Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 091 - Cadney Park to Coober Pedy

Day:  091

Date:  Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Start:  Cadney Park Roadhouse

Finish:  Coober Pedy

Daily Kilometres:  153 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  9480

Weather:  Cool early, then sunny and warm with light winds

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & lettuce sandwiches

  Lunch:  Ham, cheese & tomato sandwich/Chicken, cheese & tomato sandwich

  Dinner:  Pizza, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Very pleasant early morning riding across the flat treeless gibber (small stones) plains with almost no other traffic.

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We left our roadhouse soon after 6am, just as the sun was peeping above the eastern horizon across the vast gibber plains, and headed south towards Coober Pedy, 153km away, with no towns or roadhouses on the way.  According to Maps.me, there was a rest area after 60km, so we decided to aim for that as our first and breakfast stop.  It's always nice to put a good dent in the day's mileage at the start, both psychologically and because riding conditions tend to be better.  I like to do the same when hiking.

The 60km took a little under three hours, with no stops, and was very pleasant riding, with little or no wind, clear sky and the sun slowly lighting up the bush (see above).  The rest area was a disappointment, with not even a picnic table or bench, but we were ready for a break and ate our breakfast sitting on the ground and leaning up against a couple of posts in the sunshine, happy with progress so far.  With just over 90km remaining, we decided to break it into three sections, and continued on.  

Although for most of the day we were riding across gibber plains, which was a welcome change of scenery, there were still some areas of scrub, with no obvious reason why the vegetation differed.  Although there was some traffic (it is the main highway between Adelaide and Darwin), we had long periods during the day when there was nothing.  In the excellent conditions with the ability to see vast distances across the open country, the riding was very enjoyable.  We could see vehicles, and particularly road trains, coming from a long way, often looking like trains crossing the horizon where the road curved around.  Speaking of trains, the Ghan railway line was frequently visible just to the west of the road, but we didn't see any trains today.

After our mid-morning break, with 58km to go, we began to see the first indications of the opal mining for which Coober Pedy is famous.  There were signs warning of the dangers of falling into open shafts, and other signs warning not to trespass onto claims, as well as some isolated mullock heaps.  By the time we stopped for lunch at 1pm, with just 20km to go, mullock heaps were visible everywhere, with an occasional piece of equipment or small mining operation amongst them.  The mullock heaps, which come in all sizes, are colourful, ranging from white to yellow, orange, ochre, red and brown.

Finally, Coober Pedy appeared in the distance to the east and we turned off the highway and into town.  We quickly found our motel, partly chosen because it has underground rooms, a renowned Coober Pedy building feature, and checked in around 2:30pm.  The very friendly owner gave us a discount and upgraded us to a room large enough to store our bikes, which was very kind of him (I think we may be the only guests).  Our room has no windows, no air-conditioning or heating, and bare carved rock walls.  However, climate control is unnecessary because the underground temperature remains a constant 23°C throughout the year in a town where temperatures often reach 40+°C (39°C forecast for later this week).  Apparently half the residents of Coober Pedy live in underground homes.

After the usual showers, we took a stroll down the small main street and bought some snacks and drinks, and later had an excellent pizza from a pizza parlour recommended by separate travellers we had met far from Coober Pedy.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 090 - Tarcoonyinna to Cadney Park

Day:  090

Date:  Tuesday, 29 September 2020

Start:  Tarcoonyinna Rest Area

Finish:  Cadney Park Roadhouse

Daily Kilometres:  134 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  9327

Weather:  Cool early, then mild, overcast, periods of rain, and windy.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pie & muffin/Egg & lettuce sandwich

  Lunch:  Ham salad roll/Chicken schnitzel roll & muffin

  Dinner:  Bangers & mash/Hamburger & chips, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Maybe not a highlight for us, but our bedraggled arrival in the middle of a downpour at the Marla Roadhouse at 8:30am seemed to be a highlight for other travellers.  The driver of the Greyhound bus from Adelaide to Darwin, which was stopped in Marla at the time, had a good chuckle and advised us to call it a day at Marla as he considered the road further south too dangerous in the wet conditions and poor visibility.  Three motorcyclists travelling north, thought they had it bad until they saw us, and also had a good laugh.  Three contractors heading north, who said they had been unable to overtake a road train for many kilometres because they could not see what was coming the other way through the spray generated by the truck, offered to pick us up on their way back south later in the day.  And various other travellers laughed, commiserated with us, and asked about our trip.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here (yesterday's are here ... forgot to post them)

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

It started raining a little as we went to bed last night and it rained and was windy at various times during a night in which neither of us slept very well.  When we woke at 5am, a moderate wind seemed to be coming from the south, drying the tent, but portending a tough day on the road.  And just as we were packing up the tent, it began raining again and we rushed to get everything under the cover of the adjacent picnic shelter before it got too wet.

