Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 071 - Renner Springs to Tennant Creek

Day:  071

Date: Thursday, 10 September 2020

Start:  Renner Springs

Finish:  Tennant Creek

Daily Kilometres:  160 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  7334

Weather:  Hot, sunny and windy

Accommodation:  Cabin

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Trail mix, cheese & tomato sandwich

  Lunch:  Toasted ham, cheese & tomato sandwich/Toasted chicken, cheese & tomato sandwich

  Dinner:  Pizza, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  In hot conditions in mid-morning, the same young Irish guy who stopped and gave us ice cold drinks yesterday, once again stopped and gave us ice cold drinks.  This time he was travelling in the opposite direction, back to Darwin from a job he had in Tennant Creek yesterday, and said he did a bit of cycling in Ireland and was full of admiration for what we were doing.

Lowlight:  The wind again.  I didn't think it was as bad today as in the previous three days, swinging to be more of a cross-wind for long periods from late morning.  But it wasn't "cross" enough for Julie, who reckoned it was still making life tough.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a long day in front of us, 160km to Tennant Creek, and uncertain of how unfavourable the wind would be, we left in the dark, soon after 5am.  As we walked from our room to the road, the Greyhound bus was just pulling out of the roadhouse on its way to Darwin from Alice Springs.  We've seen it an hour or two earlier each day as we've travelled south, but it will be too early for us tomorrow in Tennant Creek.

The sky was star-filled and the temperature mild as we pedalled south on the very quiet road in calm conditions.  We were intent on making as many kilometres as we could before the wind picked up and had covered 50km before stopping by the road for breakfast, having witnessed yet another fantastic bush dawn.  The Threeways Roadhouse was another 85km further on and we planned to have a late lunch there, so broke the remaining distance into three sections with breaks in between.

The countryside was undulating and scrubby with the road descending to cross dry creek beds and then gradually climbing back up onto the tablelands.  In some places there were rocky bluffs and escarpments and everywhere the soil and rocks were dark red in colour.  In late morning, what had been a mild headwind seemed to swing round to become a crosswind and our speed improved, though we still suffered whenever the road swung to the left (east).

We reached the Threeways roadhouse around 1:30pm and enjoyed our toasted sandwich lunch in air-conditioned comfort inside.  When we emerged for our last leg to Tennant Creek, the heat was palpable, and for the first ten kilometres the headwind returned, making the riding very difficult, but then the road began to swing more to the right and the wind was neutralised somewhat.  The last 5km into town involved à steady climb through a low gap in an arid range of hills, and we were very happy to finally roll into Tennant Creek at 3:30pm and check into our caravan park, selected because it is close to the temporary supermarket set up in a shed behind the adjacent roadhouse after the main supermarket in town burnt down recently.

After showers we went for a walk through the town, which was somewhat depressing.  Crime is obviously an issue, with many boarded up buildings and grim steel mesh protecting all operating businesses.  We think Thursday must be pay day, and there were queues outside of the pub with police checking the IDs of all seeking entry.  Many other locals were just lounging around in the street.  It is sad to see, and makes me realise what a fortunate life I have had, and how lucky I was to be born when and where I was.

After cooking frozen pizza for dinner in our cabin, we really enjoyed sharing a tub of ice cream.  We are both tired and dehydrated after our day's effort and are looking forward to a good night's sleep before battling the elements again tomorrow.