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I cycled into Sydney on Saturday morning putting an end to the Perth-to-Sydney cycling trip. I MADE IT!

First the stats:

1. Albany : 658 Kilometres (from KD Cycles in Rockingham where I bought the computer).
2. Norseman : 1366 Kilometres
3. Ceduna : 2571 Kilometres
4. Port Augusta : 3050 Kilometres
5. Adelaide : 3385 Kilometres
6. Melbourne (possibly)
7. Sydney : 5217 Kilometres (includes about 500KM around Adelaide)

From West Wyalong to Katoomba had lots of rolling hills and a tough 1-in-8 ascent up from Lithgow to Mount Victoria. I got my second flat about 500m up the 3KM ascent so had to push the bike up that incline for about a kilometre until I found an old passing place where I could change the tyre. This was only the second time I’ve had to push the bike since Perth and soon realized it’s not that much easier pushing a 40KG bike up a 1-in-8 hill with a flat tyre than it is to cycle with it! At this point, I was on the lowest lowest granny gear moving along at a tortuous 6KPH and I couldn’t have cycled with any more incline at this point.

The Schwalbe Tyres have been utterly superb and I’ve only had two flat tyres since Perth – both in the front, and both caused by small slithers of metal from (I assume) the occasional disintegrated truck tyres that line the roads.

There’s no pictures of the Blue Mountains or the hills because for five days the weather looked like this:

Yup. After practically rupturing my heart against my Adams Apple on the Mount Victoria ascent, I was none-to-impressed either.

From Katoomba down into Sydney was exceedingly pleasant despite most of it being on the Great Western Highway and I started the day with fully inflated tyres for added effect. The road drops about 1,000 metres between Katoomba and Penrith and its fair to say I probably cycled for less than 10K of the 40KM stretch and freewheeled the rest. I spent the night at the Voyager Motel (which is the only ‘bicycle friendly’ Motel I could find this close to the City) and then cycled into Parramatta before following most of this route into the City.

Despite what I’d heard about Sydney drivers, I have to say that cycling into the City wasn’t too bad on a Saturday morning and it was even bearable in Rozelle just before the cross over into the City:

I’ve put my bike into storage in Rozelle until I find somewhere to live (easier than lugging it around the City).

The stretch from Adelaide has broken me. My left knee was really painful for a few days and still niggles now; my right knee started to hurt because I was using it to compensate for the other, I’ve pulled a shoulder muscle such that when I relax, my left arm goes numb and get pins and needles, I’ve cranked my neck which makes looking right a bit difficult, my backend feels like I’ve accidentally walked into the Blue Oyster Bar and I am coming down with a bit of a head cold / chest infection with all the time spent in the rain. I’m French Connection UK’d.

But apart from all that: I’m Tip Top!

That really does end ‘my year out’ and its been a good one; four months of hiking, three months of cycling and five months of intense coding.

Hardest Days
Four days stand out as particularly hard:

1. Border Village – to – Nullarbor Roadhouse – 190KM (118 Miles) – 40+ Kilos of luggage.
2. Nullarbor Roadhouse – to – Nundroo – 146KM (91 Miles) – 40+ Kilos of luggage – lots of hills (the biggest is right, bang in the middle!)
3. Balladonia – to – Caiguna – 180KM (116 Miles) – 40+ Kilos of luggage and censory deprivation on the 90 Mile Straight Road.
4. Port Pirie – to – Port Wakefield – 125KM – Average speed of 12KPH because of the headwinds. Painful.

Smurf Days (Hardest Climbs)
Keira Knightly is not flat chested – she’s just tall, slim and her tits are stretched out. Australian hills suffer the same indignity! Australia is NOT FLAT. Many of the days have relentless rolling hills. There were only really two tough days where I had to use my full range of gears:

1. Adelaide to Stirling via Bel Air
2. Lithgow to Mount Victoria

None are particularly tough and by the time you hit them (coming from the West) you’ll be fit enough to tackle them.

NOTE: I’ve posted my route, where I stayed and daily distances below for anyone that is interested.

One of the cool things about owning a blog is that you can see the phrases people Google for prior to clicking through and getting to your blog. I’ve written this post to try and answer some of those questions. I am no expert on this; this is my first cycle tour (and last for a while!). This is not intended to be an FAQ; it will not be updated. Please use other resources too.