We finished packing and began riding in the pre-dawn gloom and light rain soon after 6am, aiming for the Marla Roadhouse, 54km away, for breakfast, and ultimately Cadney Park Roadhouse 80km further on.

We actually didn't mind riding in the rain, since it was the first time for more than two months and because we knew it was a rare and welcome event for the communities and cattle stations in this part of the world.  It felt like a privilege to witness such an event, and as the rain continued during much of the morning, we watched endless puddles form and turn the red dust into soft red clay on the scrubby, often treeless, plains on both sides of the road.  You could smell the wet earth and hear birds chirping in the scrub.  The sky was different shades of grey with rain showers descending visibly from the darker clouds near and far.  Later in the morning some low and long rumbles of thunder sounded above accompanied by some lightning, but not enough to cause us concern.

The road became quite wet, especially in the heavier downpours, and long puddles formed in the depressions where the heavy truck wheels travel, so we had to watch where we were going if we didn't want to get even wetter.  All of the time, we were alert for traffic coming from ahead or behind, though there were long periods when there was no traffic at all and we had the plains to ourselves.  When road trains passed, and there were plenty, we often got a big shower, but the only times we felt at risk was when vehicles coming from both directions passed us at the same time.  There was little verge to the road and the edges were soft, so it was "white knuckles" time as we held a narrow line as cars passed close to our right elbows.  In these cases, it's hard to understand why the driver approaching from behind doesn't slow down and wait until they have more room.  I guess every second counts when you're driving hundreds of kilometres in the outback!

Most of the day was through unfenced cattle country, and we saw a few along the way.  It's funny the way they are startled by us and run away, but cars and road trains pass by without disturbing them.  No doubt this explained the carcasses we saw on the roadside in various stages of decay and malodour, presumably the result of encounters with road trains.  Another common sight along the road has been the number of abandoned vehicles, most damaged/stripped/vandalised and some burnt out.  Each probably with a story to tell.

We reached Marla Roadhouse in good time, having quite enjoyed the first few hours of riding in the rain, apart from the downpour in the last few kilometres that left us cold and saturated.  After breakfast on the roadhouse verandah (see above) and purchasing supplies for the 80km remaining to Cadney Park Roadhouse, we left in light drizzle.  As expected, heavier rain returned, along with a cold wind, and without good shelter anywhere en route, we kept riding the whole way apart from a very short break.

Earlier than expected, thanks partly to a tail/cross wind, we reached the roadhouse and checked in.  The weather had cleared a little in the last hour, though dark clouds loomed behind us and to the east.  Our afternoon was spent doing trip-planning, laundry and watching TV, as the weather steadily cleared.  From our room we can see the Ghan train line, and earlier today saw two very long freight trains, one parked for a while in view at the Cadney Park siding.

Once again an early dinner and an early night.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 089 - Erldunda to Tarcoonyinna

Day:  089

Date:  Monday, 28 September 2020

Start:  Erldunda

Finish:  Tarcoonyinna Rest Area

Daily Kilometres:  201 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  9193

Weather:  Cool early, then partly sunny, very warm and windy

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Biscuits, egg & bacon rolls

  Lunch:  Curried egg & lettuce sandwiches

  Dinner:  Soup, rehydrated beef stroganoff/pasta carbonara, choc chip biscuits

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Reaching two milestones - 9,000 Kilometres and crossing the border from the Northern Territory into South Australia

Lowlight:  The flies were absolutely terrible while we were setting up camp until darkness fell.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

From the ridiculous to the sublime, today we rode twice as far as yesterday, with less than half the effort.  Riding became fun again.

