New blog location

This blog was created purely to follow the Perth-Sydney bike ride.  Unless there is further follow up news about the ride, there will be no further posts on this blog.

To follow Trevor Lawrence’s ongoing world, look at the blog at http://TrevorJLawrence.spaces.live.com/blog/

Day 34 Picton to Cronulla

Finished!

The final day took us from Picton to Elouera Beach (one of the Cronulla beaches) and then back to Cronulla Uniting Church.

In a sense this day began the previous day as we realised that the showers we had at the end of that day were the last we would have before our own showers at home.  And so on for each activity from then on.  As the trip had worn on there had sometimes been a bit of a “Groundhog Day” feel about things.  Now there was a finality about everything.

This last day’s riding started out brilliantly and got better as far as the weather was concerned.  The ride took us from Picton in the direction of Appin via Broughton Pass to Sublime Point where we had morning tea.  This journey was hilly, and the pinch out of Broughton Pass was the steepest climb on the trip.  However that pinch was not all that long and everyone managed it OK.  (For myself, having not used the “granny ring” all trip, it wouldn’t engage for me when I wanted it and I had to push up in the middle ring.  Good for me I suppose.)

At Sublime Point we were met by a number of local riders who rode the last ~50km with us.  One of them commented that he expected a bunch of weary riders who needed a tow from him to get home.  What he found was the whatever speed he rode the bunch of us simply sat on his tail.  Not weary but fit after that many days riding.

The road from Sublime Point in towards Sydney was hillier than I had expected and there was some work to be done before we were done.

Edna got back on the bike at Waterfall after the hills were all done for the final 20km.

We arrived at Elouera beach on the dot of noon as scheduled to be met by friends, relatives and representatives of the Bible Society.  For the Kippax folk, Lyndelle Ramsay was there to greet us with a hug and a pile of balloons for Edna.  Photos and general fun on the shores of the Pacific Ocean were then the order of the day.

Then it was on to Cronulla Uniting Church for the official end of the trip.  A good crowd to welcome us and participate in the final presentation of certificates and medals, followed by a great lunch for riders, visitors and all.

Eventually it was time to pack up and go home.  This turned out to be a much longer and trickier exercise than we expected.  We needed to load our bikes and gear into Jim’s trailer which was on Roger’s car, together with extra bikes and gear from some who were to stay at Jim’s place, then at Jim’s place re-engineer the towbar on Roger’s car to take the bike beak, then reload all our stuff from Jim’s trailer into Roger’s trailer.  Took a great deal longer than expected, by which time we realised we’d never make it to the Chinese restaurant booking we had in Canberra. So a cup of tea then as we got under way at 5pm there were lots of phone calls to get Louise and Jocelyn to cancel the booking, break into Kauffmans’ house, organise take away and contact those involved to come at a different place and time.  We eventually arrived home at 8pm to Chinese takeaway and a welcome home from our families, and a celebratory cake lovingly constructed from a route map off the web.

And thence home to our own beds.

What sort of a journey have we had?  We have been favoured with remarkably good conditions throughout the journey.  Yes we’ve had wind, rain and cold, but not much of any of these things.  Lots of tail winds when it really counted on the long days across the Nullarbor; only about three days of difficult winds; days when we’ve seen rain around and in front of us, even drenching the food crew as the travelled ahead of us, but the rain somehow avoiding the riders; benign temperatures almost all the way.

It will take us all some time for it all to sink in and come to understand what the journey means to us and what lasting effects it has had on us.  A bunch of over 20 people living in close proximity for five weeks and all getting on well for the whole time has been a great experience from which we will each learn something.  Although fundraising is the goal of the exercise, the journey is much more than that.

To all who have supported us in many, many different ways over the time, thank you from all of us.

West to Eastern Shore

West to Eastern Shore

(to the tune of ‘Stir the Wallaby Stew’)

We thought we’d do a worthwhile thing for eternity
We’d raise a heap of money for the Bible Society
Bike-4-Bibles was the go, Jim Blaxland knew the score
So we rode our bicycles from west to eastern shore.

(Chorus)
So, “On ya bikes”, says Jim, “Surprises are in store
We’re going to ride our bicycles from west to eastern shore”.

The scenery along the way, truly it was great!
The condition of the roads changed from state to state
But the most intriguing thing was not the land or view
No! it’s personal anecdotes surrounding each of you

Now Mister-never-snore-no-flats, who ever could that be,
The king pin of the big chain ring: Kevin certainly
And Mrs I-hate-snorers, keep them far and yon
Could be no one other than grandmother Yvonne

There’s another pair of grannies here, not your average ockers
Recumbent Rodge and Edna on their Jason Recliner Rockers
They’re followed closely often time by camera, beard moustache
It’s Richard! Now where’s Richard and his thousand photographs?

Another steady rider here, who could forget
Franki Bicycletti and his morning tea spaghet
And there’s Luke who eats spaghet straight out of the tin
Luke who jumped us all one day and was the mountain king

Now Trevor Lawrence got so ill, he nearly died, they said
But now he’s flying up those hills, risen from the dead
And Big Al, the way he rides, his personality shines
It has to ‘cos he’s dropped his radio 3 dozen times

Now Alec joined us half way through and has to leave, that’s sad.
Another grandpa, for his age, his riding ain’t real bad
And Nicholas, with stripy tan, fancies he is quick
But he’s really quicker as a magnet for the chicks

The peleton it rolls along, without spits or spats
Stopping here and there it seems, just to fix up flats
And now .. … Another stop! .. What for? .. … What’s the matter?
Ah … the answer’s obvious! Weak Bladder Gazza!

Another man from Queensland side joined our riding throng
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.” was his daily song
He was referring to his butt, so big, so sore, no less
Trevor was his real name, but Butticus fits best.