There are two excellent sources of information I used to prepare for this trip: Australia Bicycle Camping Resources (scroll down to the Nullarbor section) and Nullarbor Net

For crossing the Nullarbor, there is a ‘The Nullarbor’ fold-out factsheet available from tourist information offices in Western Australia. Using it as a reference, it’s an excellent reminder every evening of how far you still have to cycle into strong headwinds!

The rest of this are just my opinions based on what I found out. I did this trip on the assumption I would stay in Motels (or Roadhouses) every night. I had camping gear, only as an emergency, but I never needed to bushcamp so this is not a bushcamping resource! Only Mundrabilla was out of accommodation and that was the only place where I had to use my tent outside of the official Tourist Parks in Western Australia.

Route
The route I took is as follows:

You can download the route file directly by clicking here.

From Perth to Norseman
Assuming you don’t want to go North via the Kimberly to get to Sydney, there’s a few ways East from Perth: via the South/South West (Busselton/Albany) or ‘straight across’ to Kalgoorlie and Norseman. The problem with the latter is that the daily distances get very long very quickly whereas going via the South West and Albany gives you a chance to get fit first. I took the latter approach. Going via Busselton and Pemberton took longer, but gave me a chance to break myself in, learn what I was missing and gather supplies along the way. Going East from Perth directly, there are no bicycle shops of any size until Adelaide whereas there is an excellent shop in Albany (see below).

By the time you get across the Nullarbor, trust me: you will be sick and tired of shrub, semi-desert and farmland! Touring via the South West of Australia gave me a chance to see some awesome forests, quaint old towns and some of the worlds best beaches in Esperance. The beaches around Woodmans Point (just South of Perth) were awesome too:

I more or less had a strong Easterly wind all the way from Ravensthorpe to Esperance and then from Norseman to Adelaide. Motivation wise, it was devastating, and I regularly found myself cycling into 100KM+ days at 12KPH because of the wind. It was cruel and hard work.

The disadvantage of going Perth-to-Sydney is that the Sun is in your face in the morning and I would tend to leave early and arrive at my destination around lunch time before it got too hot. With hindsight, it might have been better to go East-to-West (with friendly winds too!).

Weather wise, I left Perth mid-October and arrived Adelaide at the beginning of December. The weather was hot in Western Australia (28-36C), but not oppressively so, but much cooler further south in Albany and Esperance. I had about four 40C+ days on the Nullarbor but the rest of the time the heat wasn’t a problem. The wind was. Some guys coming the other way (from the East) were unfortunate enough to be caught in the ‘open’ during the November heatwave they had last year; the thermometer at the Madura Roadhouse simple stated “50C+” because it maxes out at 50C.

Daily Distances and Accommodation
I started the trip in October (Spring) and went the Perth – Denmark – Albany – Esperance – Norseman route. Although I’d been hiking for four months in Europe prior to the trip, I had done ZERO cycling for the previous four months so was essentially starting ‘cold’. With that in mind, I wanted to start out with shorter distances. Going via Nannup and Pemberton allowed me to build myself up.

I didn’t keep a detailed record of the prices so take them with a pinch of salt. They vary by season anyhow:

Date	Destination	KM’s	Accommodation
Tuesday 13th	Perth	0	Discovery Holiday Parks 186 Hale Rd Forrestfield WA 6058 (08) 9453 6677 Camping: $25.
Wednesday 14th	Woodmans Point	40	Woodman Point Holiday Park (Aspen Parks) 132 Cockburn Road Munster WA 6166 (08) 9434 1433 Camping: $25. Astounding beaches nearby (Woodmans Point, Coogee)
Thursday 15th	Rockingham	25	Palm Beach Caravan & Camping Holiday Village Fisher Street Rockingham WA 6168 (08) 9527 1515. Camping: $20. Excellent beaches. KD Cycles in town for spares.
Friday 16th	Mandurah	60	Belvedere Caravan Park 153 Mandurah Terrace Mandurah WA 6210 (08) 9535 1213 Caravan: $65. 20 minutes walk to town / marina.
Saturday 17th	Mandurah	0
Sunday 18th	Mandurah	0
Monday 19th	Australind	98	Australind Tourist Park Lot 9 Old Coast Road Australind WA 6233 (08) 9725 1206 Caravan: $40.
Tuesday 20th	Busselton	60	Kookaburra Caravan Park 66 Marine Terrace Busselton WA 6280 (08) 9752 1516 Cabin: $55. Longest jetty in Southern Hemisphere; nice beaches. Well stocked bike shop in town.
Wednesday 21st	Nannup	60	Nannup Caravan Park 4 Brockman Street Nannup WA 6275 (08) 9756 1211 Cabin: $55. This is an ‘open’ caravan park; no security at all unless you get the (single) cabin.
Thursday 22nd	Nannup	0
Friday 23rd	Pemberton	80	Pemberton Caravan Park 1 Pump Hill Road Pemberton WA 6260 (08) 9776 1300 Cabin: $70.
Saturday 24th	Northcliffe	30	Round Tu-It Caravan Eco Park 9892 Muirillup Road Northcliffe WA 6262 (08) 9776 7276 Caravan: $50. Tame Alpacias and Kangaroos everywhere.
Sunday 25th	Walpole	100	Tingle All Over YHA 60 Nockolds Street Walpole WA 6398 (08) 9840 1041 Youth Hostel Association Hostel. Great big lounge; good Internet; needed tarp for putting bike in room. Friendly, but like all YHAs tends to be closed in the afternoon; re-opened at 4:30pm-ish. Room: $40.
Monday 26th	Denmark	75	Ocean Beach Caravan Park 770 Oceanbeach Road Denmark WA 6333 (08) 9848 1105 Cabin: $75. Do not like you taking bikes into the cabins.
Tuesday 27th	Albany	55	Albany Gardens Holiday Resort 22 Wellington St Albany WA 6330 (08) 9841 4616 $55 for (the only) on-site caravan.
Wednesday 28th	Albany	0
Thursday 29th	Albany	0
Friday 30th	Albany	0
Saturday 31st	Jerramungup	178	Jerramungup Caravan Park 1 Mooreshead Road Jerramungup WA 6337 (08) 98351174 Cabin: $60. There is no accommodation between Albany and Jerramungup.
Sunday 1st	Ravensthorpe	114	Ravensthorpe Palace Motor Hotel 28 Morgan Street Ravensthorpe WA 6346 (08) 9838 1005 Room: $75. Decent meals available.
Monday 2nd	Ravensthorpe	0
Tuesday 3rd	Quagi Beach	135	Bush Camp: leave $2 in the Honour Box. Showers, toilets available but no drinking water. Quite a sandy, hilly stretch from the highway to the beach. Stokes Inlet is a better half-way house but it was closed due to crazy wildfires the year before. Munglinup (80KM from Ravensthorpe) has free camping outside of the roadhouse (6am-midnight) but no accommodation.
Wednesday 4th	Esperance	78	Esplanade Caravan Park 162 Dempster Street Esperance WA 6450 (08) 9071 2888 Cabin: $80. Outstanding beaches nearby.
Thursday 5th	Esperance	0
Friday 6th	Esperance	0
Saturday 7th	Gibson	30	Gibson Soak Hotel Norseman Highway Gibson WA 6448 (08) 9075 4020 Room: $70. Good meals available. Small store attached to hotel.
Sunday 8th	Salmon Gums	80	Salmon Gums Hotel Motel Moore St (cnr Rogers St) Salmon Gums WA 6445 (08) 9078 5040 Room: $40. Awesome pizza!
Monday 9th	Norseman	100	Norseman Railway Hotel / Motel 106 Roberts Street Norseman (08) 9039 0003 Room: $50. At the edge of town. With hindsight, not 100% sure if this is the hotel I stayed in; could not locate it on Google Earth.
Tuesday 10th	Norseman	0
Wednesday 11th	Fraser Ranger Station	104	Fraser Ranger Sheep Station (08) 9039 3273 About 100KM East of Norseman The ‘pin’ on the Google Map is not in the correct location. Station has walks nearby. Not open all year; phone ahead to check. Camping: $20. Has rooms available. Saw the most awesome thunderstorm when I was here with dozens of strikes per minute. Excellent staff.
Thursday 12th	Belladonia	87	Balladonia Roadhouse Eyre Highway Balladonia WA 6443 (08) 9039 3453 Budget Cabin: $50. Internet. Decent museum (free).
Friday 13th	Caiguna	182	Caiguna Roadhouse Eyre Highway Caiguna WA 6443 (08) 9039 3459 Room: $60. Good accommodation. To get here from Balladonia, you have to cycle the longest straight road in Australia (90 miles)
Saturday 14th	Cocklebiddy	65	Cocklebiddy Roadhouse Eyre Highway Cocklebiddy WA 6443 (08) 9039 3462 Room: $100. Internet.
Sunday 16	Madura	91	Madura Roadhouse Eyre Highway Madura WA 6443 (08) 9039 3464 Room: $80. Internet.
Monday 17th	Mundrabilla	115	Mundrabilla Roadhouse Eyre Highway (08) 9039 3465 Camping: $20.
Tuesday 18th	Eucla	68	Eucla Motel / Caravan Park Eyre Highway Eucla WA 6443 (08) 9039 3468 Budget Room: $45.
Wednesday 18th	Border Village	13	Border Village Hotel/Motel Eyre Highway (08) 9039 3474 Room: $120. Internet. Well supplied.
Thursday 19th	Border Village	0
Friday 20th	Nullarbor Roadhouse	190	Nullarbor Roadhouse Hotel Motel Eyre Highway Nullarbor SA 5690 (08) 8625 6271 Room: $120. Flights can be arranged (beforehand) at certain times of year to fly over the Bight and/or visit the Whales.
Saturday 21st	Nundroo	146	Nundroo Cabins (08) 8625 6119 Cabin: $75. There is also a Hotel / Motel / Roadhouse here.
Sunday 22nd	Penong	70	Penong Hotel Motel Main Street Penong SA 5690 (08) 8625 1050 Room: $70.
Monday 23rd	Ceduna	70	Ceduna Foreshaw Caravan Park 25 Poynton Street Ceduna SA 5690 1300 666 290 Cabin: $80. Central.
Tuesday 24th	Ceduna	0
Wednesday 25th	Ceduna	0
Thursday 26th	Ceduna	0
Friday 27th	Wirulla	95	Wirrulla Hotel 75 Hay Terrace Wirrulla SA 5661 (08) 8626 8019 Room: $40. This is a Hotel; rooms are all inside, but they let me take the bike into a room if I used my tarp.
Saturday 28th	Minippa	115	Cannot remember the hotel.
Sunday 29th	Kimba	101	Cannot remember the hotel.
Monday 30th	Iron Knob	88	Iron Knob Hotel / Motel (08) 8646 2058 Room: $40.
Tuesday 1st	Port Augusta	70	Shoreline Caravan Park Gardiner Avenue Port Augusta SA 5700 (08) 8642 2965 Cabin: $80. A bit too far to walk to town.
Wednesday 2nd	Port Augusta	0
Thursday 3rd	Port Augusta	0
Friday 4th	Port Pirie	95	Budget Motel Chain – Port Pirie
Saturday 5th	Port Wakefield	126	Budget Motel Chain – Port Wakefield
Sunday 6th	Adelaide	114	West Beach Caravan Park 1 Military Rd West Beach SA 5024