The day didn't start too well when our 5:15am departure was delayed 20 minutes when I discovered a key supporting screw missing from my rear carrier.  A quick check of the other corresponding screw on my bike and those on Julie's bike revealed that all were loose.  I cannibalised a screw from elsewhere on my bike and we tightened everything  and were on our way as the sky lightened in the east.

Our original plan was to ride 168km to a highway rest area and camp, but the forecast of favourable winds for today, and unfavourable for the following two days, encouraged us to go for a stretch target, the Tarcoonyinna Rest Area, 200km away.  For the first 45km there was a strong crosswind, which was a big improvement on yesterday, and we made good time before a snack break.  We were delaying breakfast until we reached the Kulgera Roadhouse at 75km, and we reached there a little before 9am.  It is an historic roadhouse whose advertising pitch is that it is the first and last pub in the Northern Territory (NT). After a yummy breakfast and buying sandwiches and snacks for the rest of the day, we headed south towards the border and South Australia aided by a strong following wind.  We couldn't get the smiles off our faces at the easy riding.

We crossed the border, and the COVID-19 police checkpoint for vehicles entering the NT, 20km later, with no fanfare and continued on at speed into South Australia (SA).  For the whole day the scenery varied between the scrubby plains of cattle stations, occasional dry sandy creek beds shaded by elegant ghost gums, and low ranges of hills with rocky outcrops.  Beautiful for its vastness and remoteness.  There was a reasonable amount of traffic, but it wasn't busy, with most people giving us a wave and plenty of clearance.

The following wind allowed us to reach our stretch target rest area about 5:20pm, to find it bare, windswept and unoccupied.  The ground is hard and stony, making it difficult to hammer in tent pegs (I bent two good ones) and the tent is now largely held down by rocks in a very strong wind.  It looked like it might rain after we arrived, with heavy cloud moving in from the west, but it hasn't so far.  We were hoping for a water tank here, but there was none, though we had enough for dinner and a wash and will reach the Marla roadhouse in time for breakfast tomorrow, so it isn't a big deal.  The first rest area we passed in SA had a water tank, but the following two didn't so we know not to count on them in future.

We went to bed soon after 8pm, hoping the stony ground isn't too uncomfortable and that the tent doesn't blow away during the night.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 088 - Kernot Range to Erldunda

Day:  088

Date:  Sunday, 27 September 2020

Start:  Kernot Range Rest Area

Finish:  Erldunda

Daily Kilometres:  101 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  8992

Weather:  Cool early, then mild, sunny and windy

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Muesli

  Lunch:  Pie/Chicken & chips

  Dinner:  Hamburger & chips/Beef schnitzel, salad & chips, ice-creams

Aches:  Nothing significant 

Highlight:  Arriving at the Erldunda Roadhouse after eight hours of gruelling headwind riding

Lowlight:  After yesterday's headwind, we were hoping for a reprieve today, but it wasn't to be.  The easterly wind blew all night and was blowing when we began riding this morning, only to worsen as the sun rose.  It was even harder than yesterday and made riding a real grind.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 5am and were on the road soon after 6am, hoping that the early hours would be calmer, but the wind had blown all night and continued blowing.  Our tentative plan for the day was to ride eastwards on the Lasseter Highway for 100km to Erldunda, and then turn south on the Stuart Highway and ride 75km to Kulgera.  However, we knew that if the easterly wind continued to blow, we might have to bail out at Erldunda.

The first hour's riding in yet another beautiful desert dawn, was into the cold wind and slow.  We hoped the wind might ease as the sun rose, but the reverse happened and it got stronger.   Our plan had been to ride 40km before stopping for breakfast, but with the wind howling across the red dirt scrubby plain, raising dust clouds and blurring the horizon, there was nowhere protected to stop.  Instead, we persevered another 5km to the abandoned Mt Ebeneezer Roadhouse and sheltered behind a corrugated iron fence while we had breakfast.  It was a forlorn place with a row of motel units, doors open, some windows broken, and unknown things banging in the wind.  Nobody was about.

We realised that, based on the three hours of very hard riding it had taken to cover the 45km so far, and with the wind showing no signs of abating, we had little chance of getting to Kulgera for the night, even though the wind should be neutral for the last 75km.  Just getting to Erldunda, 56km away, felt like it would be a Herculean task, when on almost any other day it would be easy-peasey.