Now Lucky Jim, he’s made the plans for all our nightly stops
But something happens to his brain when on the bike he hops
It takes away his power of speech and leaves him all bereft
Of any words at all, it seems, except for . . . L E F T ! ! ! !

We can not let the roadies off without a special note
The riders would be nowhere fast without these special folk
There’s Eric and there’s Richard on the CB to the trucks
To tell them that us cyc-a-lists are not just sitting ducks!

Then there’s ‘Triple R’ & M who get the food prepared
For Robert, pyrotechnics is his special flare
Rebecca, Robyn, Margaret make food to make us faster
And gave us all a brand new game - “Guess what’s in the pasta?”

Magella, Emmet, Caitlyn now finalise the list
And for the adults present they provide a certain bliss
When we arrive at end of day with our aching niggles
You take our focus off our pain with your smiles and giggles.

This ditty's not complete ’til the author’s in the ballad,
Maximus Superfluous, a lover of pasta salad.
Remembered for his raucous laugh, his wit and his devotions,
But most of all, his bag of pills, his potions and his lotions.

Though there’s been fun these 30 days, the purpose was intense
To get the Word of God to folk to make a difference.
Nothing would have happened though, except for one great bloke
Big THANKS to Lucky Jim, I say, from me and all these folks.

Day 33 Goulburn to Picton

Last night rain arrived at about 8pm and continued for a few hours.  Not sure how much rain fell in Goulburn, but Jocelyn and Louise had rain all the way back from Goulburn to Canberra.  We also heard that the Melmoth’s West Wyalong farm had some welcome rain.

By morning the clouds were still quite heavy but it hadn’t been raining for some time.  As the day progressed the skies cleared and we had a good riding day with some light tail winds.

The route took us straight out of Goulburn onto the Hume Highway where we stayed until the Hilltop, Colo turnoff passed Mittagong.  Mostly it was safe riding on the highway, although one or two spots, such as the Marulan truck checking station, required extra care.  Also just before the “big dipper” on the Mittagong bypass there were road works that closed the shoulder and the left lane, reducing the road to a single lane.  Not as bad as it seems since Richard’s bus behind us could occupy the lane preventing any traffic from attempting to pass the bikes.

For some time out of Goulburn there are a series of significant climbs culminating in a long one with a rough shoulder to make the climbing that much harder.  We stopped for morning tea beside the highway (I think at about the southern end of the Belanglo forest).

Having turned off the highway we followed the old Hume highway to Yerrinbool, through Bargo and on to Picton.  Lunch was in a small memorial park in Yerrinbool.

I was surprised at the amount of traffic on the road from Bargo to Picton, and that section of the road has to be a candidate for the worst, roughest road we’ve ridden on the trip.

Edna’s illness continues to improve, however she will not get on the bike tomorrow morning.  She expects to get on at morning tea for the largely downhill ride to the end.

Yesterday evening was the last evening for Alex and Margaret Hood as they had to leave us immediately on arrival in Picton.  Therefore  there were a few reminiscences and three skits put on.  I’ll publish the words of Mark’s song later as it requires a little typographic editing (the words are fine!) before publishing.

Day 32 Yass to Goulburn

For a change today we awoke to fog for the first time.  We rode through fog for the first 10km before emerging into a fine day again.

The route from Yass to Goulburn did not follow the Hume Highway, but rather followed the Yass Valley Way (old Hume Hwy) for about 10 or 12 km until it emerged onto the current Hume Highway.  We followed that for a short distance before turning onto the Jerriwa Dalton road.  This pleasant country road took us through rolling farmland through those two locations and on to Gunning where we stopped for morning tea.  Continuing on from there via the old Hume Highway eventually took us back to the current Hume with 22km to follow along the highway to Goulburn where we arrived for lunch, and enough time to catch up on blogs before we were able to go for showers at 3pm.

Some hill work today, but nowhere near as serious as yesterday.

Eric and I are looking forward to a visit from our wives Jocelyn and Louise who we haven’t seen for almost 6 weeks.

Day 31 Young to Yass

Sorry this blog entry is late, but the arrangements in Yass were that we were picked up by Yass folk and taken to their homes for showers and dinner, returning in the early evening to the church hall.  This didn’t leave much time for fiddling with computers.

A touch of frost around and about in Young as we set out.  To get out of Young you have to go up!  There’s about 15km worth of climb on the way out, and of course that set the tone for the day.  Much more hill work than we’ve had to date on the trip.  From this day (and for the rest of the ride) we split into two groups for portions of the journey, to give those wanting to kill themselves on the hills the chance to do so.  (There are cyclists who think hills are the greatest invention since sliced bread, and there are those who don’t.)

The countryside along the road from Young to Harden where we stopped for morning tea in the park is spectacular, although it doesn’t look so spectacular in a photo.  And of course its the rolling countryside that makes for hard work on the bikes.

The important thing about morning tea in Harden is that at this point Edna decided the head cold (or whatever it is) had got the better of her and she got off the bike and into the bus.  After we arrived in Yass she visited a doctor who diagnosed sinus infection, put her on antibiotics and ordered her off the bike for at least two days.  She’ll likely get back on for the last portion of the last day.

We stopped in Bowning for lunch before a quick 12km run into Yass along the Hume Highway.  Because the church hall was in use by the local school for a yoga class we could not get into the hall until 2:45 and were due to be collected by our hosts at 3:00, so there was not much we could do until then.

Mark, Gary and I were hosted by Jo and here two boys Joseph (3) and Dominic (1).  (Her husband Cliff was not home from work until after we’d been returned.)  Someone made the remark that we were treated to dinner and a show, because once they got used to us they became very boisterous as we entertained them while Jo finished dinner.  And what a fantastic dinner we had.  All three of us had to raise the white flag when we were stuffed to the gills.

Our heartfelt thanks to Jo for taking on three strangers while looking after two youngsters at the same time.

Day 30 Temora to Young

What can we say? Another fantastic day’s riding.  Blue skies, little or no wind, pleasant temperatures.