I then had five months off in Adelaide and commenced in May:

Date	Destination	Kilometres
Saturday 15th	Hahndorf	35	Hahndorf Resort 145 Main Street Hahndorf SA 5245 (08) 8388 7921 Room: $120. Way overpriced. And not a resort. 20 minutes walk from town.
Sunday 16th	Tailem Bend	85	Rivers Edge Caravan Park 216 Princes Highway Tailem Bend SA 5260 (08) 8572 3307 Caravan: $55. Nice sunset. 24hr Roadhouse Nearby. About 3KM along the highway to Lameroo (the next town) is a Subway. If cycling from the East, you will need to go left on the Old Princes Highway after White Hill and go through Murray Bridge on the Old Princes Highway. You join the Freeway on the East side of the Bridge. Although everyone in town had a different opinion on this, the Freeway Proper ends just on the East side of the bridge so it is legal to join it from the Old Princes Highway. If coming from the West (Tailem Bend), you will need to turn Right on the Old Princes Highway and go through Murray Bridge. Stay on the Old Princes Highway: it is illegal to cycle on the Freeway.
Monday 17th	Lameroo	110	Lameroo Hotel Motel (Community Hotel) Room: $75. Ask for ground floor units if cycling.
Tuesday 18th	Murrayville	69	Cant find the ground floor Motel I used.
Wednesday 19th	Ouyen	110	Budget Motel Chain – Ouyen
Thursday 20th	Tooleybuc	99	Budget Motel Chain – Tooleybuc
Friday 21st	Toolebuc	0
Saturday 22nd	Balranald	58	Budget Motel Chain – Balranald 25 minutes walk from town.
Sunday 23rd	Hay	131	I just turned up and chose the hotel. Room: $60. On approach to Hay, pass the garage and turn left at the huge roundabout. Its on your left. Local Accommodation.
Monday 24th	Hay	0
Tuesday 25th	Goolgowi	109	Goolgowi Motor Inn Goolgowi NSW 2652 (02) 6965 1138 Room: $55. This is the newest and best Motel in town.
Wednesday 26th	Rankin Springs	58	Rankins Springs Boomerang Hotel / Motel Boomerang Street Rankins Springs NSW 2669 (02) 6966 1240 Room: $75.
Thursday 27th	West Wyalong	93	Charles Sturt Motor Inn 295 Neeld Street West Wyalong NSW 2671 (02) 6972 2422 Room: $75. 20-30 minute walk from town.
Friday 28th	Grenfell	104	Grenfell Motor Inn 84 Main Street Grenfell NSW 2810 (02) 6343 1333 Room: $75.
Saturday 29th	Cowra	58	Budget Motel Chain – Cowra Ask for a Ground Floor Unit.
Sunday 30th	Blayney	68	Budget Motel Chain – Blayney
Monday 31st	Bathurst	38	Budget Motel Chain – Bathurst Does not like bikes being taken into the room; relented when I showed the tarp and offered to find another motel . They do have a lockup garage you can use though. The Explorer Hotel is about a 30 minute walk from town.
Tuesday 1st	Bathurst	0
Wednesday 2nd	Lithgow	60	Lithgow Caravan Park 58 Cooerwull Road Lithgow NSW 2790 (02) 6351 4350 Does not like bikes being taken into the cabins but they do have a garage where they will lock it for you. As it was low season, I volunteered to find other accommodation; they relented. Cabin: $80.
Thursday 3rd	Katoomba	39	Budget Motel Chain – Katoomba About 30 minutes walk from the town centre.
Friday 4th	Minchinbury	64	Voyager Motel Room: $80. Is a 30 minute walk from any shops (IGA, Pizzeria).
Saturday 5th	Rozelle	40