After a 30-minute breakfast break, we emerged from our fence shelter and resumed riding across the windblown plain.  It was cattle country, though we didn't see any and there seemed little for them to feed on.  The road undulated mildly, passing over low ridges, but there never seemed to be any downhill.  Every metre required applied muscle and it was exhausting.

After another two hours and 28km, we took a mid-morning break in the shelter of some trees, dreaming of the morning being over.  Thirty minutes later we were back in the wind, willing the roadside 10km markers to appear in the distance.  Each marker took an eternity to appear, and once seen, took an eternity to reach.  It was character-building.  We had one uplifting moment when the same indigenous truck driver who stopped and gave us water yesterday, overtook us and pulled off the road and gave us another 1.5 litres of cool water, most of which we drank on the spot.  The kindness of strangers.

Inevitably, as we knew would happen if we just kept plugging away, we reached the Stuart Highway and the Erldunda Roadhouse around 2pm.  What a relief.  We checked into a nice motel room, somewhat shell-shocked after our morning, and revived ourselves with a shower and then some lunch at the large, busy and seemingly well-managed and maintained roadhouse.  After that we retired to our room to do some chores and watch some TV.

We later ordered an early dinner at the roadhouse, planning to take a look at the sunset from their "sunset viewing platform" afterwards, but when dinner (very good) finally arrived an hour later, the sun was well set.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 087 - Yulara to Kernot Range

Day:  087

Date:  Saturday, 26 September 2020

Start:  Yulara

Finish:  Kernot Range Rest Area

Daily Kilometres:  147 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  8891

Weather:  Cool early, then warm and sunny with an easterly wind

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Chicken & mayo sandwiches

  Lunch:  Chicken schnitzel sandwiches, ice-creams

  Dinner:  Soup, Creamy carbonara/Lamb fettucine

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  In mid-afternoon, in the middle of the desert, a large truck coming the other way stopped on the road and the aboriginal driver reached out and gave us a very welcome 1.5 litre bottle of cool water.

Lowlight:  Usually, the early morning riding is the best, but this morning, as soon as we left Yulara and turned east towards the Stuart Highway, 244km away, the wind was diabolical … and cold.  The first few hours was a total grind.  We seemed to have to fight for every metre.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We left the campground about 6:45am on a cool and clear morning and cycled out to the highway through a quiet Yulara.  It was very peaceful, but when we got to the highway and turned eastwards it was another story.  We were confronted with a strong headwind (see above) that had me calculating what was the minimum distance we needed to do today to avoid running out of food and water before Erldunda, the next roadhouse of consequence.  Two hours and 28km later, when we stopped for breakfast by the road, the situation was much the same.  It still hadn't warmed up, and the wind continued to blow.  Since we were going to be riding east for the whole way, we were resigning ourselves to a tough day, and would just camp wherever we were around 5pm.  We decided to take a break about every 30km, which might get us to the Kernot Range Rest Area, 120km away for the night.

The wind persisted for the rest of the day, but did vary in strength, and our speed improved slightly.  Given the conditions, we weren't looking around as much as usual, but since we were retracing our steps along the Lasseter Highway for the first 135km, it didn't seem so important.  Most of the time it was just head down, butt up, and keep pedalling.

Coincidentally, the highway rest areas were about 30km apart, so we had picnic benches, which are always welcome, for our mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks.  Our lunch break, taken around 1pm, happened to be at the Curtin Springs Roadhouse, where we had stayed on our way into Yulara five days ago.  We weren't keen to buy lunch there, given our previous experience of the range and prices, but we did buy a couple of expensive ice-creams to follow our brought sandwiches, just because we could.  As we were leaving the Roadhouse, a guy in a vehicle stopped and asked Julie about our ride and said that if we stopped in at the police COVID-19 checkpoint 12km down the road, where they were intercepting vehicles coming via a back road from South Australia, they woukd happily give us some water.  So soon after lunch, we didn't need to, but they gave us a friendly wave as we passed.