Before we started we had a visit from the reporter/photographer from the local newspaper who wanted to do an article on us.  He took the obligatory photo of the massed group, then got all the names in photo order.  He then headed out on the highway and waited for us at two spots as we rode by and took a stream of photos.

Over the trip we have had visits from photographers from a number of newspapers, and Jim or a substitute has been interviewed by a couple of radio stations.

Today’s ride had a few more hills than yesterday, though still basically flat.  It gave those keen to stretch their legs a chance to blow the cobwebs out of the system.  There’ll be plenty more of that between now and the finish.

Because today’s ride was short we only had morning tea on the road.  Lunch was provided for us at St John’s Anglican church when we arrived.  The morning tea stop was beside a church built in the late fifties and apparently in the middle of nowhere.  We’re accustomed to seeing very old churches in such places, but not one so modern.

Roger was not without his tyre difficulties again today, but he is not worried about making it to the end.

Since we have plenty of time after arriving in Young, there has been plenty of time for people to get their computing “fix”.  There’s almost a little Internet Cafe here.

Connections Connections

On the ride we have a couple Alan and Robyn Melmoth from West Wyalong.  Those connected with Kippax Uniting Church will know that a previous minister Brian Thompson came to Kippax from West Wyalong.  Also previous Kippax parishioners Cameron and Helen Webber are now at West Wyalong where Cameron is the minister.

Yesterday Cameron and Helen made the short trip from West Wyalong to Temora to see the Melmoths and the four Kippax folk on the ride were able to catch up with them.  It was good to see them, but time goes by!  Their eldest is now 19!

The connections don’t end there.  It turns out that Robyn went to Sunday School with Annette Purdie and they have remained good friends.  Don and Annette made the trip from Adelaide to Waikerie to catch up with the Melmoths, so there was another Kippax catch up that was done.

Are there any more connections?

Day 29 Leeton to Temora

Another magnificent day.  The forecasts seem to have been correct and the front passed through early yesterday evening with an apology for a shower, but cooler temperatures.  This morning was clear again and the winds were very light and basically from the south.  All of which leads to great riding conditions for the day.

Today brought us a few hills.  This is the first time since the port Pirie to Burra leg that we’ve seen anything resembling a hill, so it made for a pleasant change in the nature of the riding.  We shall have at least rolling countryside for the rest of the trip.

Today’s route took us via a number of local roads and eventually onto the Burley Griffin Way, a short stint on the Newell Highway and finally through to Temora on The Burley Griffin Way, arriving somewhere around 2:30pm.

Pictures below show a “Gazza Break” and an example of our accommodation arrangements (at Leeton in this instance).

Day 28 Hay to Leeton

During the rest day there was a lot of anxious consideration of the weather for today's ride. Earlier forecasts indicated a change coming through early that would turn the ugly winds of Friday to the SW which would be great. However forecasts later in the day indicated that the change would come through late in the afternoon. If that turned out to be the case, we could have a day like Friday, only 40km longer.

As it turned out the latter forecast was right and the change arrived at about 5pm. However the wind had shifted from the N-NNE around to more like NW and that was enough to change the complexion of things. That meant wind on a hind quarter for the whole distance except for about 10-15km after Darlington Point we were turned due North. A great day's riding with clear skies and good temperatures.

During the rest day Jim Blaxland went out in the car to scout a couple of alternative routes for the first part of the ride. The aim being to try and skip as much of the Sturt Highway as possible without making the route too much longer. This was done and we cut off 60km of Sturt Highway at the cost of only about 5km extra. Morning tea was on the Murrumbidgee at Carathool bridge. Lunch was beside the Murrumbidgee at Darlington Point (60km and 120km respectively)

Lowlight of the day occurred when one of our number (Mark) got a bee sting on the ear. A quick check to see the sting was out and he was under way. However a few km further on when we stopped for Edna's niece's husband Phil to join us for the run in to Leeton, Mark suddenly felt really crook and packed up his bike and got in the car. (He said later that it came on him so suddenly that if we hadn't stopped then he might well have fallen off and caused a prang.) A little later he vomited, so Eric took him straight off to the Leeton hospital (that's the 3rd time on this trip). Turns out he settled down OK. The hospital gave him Phenergan and he appears to be OK to ride tomorrow.

Picture is morning tea at Carathool beside the river (look carefully to see the river).

Day 27 Rest day in Hay

The place we are staying for the two nights in Hay is magnificent. It is a place called Claughton House ande is owned by the Uniting Church. It was set up as a boarding house for school children of all ages from outback regions across Australia to live in as they attended school in Hay. From our point of view it has everything we want - real beds to sleep on, lots of working showers on site, plenty of toilets. These latter two are significant. When staying in a church hall, for example, we usually have to bus ourselves to a caravan park or community centre with showers, and the church may well have only one toilet, two if you are lucky. Get 24 people trying to organise themselves quickly in the morning and you can see the potential for traffic jams.

Claughton House also has a great kitchen, dining and lounge areas.

Unfortunately the numbers of students has declined over the years. Looking at the student photos each year, numbers have decreased from around 80 in its heyday to 15-20 over the past couple of years. I believe it is not operating any longer and the facility is up for sale. It would be a pity if there were no takers, but it is hard to see any other sort of use for the facility. I can't imagine a conference facility being viable in Hay and I guess the dormitories are not really up to normal conference standards, even if the rest of the building is.

The weather today is the same as yesterday, so makes it a great drying day for washing. (Last major washing day!)

This morning there seemed to be a sort of kitchen cook-off. Two people independently decided that they would cook up something special, so in one stove we had bacon and eggs being turned out, and on another stove omelettes with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes being turned out. A pleasant leisurely morning.

Apparently the Hay Show is on this weekend. I don't know that I'll bother, but I think a couple of the young folk (actually we only have two young folk) will give it a try.

