Crossed the border into South Australia

This morning I cycled over the border into South Australia and left Western Australia that occupies 32.9% of the continent. Western Australia was spectacular and it changed every day from the top end to the start of the Great Australian Bite at Eucla. The morning was very clear and with no cloud cover it got down to 3 degrees. One thing I am amazed with is the lack of wildlife and therefore the lack of road kill. Last time I cycled across the Nullarbor in 2000, it was a sea of life and a continual smell of dead kangaroo’s on the side of the road.

Within the first 40km’s the sun rose and I rode along the Eyre Highway that for some distance followed the cliff face of the Bite. With low lying vegetation and clear conditions the coastline looked awesome. As the sun rose higher the deep blue colours of the Great Southern Ocean gleamed from the bottom of the rocky cliff faces. We managed to stop at a number of lookouts and enjoyed the beauty, standing in amazement of how the country just drops off into the sea.

As we stood at the last lookout 60km’s west of the Nullarbor Roadhouse, we saw a Great Southern Whale frolicking at the base of the cliffs. At the same time a storm blew across the ocean straight towards us. I immediately jumped back onto the bike and made the most of the strong tail wind. I managed to stay reasonably dry and made great time in reaching our days destination at 1.30pm.

I have travelled 196km’s today and we are now going down 12km’s to the coast to spot more whales and just chill out with the landscape.

A special thanks to the Bayfield family who own a number of Bottlemart hotels. They ran a Rugby Luncheon last week and donated almost $20,000 to the charity – FANTASTIC.

Kindest regards, Craig

View from the cliff top

 

Great Australian Bite

 

Whale watching

Out with the old in with the new!

After tears from support crew one it was on the road with the new support crew after an interview with the ABC. On a perfect morning with a great tail wind I headed out of Longreach and directly west towards Winton. The road and terrain out here is flat, flat flat. Again we saw emu’s, roo’s and large eagles soaring over the highways looking for food. The road trains out here are starting to get longer with three trailers hitched on the back, and measuring 55m in length. The truckies and travellers have all been great out west passing on their best with a honk of the horn and a friendly wave.

We have safely arrived in a small town called Winton some 178km’s from Longreach. The omniscout is still having a few hissy fits and not registering over half the days movements. The tracker system now sits in the support vehicle as we thought the vibrations from the road on my bike may have affected the functions.

We have been invited to stay at the Matilda Country Tourist Park in Winton tonight and will do a small presentation to the other travellers over dinner.

I hope all went well today at Avalon Public School today, who held a massive skip-a-thon for the charity.

Regards, Craig

Out they go! Say goodbye to Support Crew One... see you at the finish line!

 

Back on the road

 

New Crew for Leg Two!