road comes away from the coast line and you can see that even the salt bush is struggling to grow around here and that there is not much. And even less shrubs to hide behind and what is growing is only about knee high! As the day progresses we realise that our bush camp tonight is really going to be out in the open and we are looking, looking, looking!
Until finally we see a patch about 100m of the road and with the added bonus of down a dirt road so Neil goes to investigate and waves me down if it is suitable
By now the wind is absolutely blowing and everything has to be anchored down or something has to be used to weight it down. None of this 'male Jones' habit of taking things out and just putting it down as it will blow away (and I say a 'male Jones' habit because we all know that both Neil and his father Ray like to open up a bag, take something out and just sit it down and then wind just picks it up and blows it away, then we see them running to pick it up, bring it back, put it back down and put something on it so it won't blow away again, then they go back in the bag take something else out and put it down and then what do you know the wind comes and blows it away and again they are running to pick it up ... and the cycle just goes on and on!!!) LOL
Anyway we had bottles on our chairs, table and anything that would blow away and if it wasn't going to be used it wasn't bought out, even our clothing had to be pegged to the bike!
We had a wash and yes we are becoming very European in our washes and just strip down and we don't care who sees, obviously no one as there weren't any crashes or toots on the horns!
After our cupps we werejust enjoying the sun and from right, jumping over and picking its way through the salt bushes came a Dingo. I went to go get the camera and then thought nah, I will just sit here and enjoy watching to see what it does. It joins the road and heads away from us and then I loose sight of it so I grabbed my camera and began walking down the road and it is about 100m ahead of me moving from side to side. I stop and zoom in on the camera, I can't quite see if I am getting him/her as the wind is so strong that it is blowing me and the camera about. But I could see that he/she did turn around to look at me. I think I am too big a prey for him/her to have a go at me!
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Then we see the cyclist that we had heard was behind us.
As you can see he travels very lightly! Most probably what we call a credit card cycle tourer - stays in room accomodation, buys all their meals and does double what we do in a day!
Tomorrow is a long day to Yalata Caravan park - over 100km but the wind is suppose to be blowing from the west so it will be a tailwind for us!
Today's ride: 177 km (110 miles)
Total: 6,222 km (3,864 miles)
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