I'm told that you can wander down from Claughton House to grassy banks on the Murrumbidgee River. I'll have to try that later on.

The picture shows the entrance to Claughton House.

Day 26 Balranald to Hay

If you looked out your window on this day you would conclude that it was another magnificent day like the previous leg to Balranald. But if you then opened your window a different tale would be told. Wind!

Yes the day was all blue skies and great temperatures for riding. But a N to NNE wind was blowing when we started and throughout the day it got stronger, and stronger,and stronger. We, of course, were heading north of east. It was a stinker of a riding day. Only very rarely did the road bend in a direction to get the wind onto a rear quarter. We averaged 21.7 kph on this day for 132km compared with 27.3 the previous day for 162km. And after lunch, because the wind was now very strong and everyone was tiring, brief stops to catch breath and grab an extra sugar fix were happening every 10km or so. We arrived on this shorter day over an hourlater than on the previous longer day.

With the Hay plains being so flat and treeless as we approached the lunch stop we could see where they were set up from many km away, but it seemed like one of those surreal dreams where no matter what you do you can never break through and reach the goal. Just as you seemed to be making progress the road would bend away into the teeth of the wind for two or three km. We finally got there!

The road through Hay to our lodgings passed by the Visitor Centre and as we passed Roger suddenly stops. It took a moment to realise that he wasn't going to wait a moment more than necessary to see if his tyres had arrived. When Roger ordered the two tyres he thought afterwards that perhaps he ought to have ordered more and was putting contingency plans in place to get Tracey to come out to Yass with another if need be. It turns out that Roger's agent had mis-heard the instruction over the phone and actually sent three tyres. So Roger is well pleased and feels confident about the rest of the trip.

The picture shows our morning tea stop in the middle of the Hay plains at the entry to the Hay Shire.

Day 25 Mildura to Balranald

Sorry this post is late, but we were staying in the gym at Balranald Central School and the gym was in use for classes until 8pm, so we could not unpack our stuff until then.

The day itself was magnificent. Clear blue skies all day and what breezes there were were very light and tending behind us. Roger managed the day without further mishap to his tyres.

Of course immediately after leaving Mildura we crossed the Murray into NSW and will be there for the rest of the trip. Some folks reckoned the road surface worsened after we went into NSW. I'm not so convinced. There was certainly a rough section across the border through Gol Gol for a while, but there was a lot of good road further on. Sometimes when you are riding the bike it is hard to accept that these roads are not built for bikes and if there is a broad shoulder or no shoulder, or fine or course aggregate on the road, it is largely incidental to the intended purpose. We must take what we get!

One thinks of these regions along the Murray as completely covered with vineyards, orchards and other crops. The reality appears to be different. Near the major towns you se plenty of vineyards but you don't have to move too far before you are riding through unused countryside until you get near the next significant town.

The picture is our lunch spot on that day.

Day 24 - Paringa to Mildura

(For those having trouble finding Gol Gol, there was a change along the way somewhere and we are staying in Mildura proper.)

This day turned out to be a good day's riding. The night before there had been rumours that someone had seen a weather forecast predicting NE to NW winds. If so that might have been ugly, depending on the strength. As it turned out, things were different. The day started off completely overcast, but it never looked like raining. Overcast meant winds didn't build up, so we had calm conditions for a fair portion of the ride. After about lunch time the clouds started to break up and what little wind did build up was across or behind.

Temperatures remained cool for most of the day, although the afternoon here in Mildura is lovely.

The riding itself had no real highlights. No punctures so Roger breathes a sigh of relief for another day. Outside of the actual riding we crossed the border into Victoria this morning, so we are now back on Eastern Standard Time - begins to feel like home is not so far away (actually its 1000km away).

Day 23 Waikerie to Paringa

(Paringa, for the geographically challenged is across the Murray from Renmark.)

Today started out a beautiful cloudless morning and we started riding in such conditions. We were allowed to sleep in until 6:45am this morning because we only had a short ride (81km).

A breeze developed as the cloud cover increased, and there was evidence 10km or so out of Waikerie that there had been some light showers around at some time. We didn't get them. The wind was occasionally behind us, but most of the time a cross wind or slightly ahead.

We stopped at Barmera beside Lake Bonney for morning tea (see picture). By then there was practically no sun and the wind was cold! A lovely spot, but not today. We kept on to Paringa for lunch. By then the cloud had cleared again to a fine afternoon.

Roger and Edna are beginning to have serious problems with the tyres on the recumbent bikes. Thet brought four spares with them, but have problems with side walls ballooning and eventually producing blowouts. It appears the tyres are a bit too light weight for the purpose.

Roger has contacted his recumbent supplier who is shipping a couple of new tyres to the Hay visitor's centre where we'll arrive on Friday. Hope things hold up until then.

Day 22 Burra to Waikerie

Overnight there were showers and it looked dodgy in the morning. However as we got under way it appeared that the showers were hanging around the hills and we seemed to get clear before suffering any showers. The terrain changed rapidly from lush rolling pasture to apparently unused land covered with saltbush. (Actually there were a few sheep around.) The characteristic of the day was strong winds that moderated a bit but stayed there all day. Fortunately they stayed behind us most of the time, but as the road wandered around sometimes it was dead across us (which is worse than no wind).

We hit the Murray river at Renmark for lunch on the banks of the river, then took the punt across the river before the final 38km to Waikerie. (The Riverland is not as flat as they'd have you believe!)

For myself I rode the whole distance today, so things continue to improve. I'm still way short of the condition I was in before the bug hit though. Even shorter day tomorrow, so I should manage that.

Day 21 Rest day at Burra

This day proceeds much as any other rest day. Laundry, rest, coffee, look around town.

Burra seems to have gone in the direction of places like Mittagong in NSW - accessible from Adelaide and developed craft shops, antique shops and so on. So its quite interesting to wander around.

