June 24, 2015
Ceduna and beyond: And you thought it was boring before
The Nullarbor wasn’t ready to let me go easily. Another strong headwind greeted me on the morning of the 24th of June, a headwind that only grew more intense and more angry the closer that I got to my finish line of Ceduna. I should not have been so surprised, but I battled on into it regardless, because Ceduna was a proper town, with a supermarket, and I couldn’t wait to get there. Yes, my excessive food stores had just about carried me the whole way from Norseman, with my bike gradually shrinking in size and getting lighter as I went, but I’d eaten all the good stuff first, and for the last day and a half I’d been surviving on handfuls of honey-puffed-wheat. Just before the town I came to a fruit-fly check-point where all fresh fruits and vegetables had to be declared and confiscated. Rolling up to the stop line a man came out to ask if I had any such items on me. I shook my head: “I haven’t seen any fresh food for about a week mate.”
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The bright lights of Ceduna were a shock to the system, but the headwind had slowed my progress to such an extent that there was no time left in the day to linger. I rushed around the supermarket filling my basket like an excited child, then quickly checked my emails at the library, realised that there was nothing I could do about them, and then cycled on out of town to camp. I’d conquered the Nullarbor, headwind and kangaroos and all. I’d even come in a bit ahead of schedule, completing the 1,200 kilometres in nine days. It had been a memorable experience, particularly the night riding. Cycling all alone in the outback, with no one around for miles, under all those stars, was an experience I’d remember for a long time. Especially the bit where I got clobbered by the kangaroo.
If I’d thought that reaching Ceduna would bring about a return to civilization (and I did), then I was wrong. The next day I found myself cycling on an even emptier road, through land that, even though it had a bit of wheat agriculture on it, was every bit as unpopulated as the Nullarbor had been. Reaching the next town of Wirrula was the only thing that kept me focused against the tedium of yet more boring cycling. For hours I looked forward to reaching it as the day dragged on. Then, as I drew close, I saw signs saying ‘Welcome to Wirrula – the town with a secret’ and I got even more excited about what that secret might be. But then I finally arrived at Wirrula and I found out that the secret was that there was nobody there. It was a tiny little hamlet consisting of a few houses, a pub, and a row of large wheat grain silos. The only street was empty. I wandered into the pub. Nobody there. Not a soul in sight. Just a row of empty stools pulled up at the bar. I wandered back out into the empty street. I guess I’d just have to keep going to the next town of Wudinna. Maybe there’d be somebody there. And it was only another 120 kilometres.
That night a mouse was trying to gain access to my tent. It kept scratching against the sides and waking me up, and I knew it wouldn’t leave me alone once it had got a smell of my cookies, despite all my best animal impressions. I tried pretending to be a cat, but after a brief retreat it soon returned, so then I tried barking at it like a dog, but this had no effect. My cow impression just seemed to encourage it, and there was nothing else for it, but to get up before it could gnaw a hole, and just start cycling at two in the morning. At least there were no kangaroos around now that I was back in wheat country, and traffic was non-existent.
My early start also meant that I had made the trek to Wudinna by midday, and I could spend the afternoon in the information centre taking advantage of the free wifi to quash the fears of my friends and family that I had disappeared forever into the outback as well as to order a surprising number of new bike parts. Other than that nothing at all happened on the 26th and, whilst this uninteresting cycling might be starting to drag on a little bit, particularly as this movie has now been running for almost two years, I feel I must please urge you to stick with me. The Gold Coast will, I promise, be the final scene and before then there remains one very dramatic plot twist, worthy of any Hollywood blockbuster (two if you include the bit with the octogenarian doing terrifying things with an angle grinder.)
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24/06/15 – 85km
25/06/15 – 116km
26/06/15 – 114km
Distance completed: 2333km
Distance to go: 1477km
Days to go: 12.5
Average distance required: 118.2km/day
Today's ride: 315 km (196 miles)
Total: 43,214 km (26,836 miles)
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