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Getting across the Nullabor has dictated the trip pace since I started because if I did too much lolling around and sightseeing in Western Australia, the Nullabor would get super hot and I’d have to cycle across sections of it at night. So arriving in Ceduna is a major relief! I can slow down a bit now. But 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
5. Adelaide
6. Melbourne (possibly)
7. Sydney

Two days were had at Border Village, not one. The weather forecast for the day I was going to leave for the Nullabor Roadhouse was over 40 degrees (someone coming the other way told me it hit 47). With north and north westerly winds added for good measure. If you look at a map of Australia, you’ll see desert above the Nullabor and the northerly winds breath down on you like an open oven door. There’s no other way to describe it. Your water bottles get hot, the water doesn’t cool you down anymore, the wind seems to be as hot as the sun and there’s just no escaping it on a treeless plain. Cycling in it really is hell on earth. But fortunately, afterwards, three days of more pleasant weather were forecast so I waited the extra day and then went for it…

Every brochure, every TV program, every documentary and nearly every cyclist that goes across the Nullabor takes this picture. So I will too:

The route to the Nullabor Roadhouse runs near the coast for most of the way. There are six official viewing points where you can look at the cliffs as they rise 40-70 metres out of the ocean. The best viewing point (where I took this photo) was closed off but I think it’s fair to say I will not be cycling this stretch again so I clambered over the barriers and went to the viewing point anyway. This line of cliffs stretches for hundreds of miles and its one of the coolest sights I’ve ever seen:

It felt like the ends of the earth. The edge of the world.

Today was excruciatingly long at 190K (118.75 miles – a new daily record!) and the whole stretch took nearly 12 hours to complete (9 of them in the saddle). When I arrived at the roadhouse, a trifle tired it has to be said, the only way I was capable of communicating was with grunts, groans and handwaving which must have been successful because I ended up with a room. Fortunately, the skies were generally overcast today, the wind was a side wind and the whole day went as well as could be expected. Although nearly everyone refers to the Nullabor as everything between Norseman and Ceduna, the official “treeless plain” is much, much shorter and begins just before the Nullabor Roadhouse:

The next day to Nundroo was another peevingly long and difficult day at 146K. I got my first flat tyre, courtesy of a shred of metal, about 20KM past Nullabor Roadhouse just as the hills were starting. Hills? I wasn’t expecting hills! Today turned out to be the hilliest stretch of any on the trip and instead of just giving me a few bumps, it was 120K of relentless up and down. I “hit the wall” suddenly about 25K from Nundroo and had to stop for an hour whilst I devoured 1500 calories worth of food to get me to the roadhouse. This would have been a difficult day on its own, but after the previous long day this turned into the hardest day of the trip. To add insult to injury, I left on each of these days with 16 litres of water incase I needed to bushcamp (I didn’t), pushing my luggage weight to well over 40 kilos. My thighs were on fire. Graham will not forget these two days!

Nor will Graham repeat them.

I’ve a few days in Ceduna where I intend to do very little indeed before pushing on to Port Augusta. L8r!

FINALLY! After 2080KM, I entered South Australia and am now more or less half way across:

I won’t bore you with a day-by-day account of the trip for these last few days. Oh, hang on. I will!

From Caiguna to Cocklebiddy (65K): A straight forward, flat day that was turning uncomfortably hot as I arrived at the roadhouse at 8:30am. Yes, uncomfortably hot at 8:30am. Distances like this almost constitute a day off on the Nullabor!

Later on in the evening, two guys rode in coming from the other direction. They are cycling across the Nullabor to raise money for a friend who was left a quadriplegic after an accident. They are putting in 150K a day on average and arrived in Cocklebiddy after a super strong headwind had them doing 7K an hour for a few hours. Oh, how I sympathise now!

What got my attention was they were cycling with high-spec Carbon Fibre bikes and pulling Bob Trailers. Having never toured before, I bought all the gear so I could carry the stuff on the bike with panniers but I had a million questions about the Bob that they answered (despite being knackered). So thankyou guys and good luck! I’ll have to try one some day to see what I prefer. The obvious benefit of pulling a Bob is that there’s less weight on the back of the bike and therefore less chance of a snapping spoke. This sounds like one of the main reasons David Briggs (cycling from Alaska to Argentina) has opted for the Bob this time.

Hmmmm. Cycling from Alaska to Argentina. Now THAT sounds like a cool idea…!