Burra's origins are mining and there are Cornish and Welsh remnants in town. One of thye striking things is that there are a number of rows of miner's residences (see picture). It appears that these have been turned into motel units for visitors. The buildings are stone and many are in excellent condition. I picture of the Visitor Centre building is attached.

Being Sunday, and given that we were staying in the Burra Uniting Church hall, we went to their 11am service. A great deal more songs than I am accustomed to, but an enjoyable service in a lovely old church. The service was run by the minister's wife. Thge minister took Roger and Edna with him to a far flung church where the three of them doubled the congregation.

A highlight of the visit was that the local church not only provided us wit6h dinner on Saturday evening, but also provided a lavish lunch on Sunday. (Then we had to front up to the Burra pub for dinner!)

Day 20 Port Pirie to Burra

We're beginning to have more and more wonderful riding days. Today started out clear and cool, a few scattered cumulus clouds developed but later in the day those cleared to a cloudless day. Wind conditions were light, but what there was was behind us.

The route today took us out of the industrial/mining areas and through the tail end foothills of the Flinders Ranges through Crystal Brook, Gulnare and on to Burra. This countryside is rolling countryside with field upon field of wheat and canola. Most of the canola is now in flower and the sights were spectacular.

Today also got us away from the flat countryside we've followed for weeks, so today we had a few hills. Not so much a shock to the system as a pleasant change for most people. Plenty more hills along the way between here and Sydney.

As for myself, I could not believe the difference between yesterday and today. My previous day's ride had been between Norseman and Balladonia - 192k and not at all difficult. Yesterday I could only manage 10k and was absolutely had it. Made me realise what had hit me. However today I got on the bike and rode 60k to Gulnare and got off there not because I was had it, but because I felt it expedient not to push things too much. With tomorrow's rest day I should be right to go on Monday!

Today I got awarded the "Maillot Blanc" a jersey instituted a couple of day's ago to the rider who sticks most assiduously to the left and thus rides most safely. So my day to wear the white jersey will be Monday.

Day 19 Port Augusta to Port Pirie

This was meant to be an easy day. Less than 100k and flat. Ask most of the riders and they'll say it was not an easy day. There are a couple of reasons. For one thing a cross wind blew with a slight head component - not a gale, but enough. And the road conditions made riding difficult. There was a lot of traffic and most of the time we needed to ride to the left of the white line marking the edge of the road. You had to be careful of the white line as it was an audible line all the way, and they are no joke on a bike. There were cateye reflectors to the left of the line that you had to keep dodging. (Hit one of those too fast and you get a snake-eye puncture.) Then there was plenty of gravel on the side of the road that needed to be avoided. Some largish rocks amongst it. So it was a matter of continuous concentration, no chance to look at the scenery (gulf on the right, Flinders Ranges on the left).

The weather looked after us. As we approached Port Pirie we could see a shower cut across Port Pirie but it passed by in front of us and left us alone.

As for me it was kind of a big day. Got on the bike for the first time since Balladonia after morning tea for a short while. Only a very short time - a measly 10.5k -but I still have absolutely no energy and it was a start. A little each day and we'll eventually get back there.

Day 18 Kimba to Port Augusta

What a difference a day makes! After howling adverse winds yesterday, today we woke to clear skies, crisp temperatures and no wind. Set off under those same conditions. After an hour or so some scattered cloud began to appear and it stayed that way all day - lovely fine day. But more significantly a breeze sprung up behind us and the riders had a great run through to Port Augusta. In fact 21 minutes longer for 152km today than we took yesterday for 107km!

It was interesting to watch the countryside change along the route. We started out riding through beautiful green wheat fields, but as the day progressed that disappeared and gave way to lightly wooded country. Still further on the trees became sparser and more stunted so that we were looking at scrub. Then more and more saltbush appeared until it dominated the scene and trees were few and far between. By then we were into iron ore country. (One view of Iron Knob mine is sttached.)

Because this is the first "big smoke" since we left Perth, many people have been off attending to various needs including parts and fixes at a local bike shop. Roger, Edna, Eric and I did a bit of that and visited a coffee shop this afternoon.

As for me, getting on the bike again is getting closer. Depending on the weather and how I feel I might get on the bike for a short stint between "Gazzer breaks" - named after "Weak Bladder Gazzer". I'll play it by ear.

Speaking of Gazzer breaks, one of the riders said the other day that it takes some of the shine off the achievement if he has to admit that he did the ride with two grandmothers and Weak Bladder Gazzer. (Mind you I think poor old Gary is the scapegoat. There are others keen on the break...)

Day 17 Wudinna to Kimba

This day was supposed to be relatively easy - just 101km. And while the rain kept away apart from one brief shower, the wind did not!

We heard the wind come up during the night and I think most people lay in their sleeping bags wondering which way it was blowing. It was blowing the wrong way. Not full in the face, but an ugly wind from roughly a front quarter. Almost made me glad I was still not on the bike today (I reckon that's a few days away yet). My guess is that it was a 45kph wind. It was not a fast day.

Today we were joined part way along by Alex and Margaret Hood who will be with us as rider and roadie for the rest of the trip.

Kimba asserts that it is half way across Australia. Don't know what their measure is, but it doesn't match our distances. Also I'm not sure what the connection with the Galah is.

Lurgi and smashed dreams

I know there are many people looking at this site, but I originally intended this as a personal site and so this post is a purely personal reflection.

On day 7 we set out from Norseman to Balladonia on the first of three long days, and the first of what I describe as the Nullarbor leg. The ride was an excellent one. There were a few showers, but the dominating factor was a good tail wind. The ride, though 192km, was not hard.

In the evening when walking the 200m or so from the dining room to the cabin I broke out in completely uncontrollable shivers. A pretty unpleasant night was spent and in the morning I dressed in riding gear to defer a decision until after breakfast. In the end I decided that I was in not state to ride, so loaded the bike on the trailer and climbed in the support car with Eric. There I dozed, sweated and vegetated. Essentially the condition got worse over the next few days and I've ended up with a full blown respitory virus infection. Turns out to be the worst such lurgi that I can remember having.