What to carry when crossing the Nullarbor: Water
Water is a big issue, is by far the heaviest thing you’ll have to carry and it’s free availability at the Roadhouses depends on the time of the year you go. In late spring / early summer on the Nullarbor, I was getting through at least six litres of water a day – certainly one litre per hour of cycling – so was typically carrying eight or nine litres with me and leaving fully hydrated every morning. On the longer days – Caiguna, Nullarbor Roadhouse and Nundroo – I was carrying almost 16 litres of water on the grounds I might have to camp out overnight.

In general, you should assume that water is not freely available at Roadhouses. That said, many cyclists do drink the water from the taps in the public toilets (its salty). And some of the Roadhouses will give you free bore water. Your call!

There are water tanks periodically spaced along the Nullarbor but I was advised to only use them in an emergency. For a start, they might be empty! Secondly, they might be vandalized. They were more useful in the old days – before the road was paved and cars were more prone to breakdown – and nowadays are only used in emergencies. I did not want to rely on them.

When I started cycling again from Adelaide in Winter – May – I was using about 3 litres of water for a 100KM stint and the regular towns along the way (and heavier traffic) meant I was only carrying 3-4 litres.

Obviously everyone’s needs varies but I carried enough such that I could camp out overnight if necessary and assumed (based on painful experience!) an average speed of 12KPH because of the wind. ie: 1 litre for every 12KM + 2 litres for overnight. As it happens, I never needed to camp out and never got close to running out of water.

Heat / Weather / Wind
The weather is fickle and its quite localized; often when crossing the Nullarbor the weather forecast is for the nearest town – which might be 500KM+ away! A weather forecast of 38C for Eucla saw temperates soar to over 48C and I encountered four days of over 40C but had several at 25C – it even rained on the Nullarbor Roadhouse day! Some guys coming in the other direction had three days of over 50C (the thermometer at Madura maxes out at 50C!). There is no shade, and no shelter from the wind: a strong headwind will see you crawling along at 10kph whereas a tailwind will be pushing you at 30-35kph: two guys coming the other direction to me who I met at Cocklebiddy had been doing 7kph for three hours to reach the roadhouse because the wind turned against them. Strong winds were common later in the day, but the nights were generally very still. I left early and tried to arrive by lunchtime before it got too hot and/or windy.

The Aussie sun is a law unto itself. I’ve been to some hot places – Chad, Nigera, Sudan, North Kenya – but nothing compares with the ferocity of the Aussie Sun in summer. As soon as it comes over the horizon on the Nullarbor, you start to cook.