To Madura (91K): The wind the guys had the night before had done a U-Turn and now it was my turn to face a headwind. Exhausting to say the least, but it did keep the day cool (and fortunately it was also overcast). I can live with headwinds like this if the temperature stays below 90F. You can feel a slight incline for a lot of the day but you can’t quite see it. Just 2K outside of the roadhouse you get a view from Madura Pass:

Poor photo of the Roe Plains. Once you descend here, you cycle with the Tablelands on your left until you get to Eucla (180K)

Sorry for the bad picture, my mind was on the gallons of ice cold Sunkist and Coke awaiting me at the roadhouse fridge. It’s worth pointing out that this was my first free-wheeling descent for a whole, glorious 2K since Norseman, 600K away.

Mundrabilla (115K). I had not been looking forward to today. The week before, Madura had had three days of over 50 Degrees Celsius and I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve only experienced heat like that once (at Lake Lokipi) and I certainly never want to experience it cycling!!!

The day started superbly and I had 30K out of the way in 70 minutes. Then it all went south. The sky cleared, the head wind started and it just didn’t stop. As the day went on, it got hotter, the headwind got stronger, and the average speed on my cycling computer kept dropping. I had to fight for every kilometre today and it was bloody hard work. Today took a lot out of me.

On the way to Mundrabilla are some trees full of… stuff. One is full of shoes. Another is full of household stuff (and something that looks like a Guy Fawkes). By adding something to the tree, you guarantee yourself a safe journey (or so the legend goes!):

There’s only 10 rooms at this roadhouse and they were all taken. I’m never too bothered about this because it’s good for the budget, but pitching my tent in the (now fierce) winds was something I could have done without today.

Eucla (65K): A straight forward day that took just over three hours to complete. I was racing the headwind today and I think I won: it got strong just after I arrived, then died away into nothingness for the afternoon. Eucla sits on the Hampton Tablelands (Madura Pass is also over the Hampton Tablelands). For 180K from Madura, you cycle with these on your left and then ascend to Eucla at the last moment. They aren’t very high but because the land is so flat you can see for miles. And miles. And miles:

The Hampton Tablelands will be prime, sea-front property when the ice caps melt…! It was nice though to see my first Sydney sign though!

Border Village (13K). Yes. A day off! After 720K in 7 days of cycling from Norseman without a rest, I’m tired and I need a day off. I guess part of it is also anxiety about what is to come: the so called Nullabor National Park. It’s 186K between here and the next roadhouse and the temperatures are soaring. And there’s headwinds. I’m in for a few bad days. On a more pleasant note, there’s an International Signpost here incase you’re interesting in knowing how far London is:

Lots of Australian towns and roadhouses seem to have a Big Something and as you can see, at this place, it’s the Kangaroo.

So that’s my last post about Western Australia! Apologies for lack of decent photos. once I get to Ceduna I’ll be by the beach again, the cycling days will be shorter, and I’ll be motivated to take some shots. At the moment, if I’m not cycling, I’m recovering from cycling. Also considering changing my route slightly and going South to Port Lincoln before I go to Port Augusta. We’ll see. Next update from Ceduna!

On cycling out of Norseman on your way to start the crossing to Ceduna, there is no shying away from what is about to come:

The day was straight forward and more or less what I’m used to by now: a road. With bush. And trees. On each side. For 100KM.

Fascinating.

The Fraser Ranger Sheep Station was my destination today and it’s conveniently located halfway between Norseman and Balladonia. I was making good time, and after a stop 80K outside of Norseman in a shaded picnic area I decided to push on to the Ranger station which was only another 25K away.

But after an hour in I just had to stop by the side of the road. The heat had gone from being pleasantly hot to daft. The water in my water bottles felt hot and drinking it did nothing to quench my thirst or cool me down. Stationed under a tree trying to cool down, two Patrol guys I’d passed earlier who zip up and down the highway filling potholes asked if I’d like my water bottle filled up with ice-cold water on this 39-degree day? Hell yes!

So now I knew what a 39-degree day felt like. More to the point, I also knew what cycling in a 39-degree day felt like. I had buckled almost all of a sudden, I guess when the air temperate exceeded my body temperature. Sounds obvious, but at least I know now!

After loitering under the tree for an hour, I set off to do the last 5K. On arrival, I was not surprised to find the temperature had soared to 42 Degrees Celsius (107.6F) and it stayed like that until about 4:30. I downed ice cold Sunkist and Coke like it was going out of fashion. That means nothing to anyone else, but it’s a moment I will *NEVER* forget!