On Day 9 (Caiguna to Madura Pass) Eric and I cleared out from the team at morning tea time to make a 300km journey to Eucla to visit a Silver chain nursing service clinic there, and back 200km to Madura Pass. The nurse's prognosis after doing the usual checks was "probably swine flu" Great! Her concern was getting the temperature down and keeping it thus. No evidence of a need for antibiotics. Plough on for another couple days and we decided it was time for a visit to a doctor at Ceduna Hospital. He didn't mention swine flu. He still reckoned no secondary infection evidence and thus nothing more than symptomatic stuff from the chemist. A question of hang in there..

Today was the ride from Streaky Bay to Wudinna and for the first time there's some evidence of improvement. I feel human for a lot of the time today. A long way to go, and I heed the warnings of both medicos at the risk of heart damage if I try too much too soon .

So what does this mean? I've been off the bike for over a week. After spending months getting physically and mentally prepared for this big adventure, being off the bike this long brings the dream down in tatters. To be off the bike over the iconic Nullabor section is utterly devastating. It will take me some time to come to grips with it and I have to remember that the personal challenges are not all we're here for.

It seems even worse when I know that my legs, knees, etc were all going really well. In the end it was something that Icannot control that undid me.

Now that is out of the way, more cheerful stuff from now on. (I promise)

Fellow Travellers

When we arrived in Balladonia we came across someone else on a major cycling excursion. This makes ours appear nothing. A German woman Dorothee Fleck is essentially travelling around the world with all her possessions on her bike. It was a hybrid bike with custom frames added to support the required paniers. Looked real heavy to us. She had started the Australian leg in Darwin and gone anticlockwise from there. Including the European and Asian legs she has done about 40,000km so far!!! This appears to be the second such trip she's done and when I asked if she was going to South America she said "Another time".

While the going was flat and the wind behind us we followed each other for a couple of days and she stopped in at our morning tea break a couple of times. We parted company after about Border Village. You can find her blog at http://d-tours2.blogspot.com

We've also sen a couple of solo riders using a mountgain bike and a one wheel trailer. Seen these blokes stops, but never actually saw them on the road.

Back on Air

We've been out of wireless broadband coverage since leaving Norseman across the Nullarbor. Now that we are back into civilisation in Ceduna, coverage should be right from now on. After travelling down to Streaky Bay tomorow, we have a rest day, so I should be able to cattch up on some of what's been missed.

One good thing about being away from civilisation is that, since there are no church halls, school halls, recreation centres etc for us to stay in, we have had to stay in motel units and therefore had a proper bed to sleep in. Now its back to the air mattresses etc.

More soon.

Day 6

Today is the first rest day. Most people have pottered about doing things like re-lubing bike chains (definitely needed after riding in the rain yesterday), cleaning bikes, doing laundry and other housekeeping tasks. (Laundry is done at a local caravan park using their laundry facilities.)

As for myself I've been fighting off a cold for the last couple of days, so as soon as we dropped into Norseman yesterday I went looking for a pharmacy to get some cold symptom relief. There is no pharmacy in Norseman! Got some bits and pieces from the supermarket, but not particularly useful. This morning I wasn't feeling crash hot - not helped by getting really cold yesterday morning. On checking with the Information Centre they confirmed that there is and never has been a pharmacy in Norseman. Seems odd, but there it is. What you do is you go to the newsagent! (Actually it is called Norseman News and Health) They have a basic selection of pharmacy items and I got what I want. Apparently if someone here wants a prescription filled they take it to the newsagent and it gets shipped off somewhere else (Coolgardie? Esperance?) to be made up and sent back. You get it back two days later. Don't know what happens for more urgent matters. By the way I feel much better this afternoon, so should be ready to roll on the first of our almost 200km days. On one or other of those long days many of us think we might overshoot for a few kilometres and return so as to make the 200km mark

This rest day dawned with a clear sky (and crisp temperatures). It didn't take long for cloud cover to appear. No rain around though. More significantly a good westerly has been blowing all day, so there is hope that we'll get the same tomorrow.

Day 5

Day 5 saw us leave the Great Eastern Highway and head south on the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway for about 170km to Norseman. It rained a lot the night before and in the morning the sky was completely gray and it was drizzling. O and it was 9 degrees which was cold when taken along with the rain.

We started out in the drizzle and started to make reasonable speed, but after a while for some reason the speed "died" and the average ke4pt creeping lower and lower getting below 23 at one stage. Although the terrain didn't seem uphill, we suspect it was gradually creeping up. By the time we stopped for morning tea most of us were freezing. I had certainly under estimated the clothing I needed and piled some more on at the break. The temperature had managed 10 by this stage. Some time later we pulled in at a small roadhouse/pub for a toilet break and Jim offered us all coffee or hot chocolate out of ride food expenses. Great psychological boost.

The rain stopped at around 12:30 and the clouds cleared at around 2pm. After the moring tea stop our average speed started to creep up and continued to do so for the rest of the day - in the end respectable.

This day we had expected to be the worst for traffic issues. The road rarely had any shoulder so we had to be riding to the right of the edge white line all the time, and there was nowhere to get off should a road train pass (mostly ore carriers along this route). However the truck drivers were all extremely cooperative and we had no issues. Our road support vehicles were able to talk to the truckies as well as to the riders (three of whom carry lapel CB radios), so truckies knew exactly what was going on, when it was safe to pass, and so on. nA number of trucks let us know that they had passed us more than once over the last five days as the went about their business. One even told us he had acted as a roadie for a Bike for Bibles ride 10 years ago.

During the first half of the run there was significant evidence of wildflower season getting under way. Apart from lots of wattle, there were many other flowering shrubs - difficult to work out
what through rain blurred goggles.