What to carry when cycling across the Nullarbor: Drinks / Food
I left prepared for the trip – see below. The usual things are often available at roadhouses – nuts, crisps, biscuits and of course soft drinks, food and often beer. But its expensive. I would tend to eat two meals a day at the Roadhouses on top of everything else I was eating. I started from Norseman with the mindset that I had everything I needed but would top stuff up as I needed it.

Fruit is sometimes available but only if you get there a day or two after the ‘fruit truck’ passes through (which I think was Thursday). The roadhouses will not (as a general rule) give away free water: some cyclists manage to get it (depends on the time of year you go and whether they’ve had a good winter) so you might end up having to use their camping facilities just to get water. Or, you might be able to make do with the salty water from the taps in the public toilets (many cyclists do: your call). Or, they might give you bore water. As I stayed in the motels or campsites everynight, I never had to deal with this issue.

All of the roadhouses have a ‘campsite’ of sorts often containing powered / unpowered sites (most ‘sensible’ people cross the Nullarbor with a caravan!). The one at Mundrabilla was basic; the one at Eucla was very decent. All of the roadhouses have accommodation but its a closed market: anything from $90-$120 for a room is the norm. Book ahead in busy times. The rooms were immaculate and I didn’t mind paying the extra for them.

The food at the roadhouses is generally greasy, high calorie fair containing schnitzels, burgers and all kinds of artery clogging goodness. A cyclist can ask for nothing better! The bigger ones (Eucla, Border Village, Balladonia, Nullarbor Roadhouse) have a much wider menu containing pasta etc.

This is not an exhaustive packing list. These are the additional things I took with me from Norseman to last across the Nullarbor:

1. Nestle Milk Powder. Milk is not always available at the roadhouses.
2. Powerade Powder Mix (buy ASAP on the trip: I got the last one at Norseman). Add a few spoonfulls to water to get a Powerade drink (you can also buy Gatorade or Staminade mix). I think it was $12 for what turned out to be scores of drinks and it lasts for months; on the Nullarbor, you can pay $3-$5 for a single sports drink.
3. IGA Dried Fruit Mix (or any fruit mix): seeds, nuts, raisons, sultanas, apricots. I bought 4+ kilos of this stuff in Norseman and used this as part of my daily nutrition eating 50-100g every 90-120 minutes. I could not buy this on the Nullarbor.
4. Muesli: I took 3 kilos of muesli with me. I could not buy this on the Nullarbor.
5. Biscuits/snacks/chocolate bars: there’s only so much you can carry and the roadhouses sell this stuff. ANZAC biscuits kick ass.
6. Oat Slabs: I’m not sure who makes them, but its possible to buy 100g ‘slabs’ of Coconut or Oats and they make an excellent snack.
7. Lots of empty bottles: for the longer stages – which might require two days in a strong wind – I figured I might need 16+ litres of water so had collected all my empty bottles prior to this point. I calculated my water on 1 hour = 1 litre at 12KPH (based on headwinds I had faced) + 2 litres for an overnight (cooking pasta etc).

Bike
Mechanical wise, for my bike I obviously had a puncture repair kit, two spare tubes, a spare tyre and spare spokes [rear + front] + spoke wrench and all the stuff you acquire over the years when you own a bike. I also took a cassette changer, chain splitter and so forth. Thanks to having owned a bike from Halfords for several years in the UK, I knew how to fix a bike! I heard stories of a guy in Balladonia (the first roadhouse coming from the West) whose back wheel had collapsed; to mail in a replacement on a guaranteed delivery was going to cost him $1200 because of the location; he hitched back to Kalgoorlie to pick it up there. Based on the blogs I’ve read, spoke breakages are a common problem on the Nullarbor because of all the extra weight; its for this reason I paid $$$+ for hand built rear wheels and bullet proof rims. Well worth the money!

My bike was a Thorn eXp from Thorn Cycles in the UK equipped with all kinds of Shimano XTR Erotica. Seriously over engineered for this trip! The 2.0″ Schwalbe Marathon Tyres were a ‘bit too much tyre’ for the Australian Roads but I am prepared to put up with rolling resistance if I dont get many flats; I only got two, and both caused by small slithers of metal from (I think) the distintegrated truck tyres that line the road. The bike handled like a dream and the only adjustments I had to make over the entire 5,000+KM trip was one quarter turn of the adjuster to tighten the rear gear shifter. Outstanding engineering!