All day, the country was much the same - red sand dunes, scrub, desert oaks - and this pretty much described the Kernot Range Rest Area where we arrived soon after 5pm.  It's one of the Northern Territory Rest Areas where you are allowed to camp overnight and we had it to ourselves until a couple of cars with tents, arrived separately after dark.  The soil is so sandy, we had trouble getting the tent pegs to stay in the ground as the wind continued to blow and had to find some rocks, with difficulty, to hold the guy ropes down.  Despite this trouble, it's a nice spot to camp in the desert, and after a wash we cooked dinner in the picnic shelter and then had an early night under a clear moonlit night.  The wind is still blowing.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 086 - Yulara

Day:  086

Date:  Friday, 25 September 2020

Start:  Yulara

Finish:  Yulara

Daily Kilometres:  0

Total Kilometres:  8744

Weather:  Cool early, then warm and sunny

Accommodation:  Tent 

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Donut/ , apple strudel

  Lunch:  Pie/Caesar salad, biscuits

  Dinner:  Macaroni cheese/Pasta carbonara, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Very lazy relaxing day

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We decided to take up the Ayers Rock Campground's offer of "third night free" and have a relaxing day off amidst the excellent, but very unbusy, camp facilities and nearby good value supermarket.

Accordingly, there's not much to report.  There was some laundry done, some sunbathing by the pool, some reading, some phone calls, some social media, some shopping, some window-shopping, some tent patching, some preparation for returning to the road tomorrow, and I attended a short astronomical film presentation at the Yulara theatre, but no bike riding or hiking.  And all under clear blue skies in warm, but not hot, temperatures, with a cooling breeze.  Perfect.

We went to bed early, knowing we had a longish day tomorrow, probably with a headwind, and likely no internet access for a day or two.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 085 - Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Day:  085

Date:  Thursday, 24 September 2020

Start:  Yulara

Finish:  Yulara

Daily Kilometres:  111 (click for Julie's Strava and photos and here and here for our walks)

Total Kilometres:  8744

Weather:  Cool early, then sunny and warm all day.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg sandwiches

  Lunch:  Beef, cheese & relish sandwiches

  Dinner:  Meatballs & pasta/Chicken pesto & pasta, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  The 8km Valley of the Winds walk at Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) was awesome.  The rough trail climbed amongst the gargantuan brown conglomerate rock domes, passing through narrow gaps and revealing a hidden quiet little forested valley, before looping back over the low arid shoulder of one of the domes.  Although a little on the warm side, it was comfortable hiking weather and we had it mostly to ourselves, only meeting a few other hikers.

Lowlight:  None really.  We were dreading our 50km+ ride back from Kata Tjuta to Yulara into the wind after our hikes, but it wasn't that bad.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Neither of us relished the idea of waking at 5am after our long day yesterday, but we were keen to try and see dawn breaking on Kata Tjuta.  We didn't expect to get to the official "sunrise viewing area", 38km away by road from Yulara, by the time the sun rose, but we were hoping to get close enough to be able to see the sun break on the mountains from the road.  It turned out to be a bit of a race against time because the topology conspired against getting a clear view until we got quite close.  Every time we cleared one dune, another seemed to be in the way, or the roadside trees were just a little too high.  We probably should have got up even earlier!

Finally, we did get some spectacular views as the sun lit up the mountains, and a few kilometres further on reached the lookout atop a dune where we had breakfast surveying the wonders of nature.  Just as we were self-congratulating on having the peaceful scene totally to ourselves, another car arrived, and then shortly after, a coachload of tourists!  From there we rode the remaining 15km to the Valley of the Winds trailhead, dominated by the massive domes of rock, locked our bikes to a tree, changed out of our cleats into trail shoes, and did the spectacular 8km walk (see above).

We then decided we had time to do the other, shorter, Kata Tutja walk before we left and rode the short distance to the Walpa Gorge trailhead.  The hike was out-and-back up into a gorge between two massive rock domes that became progressively more narrow until the trail ended at a lookout that gave views up to the end of the blocked gorge and also back west towards the vast desert plains.

On returning to our bikes, we ate lunch in the cool of a shelter, then set out on the ride back to Yulara.  The expected headwind turned out to be fickle and we made reasonable time, with much of the last half dominated up ahead by the mass of Uluru looming over the red sand dunes.  I thought to myself that there would be a lot of people who wouldn't mind trading places with me right then, and reminded myself how fortunate I was to be there.

We arrived back at Yulara soon after 3:30pm and stopped by the supermarket for a welcome ice-cream and to pick up some food for dinner and breakfast, before returning to our tent about 4:30pm.  After showers, we hung out in the camp kitchen where we had dinner before heading to bed.  Another great day done!