Julie and I were supposed to be hiking the 5,000km Continental Divide Trail in the US in 2020, but COVID-19 derailed that plan. Instead, we will have an adventure in Australia, circumnavigating the country on our bikes, a distance of about 16,500km taking approximately five and a half months. We will use minor roads where possible and occasionally catch ferries across rivers and inlets to avoid busier inland routes. We will camp some of the time and stay in motels, hotels, etc, at others. There will be stretches of up to five days with no accommodation or resupply available, so we will need to be self-sufficient.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 056 - Pine Creek to Cooinda

Day:  056

Date: Wednesday, 26 August 2020

Start:  Pine Creek

Finish:  Cooinda (Kakadu National Park)

Daily Kilometres:  167 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  5826

Weather:  Hot, sunny and windy

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Peanut butter on Ryvita

  Lunch:  Jelly beans/Peanut butter on Ryvita

  Dinner:  Chicken roll, lasagne, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant, but both exhausted

Highlight:  The first 60km, riding into rising sun through the waking bush along the very quiet Kakadu Highway (five vehicles in three hours) was very special.   When we finish this trip, our fondest memories will be of the early morning riding in the bush.

Lowlight:  It's tough to choose between the wind, the flies, and the closed roadhouse.

  1.  After breakfast, it was one of those days where when the road veered left we cheered, and when it veered right we cursed.  The hot wind was strong and there were places where it felt like we were fighting for every inch.

  2.  Whenever we took a break, or our cycling pace slowed, flies descended on us, getting in our faces, eyes and ears, despite the insect repellent we were using.  Julie resorted to her headnet on our breaks.

  3.  Our plan for the day was to ride the 60km from Pine Creek to the Mary River Roadhouse, the only place to resupply during the day, have breakfast there, and buy lunch and drinks to take with us.  Alas, it was closed indefinitely, presumably a casualty of the pandemic downturn.  We did manage to get some water, though, and are carrying enough extra food to survive such disappointments.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

It was to be a long day's ride so we rose early and left Pine Creek in darkness at 5:45am, soon joining the Kakadu Highway and intent on riding the first 60km to the Mary River Roadhouse without a break.  The riding was beautiful along the winding and undulating road with an increasing number of rocky outcrops scattered through the forest bathed in the orange light of the rising sun, and the occasional buffalo grazing in the woodland (see above).

Sadly, when we got to the Roadhouse, it was closed (see above).  We stopped on a picnic table out the front and I walked into the caravan park, which was still open, though sparsely used, to get four litres of water to add to the four we were already carrying.  I was stopped by the caretaker on the way out, but he was happy for us to take the water.  We only had about 105km to go, which we thought we could accomplish with two breaks, so this seemed like plenty of fluids, but as it turned out, Julie used all of hers and I only had 600mls left by the time we reached Cooinda at the end of the day.

Soon after leaving the Roadhouse, we entered the famed Kakadu National Park, and encountered our first granny-gear climb for some time.  It didn't go on for too long, but the wind had become quite nasty by the time we reached the top, and stayed that way for the rest of the day.   We made a short gravel road detour from the road to the Bukbukluk Lookout which gave views over the tree-carpeted park to the west, north and east, with low hills and rocky escarpments in the distance.  The forest has a tropical feel to it with tall palm-like trees mingled among the more usual forest trees and small tree-ferns on the forest floor (I apologise for my extremely poor botanical knowledge).

After the lookout, though the forest and road remained very interesting, we were in survival mode, battling the wind, heat and hills, barely able to get off our bikes when we stopped for our two breaks.  We were going through our fluids fast, and our conversations were monosyllabic. We were both done.

Nevertheless, we persevered and eventually reached Cooinda, a main tourist centre in Kakadu just after 4pm.  We checked in, buying some cold drinks and ice-creams at the same time, which we inhaled at a picnic bench to help our recuperation before we went to find a tent site and set up camp.  After showers, we found some microwaveable food in the store and ate at another picnic table in the campground.  Then it was off to bed and more recuperation.

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1 comment:

  1. John nuttallAugust 27, 2020 at 8:21 AM

    I've just completed a ride from Townsville to Katherine and the headnet was my most important bit of gear. Wore it most afternoons.

    ReplyDelete

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