Nutrition
Cycle Touring is far, far harder than any hiking I’ve ever done and I found myself running out of energy regularly at the start. When trekking (my usual masochistic passtime), hunger comes on slowly. When cycling, hunger appears from nowhere! I had never cycle toured before and it took me about a month – until I got to Albany/Esperance – before I was comfortable with the routine. Once I had this nailed, I found it so much easier to cycle for 6+ hours a day, day in and day out. I can’t believe how much food I was putting by!

Breakfast: About 100-150g of Muesli in the morning + a banana + an oat slab (or something equivalent)
Cycling: After 50KM, and every 90-120 minutes thereafter, I would eat 75-100g of mixed nuts (seeds etc.), a banana, an oat slab and/or a chocolate bar. Everyone is different, but as this was my first tour, I’m glad I went via Albany/Esperance because it gave me a chance to work this out. Once I got into a good nutrition routine, it was easy to cycle 100KM per day, day in and day out.
Every lunch + evening: an enormous burger and/or schnitzel and/or pasta.
Generally: One or two chocolate bars every day (always available at roadhouses)

Side Trips
There’s lots of side trips along the way on the Nullarbor but they are anything from 5 to 30KM off the main highway. After a long days cycling, that was too much for me so I tended to go right through. Also, some of the roads for the side trips are 4WD only.

My biggest regret was arriving too late for the whales to be seen on the Great Australian Bight. Just East of the Nullarbor Roadhouse on a decent road, this is one side trip I would have made.

The only ‘trips’ I made were to see the huge cliffs on the Border Village – to – Nullarbor Roadhouse days. Although closed off ‘for safety reasons’, it’s worth horsing your bike over the dirt barriers and going there anyway. They were one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the trip:

Other Stuff
Some of the roadhouses – phone them – will hold parcels (food/spares) for you if you want to ship them ahead of time.

I had spare spokes + a spoke wrench but am grateful I never had to use them. Heaven knows what kind of elliptoid masterpiece I’d have engineered! I had a new bike, but even then had it given a ‘once over’ at KD Cycles in Rockingham to make sure everything was set up correctly. Apart from two punctures (both in the front) I suffered *ZERO* mechanical faults.

The fact is, the Nullarbor is busy and regularly people would stop and ask if I wanted anything: water, food or a lift (so tempting!). It’s a daunting distance but you’re not on your own and you are not going to die out here – bar ending up as roadkill. The Nullarbor is to Kangaroos what the Magadan ‘Road of Bones’ was to Russians! At the roadhouses, I think I collected no fewer than four addresses and contact information for people who offered me a place to stay when I got to the other side (all Melbourne or Canberra! Are people friendlier there?!).

The truck drivers are generally courteous but its best to get out of the way if two are passing you at the same time or climbing a hill (or descending one!). Asshole drivers with big trailers who forget their backend is bigger than their car were my closest calls. Believe it or not, with a roaring headwind, I could not hear anything approach from behind – even trucks – except when on a hill.

On my trip across, drivers coming the same direction as me told me there were 3-to-4 cyclists behind me, about a day or two apart. If you stayed in Norseman for a few days, and asked around at the accommodation places, you could easily find someone to do this stretch with. But to be honest: it was very tiring and I wanted to do it at my own pace. I don’t think I’d like to tour with anyone!

Many of the Roadhouses now have Internet access. Certainly Balladonia, Cocklebiddy, Madura and Border Village had working Internet.

Other Bits
There’s a few things I bought I would not want to be without:

1. 2 Compression Straps.
2. Washing line (incase anything broke)
3. A tarp. Purchased for $2 in Perth, I used this (and the compression straps) to lash everything down on the back of the bike; I could use it with the washing line to create shade and/or keep off the rain; it was handy to cover the bike at the campsites when it rained and it acted as an ‘under’ when I took the bike into Motel rooms (pretty much all of the Motels were OK with me taking the bike into the room providing it didn’t leak oil).

I bought compression straps from general outdoor stores. The popularity of caravaning in Australia made it easy to find a tarp.

Bike Supplies
Perth is obviously well stocked with bicycle spares but Albany is the last stop with a fully stocked bicycle shop that I visited. Esperance has a bicycle shop too, but I never needed to visit it.

KD Cycles – 9 Kent Street – Rockingham – (08) 9529 1655
Rainbow Cycles – www.rainbowcycles.com.au - 154 Albany Hwy, Albany – (08) 9841 6844

Internet Access & Telephones
Internet access in the small towns in Western Australia is generally through the ‘Telecentres’ – these are local, council-run places and they often close at 4:00pm or earlier (and tend not to open at the weekend). Speed was generally good and WiFi was sometimes available for my laptop. Most of the caravan parks and some of the hotels had WiFi Internet access and many of them supply pre-paid cards; others require you to buy time with your credit card.