Didn't take any pictures today as I didn't want a camera getting wet in my back pocket.

Day 4

Today we really got stuck into it. In a way the first three days have been a sort of introduction - 2 shorter days and a longer day but with strong tail winds. Today is the firstof the long days and there are many more to come. 169km from Southern Cross to Coolgardie.

A MUCH better day than yesterday. On the bikes at 7am to clear blue skies. It soon clouded over and was overcast all day. Threatened to rain on and off, but did not do so. Also a good strong tail wind all day. Averaged 28.2 kph and rolled into Coolgardie at 3:35pm.

Only two punctures and some maintenance work on a noisy crank.

Saw a big flock of red tailed black cockatoos trhis morning, as we had also the previous morning.

Had to get off the road at one point for a couple of monster trucks being transported. One shown in attached picture. The other picture is a bunch of amateur mechanics working on the noisy crank.

Day 3

After a brilliant day yesterday, things were not so great today. It rained quite a bit during the night and by morning there was still drizzle around and the sky was completely overcast. By the time we started out at about 7:40am things were looking a little brighter, but not much. On the road for a while it looked like clearing from the west, but not faster than we were travelling, so clearish skies stayed just behind us. After morning tea the sky clouded right over and a steady light misty drizzle set in. This left plenty of wet on the road so we were riding into the "rooster tail" from the bike in front most of the time. Dried up during the last half hour.

Something like 5 stops for punctures and related matters.

However it was not weather or punctures which made this not a great day. Just before morning tea Edna, who was riding in front, hit an unexpected pile of fine loose gravel and came a gutser. A severely grazed and bruised backside and a good shakeup were the result. The recumbent bike came out of it with a slightly bent handle bar stem, but fortunately we were able to straighten it enough to be serviceable and Edna continued riding although with considerable discomfort. No photo of a ripped backside in the shorts taken, so nothing to publish - not that I would.

Overall quite a slow day. Good job it was only 109km.

Day three is reputed as the day when the sore seats and other aches and pains show up. So I think I'm fortunate that my legs and knees are good and that my backside seems to be setting in OK to the new seat that I bought for the trip and only "ran in" for about 500km before hand.

Three days down - that's one tenth of the riding days, though not one tenth of the distance.

Day 2

The good and the bad of cycling. One picture shows a puncture being attended nto in the middle of nowhere. The other is lunch set up ready to be attacked by hungry cyclists.

Today was a run of about 165km, so yesterday was just a warmup. We got on the road at about 7:30am and after a modest climb out of Northam we had rolling country with no serious climbs all the way. (So its not really worth putting an altitude profile up here.) Around 8am a good stiff North Westerly came up and we were able to fly along all day. At times we were rolling along the flat at 35kph and simply rolling the pedals over. We averaged over 27kph for the day. That is a really good speed for the recumbents as Roger says they'd never under any conditions exceeded 25kph on a run before.

The morning was practically cloudless, but about lunch time a small front passed over from the west and sprinkled very lightly at that time. Later in the day a few heavy showers could be seen ahead of us, and Eric in tghe support vehicle who had run on ahead to contact the newspaper in Merredin reported raining cats and dogs where he was. Fortunately by the time we got there the system had moved on and we got no rain at all.

The support vehicles (and a few of the riders) are in contact with each other and the truckies via CB radios. At one point along the way a local farmer in his office popped up and said he'd been listening to us for a couple of hours and was able to give us a few bits of useful info about the locality. He offered us a spot sheltered from the wind for lunch, but we'd already had it.

The local newspaper photographer photographed us on the road a few km out of Merredin and then again when we stopped at our accommodation at the local high school.

A really good day despite the four puncture stops.

Day 1 Ride Profile

For those interested here is the altitude profile for Day 1's ride courtesy of Eric's GPS wizardry.

Day 1

The day looked very dodgy at about 5:30am when it was still bucketing down! While we were packing up and having breakfast it was still drizzling. When the photographer from the community newspaper had finished with us and we got under way it was not raining but the road was still wet. We never got more than a few spots of rain from then on and as we climbed out of Perth the weather got better and better and we ended up with a beautiful day with good temperatures and a gentle following breeze most of the time.

For me there was some apprehension starting out on the first day, and I suspect I was not alone. How would we go? The first thing out of Perth was a 6km climb, 350m of altitude. That was easier than I expected and the rest of the day was rolling countryside. We finished around 12:30.

The St Johns Anglican church that we are staying in at Northam provided afternoon tea for us and will also provide dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow.

During our morning tea stop Eric was interviewed by the Christian radio station Sunshine FM. I think this resulted in at least one good donation.

Day 0 afternoon

Riding from Perth to Sydney it seemed logical to try and ride from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. So it was the intention this afternoon to ride from our digs to Cottesloe beach and dip lour toes in the water. Circumstances conspired against us, however, and we didn't quite make it. It was going to be a 3.5 hour trip and by the time the church service finished and we got ourselves organised for lunch it was getting too late. Further there were still showers passing through, some quite heavy, and we would likely have our gear soaked before the ride proper started tomorrow. Therefore instead we hopped in the bus again and went down to the beach for some photos.

So the time has come! We should be off at about 7:30am on day 1.

Day 0 morning

First up today all those already here piled into Richard's bus and headed to Lesmurdie Baptist Church for their service. Two of our riders come from that church (there are three from WA all up). A couple of our number spoke (see photo) and there was a brief commissioning included in the service.

Day -1

Today seemed to be mostly occupied with getting things ready. It takes a lot of supplies to feed and look after 22 people for 5 weeks, especially when some of that time is in places where you can't easily restock. It took nearly three hours in the supermarket and, I believe, well over $2000 in initial supplies. (The photo attached today shows some of thosen supplies being sorted ready for packing into the trailers.)