Then it was onto the first roadhouse, Balladonia. There’s an interesting museum here attached to the shop (it’s free) documenting the pioneers and how they managed to conquer this dry and arid land (they haven’t won yet: it’s an ongoing battle). Years ago, a part of Nasa’s Skylab Satellite fell out of the sky near here and made the area famous. Aussies being Aussies fined the United States $400 for littering. Cool!

Then there’s the Nullabor Nymph:

The next stretch to Caiguna was the first big day of the crossing at 182KM. I cycled out of Balladonia at 5:15am with 15 litres of water on my bike, well aware that I would have to bushcamp halfway between the two roadhouses. As soon as I cycled out of Balladonia, up the first hill with all that extra weight, the only thing that went through my mind was: “bugger”.

Today had the potential to be the worst day so far because it included the longest stretch of straight road in Australia:

Yes. For 90 miles (146.6KM) there are no bends in the road. No hills to speak of. Only occasional shade. If you get a headwind on a day like today, you’re stuck with it. If you get high heat on a day like today, you’re stuck with it and no matter how slow and or how fast you turn those peddles, you’re going to have a very bad day!

Move along people, there is nothing to see here.
No, really. There is Absolutely. NOTHING. At all. To see. Here!

As it happened, the day was glorious for cycling this stretch. It was overcast, the sun didn’t come out, there was a weak cool headwind and it even tried to rain! By 11:00 I was 110K in and so I just kept going. Even through the middle of the day the temperate can’t have hit 90F and the going was easy. The miles flew by, but by the time I got down to 20KM I can only assume the Architect started messing with the Matrix because time seemed to slow down. As I limped into Caiguna, I saw the first bend in the road for 90 miles and knew The Long Stretch was done:

And that completes my second 100 miler and sets a new daily distance record for me! (182KM/113.75 Miles). Cycling time was just over 8 hours.

I’m about one third of the way across to Ceduna now. More l8r!

And the second stage is done. WOO!

1. Albany : 658 Kilometres (from KD Cycles in Rockingham where I bought the computer).
2. Norseman : 1366 Kilometres
3. Ceduna
4. Port Augusta
5. Adelaide
6. Melbourne (possibly)
7. Sydney

The scenery on the way here was outstanding and fascinating. Outstanding and fascinating, that is, if you like roads with trees and bush on each side:

Somewhere on this route a Google Streetview car passed me. Glancing at the Dalek-looking monstrosity as it rolled passed, eyes full of sunblock and sweat in the middle of the day, barely able to focus, it definitely caught me at my finest hour. I think it was somewhere between Salmon Gums and Grassy Patch where it passed me… I’ll have to hunt for the shot when I get cheap WiFi.

It ended up taking me three days to get here instead of two. When I left on Saturday I felt run down so I stopped for the day at Gibson Soak Hotel about 30K outside of Esperance. Then it was another two days of easy cycling to get to Norseman. After the three days of hills and headwinds last week, take away the hills and take away the head winds and you fly, baby! (say like Austin Powers for added effect). From Salmon Gums to Norseman yesterday was a 100K day and I managed to get 50K out of the way in the first two hours. Despite resting for an hour en-route, the whole day took just over five hours which is definitely a record for me.

Legend has it that the town is named after a horse – Norseman – that kicked up a gold nugget spawning the gold rush. Legend or not, they’ve built a statue in its honour:

As a mining town in years gone by, camel trains would lug things in and out (hence the metal camel statues):

They went by the wayside when the railway line was installed. Speaking of camels, by far the worlds most aesthetically pleasing animal, there’s about a million of them roaming free in Australia and the Government is considering a cull. They have adapted to the terrain so well and as they have no predators all they do is spend their entire lives eating and breeding. A worked camel in Australia will live 40 or 50 years, but a wild one will die of obesity at around the age of 25!

I didn’t realize how hot the day had become until I stopped cycling at Norseman. It’s hot and very humid. The weather forecast for Eucla (about mid-way to Ceduna) has a few 37/38 degree days in the next week before it cools off again. And the wind direction? Generally against me.

Bollocks.

For those who like to play Golf, Norseman has two golf holes that are part of the Worlds Largest Golf Course. Spreading from Kalgoorlie across the Nullabor into South Australia, you can get a stamp every time you play one of the holes and a certificate if you play them all.

I doubt I’ll get any Internet access between here and Ceduna so it might be a while before I post any more exciting road-lined-with-trees pictures.