Once you get to NSW, practically all of the motels have WiFi and some of them – such as Explorers Motel in Bathurst – give you free, unlimited access.

Generally, Internet access was easy to find, at least every 2-3 days.

All Roadhouses on the Nullarbor have a public telephone and I was often surprised to find Telstra Public Payphones in the most remote of places! I had zero coverage with my old-style mobile phone between Norseman and Ceduna; but apparently 3G has better coverage.

Getting there!

Less than 500KM’s and still 10 days to go… WoO! But I’m still on the ‘wrong side’ of the Blue Mountains and I’ve a lot of cycling still ahead of me. Infact, the hills have only just started again but the headwinds have returned with a passion. Incase you’re seeing a recurring theme in my blog: yes. A cyclists life is dictated by the direction of the wind! What should be a reasonably long and tiring 100KM day with about five leisurely hours of cycling becomes a devastatingly long and tiring 100KM day with a headwind – and I’ve barely suppressed memories of these days taking up to 10 hours (7 or 8 is normal). These days hurt.

Apart from Balranald to Goolgowi, along much of this route from Adelaide there have been towns just off the highway every three-to-four hours. When the main highways were put in, they tended to bypass the towns and now BP Petrol Stations on the new Highways stocking all kinds of stuff tend to satisfy the whims of passing motorists. As a result, a lot of the towns are struggling due to a lack of passing trade; there are lots of boarded up shops; but they do their best to remain welcoming and they’re worth nipping into for half an hour for some rest or to restock with food. Pretty much all of them have a campsite and toilet facilities (and often showers) that are immaculately clean. Pinaroo is one such example:

I ended up having another day of rest at Tooleybuc and again at Hay. My left knee has been niggling me since I left Adelaide, but it threw a right strop about two hours before Tooleybuc. Off the bike I couldn’t lift it; not ideal for a cyclist! It’s healing but the knee is still niggling and I’m worried I’m setting aside problems for a later date with my right side by compensating. If it becomes too painful, I will bail out, but after all this effort I really want to finish this trip now.

The hardest days on this stretch so far have been the 136KM (85 Miles) from Balranald to Hay and from Hay to Goolgowi at 109KM (68 Miles). I knew two days of headwinds were forecast but had to push on anyway. Never again, regardless of how many days I need to wait, am I going to deliberately cycle for 85 miles into a strong headwind. This competes with the Mundrabilla and Port Pirie to Port Wakefield days as one of the lowest points on the trip. The obvious problem is that there is no shelter from the wind and it was full on in-my-face:

The wind wasn’t too strong (25-35kph) and you hardly notice winds like that when you’re standing still. But try cycling directly into it! Naomi all loaded up is not exactly aerodynamic and as soon as you stop peddling: the bike stops almost immediately. The road was flat: there were no hills, no time for recovery, and no freewheeling. Every truck coming in the opposite direction serves up a blast of wind that knocks you back to a standing start. It’s just relentless cycling over the same relentless terrain towards a featureless horizon. Its hard work and remaining motivated is even harder.

At least the weather was good on this day though: the day after – from Hay to Goolgowi – had howling headwinds and torrential downpours. The water obviously runs off the road when it hits, but the torrents of water created on the road surface by the downpour were well above the rims on my bike giving you some idea of how bad it was. Apparently, and many are happy about this on the news, New South Wales is having one of its best (‘wettest’) autumns in two decades. Well: isn’t that just Fg wonderful!

Someone asked me what it was like cycling into a headwind all day. It’s like this: go to an exercise bike in the gym and start cycling at 24kph without any resistance. Now increase the resistance until you are doing around 16kph but still trying to cycle at 24kph. Increase the resistance by one more notch.

Then cycle for 136KM like that.

That’ll be pretty close.

This post is dedicated to Head Winds but that’s because there’s little else to write about. The trip is coming to an end, the scenery is the same as it always has been and there are few photo opportunies. The deadline means I have little time to look around the places I’m visiting: arrive, eat, sleep, go…!

Tomorrow is the longest day left on the trip (to Glenfell at 109KM). After that, it’s a leisurely 60-70KM per day in time for the Big Climbs as I’m approaching the Blue Mountains. I’ll probably take a day or two off in Bathurst or Katoomba before finishing up in the City a week on Sunday. L8r!