People are starting to arrive at the Ascot Kayak Club where we are staying in Perth. A dozen of us piled into Richard's bus to head to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. The rest will roll up tomorrow.

Day -2

Arrived in Perth today at about noon. The weather in Perth this afternoon is pretty foul. Squalls coming through frequently and a howling westerly blowing. It's got two days to clear up!

Driving across the Nullarbor we had great weather and nice westerlies blowing all the time. We hope that keeps up.

Roger's car really chewed the petrol with the head wind plus a weighty trailer with 5 bikes on top. We mostly needed to top up every 150km because we couldn't be sure of making 300km.

This was my first trip across towards the west and I have to say the trip was a great deal more interesting than I expected. Scenery was continuously changing and never got boring. Definitely have to come through again with time for sightseeing.

Having spent 4.5 days on the crossing most days were long, with the 3rd and 4th days being almost 1000k.

Caught up with Eric and Richard driving the bus at Merredin last night. They had started on Saturday, so we gained two days on them.

The attached photo shows gthe two cars travelling together at Nullarbor Roadhouse, showing the Nullarbor in the background.

Are we there yet?

We've overnighted in Mildura, Kimbla and Madura Pass and will spend tonight in Merredin - a mere 260km short of Perth.

Roger's 3 wireless broadband has had no connection since Canberra, and this post is coming via a 9600 baud mobile phone modem. SLOW!!! Hence no pictures today.

We've had a good trip, but not much time to stop and smell the flowers. More tomorrow when we get a decent Internet connection.

On the Road

Day -6. We finally hit the road this morning. I guess despite all the months of preparation, it all seems real now. So I guess its a case of "Coming ready or not."

We made Mildura today. One ofthe notable things about the trip from Canberra was that it seemed green the whole way. Then as we approached Mildura we went through some strange weather that rained mud! The cars are filthy.

The picture shows Roger finishing the trailer hookup this morning.

Send Off

Day –7 (Sunday 9th Aug)

An “At Home” was organised this afternoon to send us off on our way as we hit the road driving to Perth tomorrow morning.  Great turn out, over 20 folk gathered, and a good time had by all.

Detailed Ride Schedule

Date	From	To	Km	Total
17/08/2009	Perth	Northam	97	97
18/08/2009	Northam	Merredin	162	259
19/08/2009	Merredin	Southern Cross	109	368
20/08/2009	Southern Cross	Coolgardie	186	554
21/08/2009	Coolgardie	Norseman	167	721
22/08/2009			0	721
23/08/2009	Norseman	Balladonia	192	913
24/08/2009	Balladonia	Caiguna	182	1095
25/08/2009	Caiguna	Madura Pass	158	1253
26/08/2009	Madura Pass	Border Village	192	1445
27/08/2009	Border Village	Nullarbor Roadhouse	182	1627
28/08/2009	Nullarbor Roadhouse	Nundroo Roadhouse	148	1775
29/08/2009	Nundroo Roadhouse	Ceduna	151	1926
30/08/2009	Ceduna	Streaky Bay	109	2035
31/08/2009			0	2035
1/09/2009	Streaky Bay	Wudinna	131	2166
2/09/2009	Wudinna	Kimba	101	2267
3/09/2009	Kimba	Port Augusta	156	2423
4/09/2009	Port Augusta	Port Pirie	90	2513
5/09/2009	Port Pirie	Burra	120	2633
6/09/2009			0	2633
7/09/2009	Burra	Waikerie	123	2756
8/09/2009	Waikerie	Paringa	81	2837
9/09/2009	Paringa	Gol Gol	145	2982
10/09/2009	Gol Gol	Balranald	154	3136
11/09/2009	Balranald	Hay	132	3268
12/09/2009			0	3268
13/09/2009	Hay	Leeton	163	3431
14/09/2009	Leeton	Temora	131	3562
15/09/2009	Temora	Young	81	3643
16/09/2009	Young	Yass	102	3745
17/09/2009	Yass	Goulburn	90	3835
18/09/2009	Goulburn	Picton	122	3957
19/09/2009	Picton	Cronulla Uniting Church	96	4053

Some Ride Details

There are four people from Kippax Uniting Church involved directly in this ride. Trevor Lawrence, Edna Kauffman and Roger Kauffman are cycling the full distance, while Eric Mobbs will be one of the roadies.

I don't have the full details of how many will be on the ride, but I expect it to be somewhere of the order of 20 riders and there will be at least 3 support vehicles (these are the vehicles that I know directly about).


This ride is a big challenge for Roger, Edna, Trevor and Eric. On August 17th we will be heading out from Perth on our bikes and for the next five weeks will share the trials, tribulations, pain and joys of life on the road as we ride to Sydney arriving on September 19th in our longest marathon yet undertaken.
We will have distances of up to 200 km to do in a day with average daily distances of 172.5 km for the 7 day period it will take to cross the Nullarbor.

The route is shown roughly on the map above.

I'll post the full schedule as soon as I beat this blog post editor into accepting the table I want to put in!

Why Ride Perth to Sydney

Bike for Bibles rides were born in Australia in December 1984 when Bob Forrest, his son Dave and Dave’s friend Wayne rode from Sydney to Melbourne. They raised $2000.00. Since then many thousands of cyclists, road support crew, supporters and volunteers have raised well over ten million dollars to support a huge number of Bible Society mission projects.

Bike for Bibles rides are now also happening in a number of other countries around the world. We are very proud to be involved in Bob Forrest’s original vision of distributing Bibles to millions of people around the world. Bob’s vision was to proclaim God’s love and grace and the salvation message of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ to the world.

Blog Creation

This blog has been created as a vehicle for posting information to friends and relatives on the progress of the Perth to Sydney cycle ride with "Bike for Bibles" to raise funds for the NSW Bible Society.

The ride starts on 17-Aug-2009, so today is day -11. Over the next day or so I'll publish some data on the ride.