The final trip

The last of the pic's of the aussie outback, taken from about 10,000m.

The story of the stolen bike

Some mo-fo in sydney nicked my racer, when it was locked to a lamp-post, this caused a number of days of mass depression. Had to sort out a new set of wheels, and here's the first picture. No specialised rubbish on this trip!!

July 29th - Aug 1st - Whitsunday Islands

WhitSunday Islands

July 29th



July 30th





Spot the two typo's.





July 31st





Aug 1st

July 27th - Prosperine to Airley Beach

Distance	Overall Total
52km	2733 km

Easy ride out to airley beach, and a side trip to shute haven beach.

July 26th - Prosperine

Distance	Overall Total
45 km	2681 km

The overnight bus was better than expected, i actually got some sleep between the various stops and the driver not going slower than 100kmph.

July 22-23-24th - Fraser Island

July 22nd

Up at frigging 5.45am to start the packing of the jeeps and more information on driving etc. Eventually get going at about 8.30, and get the ferry to island at 9.30.



Cool star gazing and saw about 8 shooting stars.

July 23rd
Up early to see the moring sunrise. Hit Indian Head, Champange Pools, Ely creek.



Shitty rainy weather in the camping ground, but we strung up the ground sheets as roof covers and most people got comfortable.

July 24th
Went to Raindow gourge, some more lakes. Back to the main land at 3.30. Completly wrecked

July 25th - Hervey Bay

Three days stuck on an island with a small day pack, no showers and no real change of clothes, some washing is need. So body and clothes are all fully recovered and washed after the last few days.

Will book a flight back to melbourne, and kill some time before the night bus leave at 21.00 this evening.

July 21st - Hervey Bay

Signed up for a 3 day tour of Fraser Island, which will leave tomorrow. Fixed up a reservation for mmy bus north to airley beach, and a reservation on a sailing tour up there for Saturday week.

The afternoon was a meeting the tour group and sorting out food and camping gear. There are 4 germans [1 mann, 3 madchen], 3 english girls, a spanish couple and me. In total there are 5 groups of 11 going from the hostel.

July 20th - Gympie to Hervey Bay

Distance	Overall Total
123 km	2636 km

Back into the sneaky undulating aussie country side, where its never actually flat, and there seems to be more rises than downhill sections. Got into Hervey Bay about 3ish, and stayed in the Koala hostel.

July 19th - Noosa to Gympie

Distance	Overall Total
65 km	2513 km

I missed the bus to Steve Irwins "Zoo Australia", and since noosa seems to be as dead as a dodo at night time i said screw this and hit the road again. The legs didn't aggree with this decision, made really slow progress, so just called it a day in Gympie and crashed out.

July 18th - Brisbane to Noosa

Distance	Overall Total
142 km	2448 km

Bit of a long and boring day just getting out of Brisbane. Made some good progress on the motorway for 100km, then the last 40 beside the sea into Noosa.

July 16th - Ipswich to Brisbane

Distance	Overall Total
45 km	2306 km

Easy 40km ride from ipswich into brisbane city centre.

July 13th - Murwillumbah to North Tamborine

Distance	Overall Total
112 km	2147 km

Mr Warning in the morning from Murwillumbah.



Started heading for Tweed Heads, and hit the gold coast. Followed the coast north passing through surfers paradise.



Headed for Mt Tamborine, some tough climbing but worth it for the views from the top. Stayed in a really nice cottage on Kidd lane in North Tamborine.

July 14th - North Tamborine to Ipswich

Distance	Overall Total
114 km	2261 km

Great start to the day dropping off the Mt Tamborine back to the lowlands. Stopped for lunch in the town of Beaudesert.

The final run into Ipswich was pain with tight, endulating roads with lots of city traffic.

Was passing this scrap yard, went this dog appears at my wheel, running along side and going mental. I unclipped one foot from the peddal in case the dog did anything and i had to stop. Seems to be going fine, near past this dogs patch, and its slowing down when the fucker makes a last effort and bits my leg - just a little scratch but still sore and some blood. Anyway the dog thinks its great now, and is on for more of this game.. I don't agree.. so the defensless leg thats been bitten, now turns into an offensive weapon. I flick the leg and get the heal to connect with the right ear area of the dogs head, he decided the game wasn't that much fun then..

Get into Ipswich and find Adam St, where Noel and Deirdre live.

July 12th - Byron Bay to Murwillumbah

Distance	Overall Total
82 km	2035 km

Easy enough day today cutting inland towards an acient volcano crater, the dirt road climb over the crater rim and descent was interesting. Mr Warning is the original centre of the volcano, and the only piece of rock that has not been eroided.

July 9th - Woodburn to Byron Bay

Distance	Overall Total
68 km	1953 km

Feeling good this morning, have to switch the rear tube, seems the valve has given up the goast. Hit Ballina after 1.5 hours, and have a nice ride along the coast into Byron.

Going to chill here for a few days, maybe try surfing.

July 8th - Grafton to Woodburn

Distance	Overall Total
100 km	1885 km

Easy day following the clarence river as it heads east towards the coast.

July 6th - Armindale to Dorrigo

Distance	Overall Total
124 km	1661 km

Another tough day heading back towards the coast. The locals in armindale reckon the road is flat, but a 2000m climb over the distance says there wrong.

July 7th - Dorrigo to Grafton

Distance	Overall Total
124 km	1785 km

From dorrigo i can take an easy route to Coff Harbor, but being me i take more difficult route and head directly to Grafton, a descent which in fact involves more climbing. The first 20km are paved, but then we have 20km of dirt roads. Some dodgy downhill sections and slippy turns - TOO EASY. The last 10km to the main road, is a nice 700m drop on good roads, avaraged 40kmph on the drop.

Final 75km into grafton was bit of a pain, but the next two days will be easier.

July 5th - Walka to Armindale

Distance	Overall Total
64 km	1537 km

Nice clear but cool weather for this easy stage to the main town of the highlands.

July 4th - Nowendoc to Walka

Distance	Overall Total
72 km	1473 km

Knew today would be easier after yesterdays climb, but the 70km was still fairly tough, with overcast and drizzly weather all the way.

July 2nd - Newcastle to Gloucester

Distance	Overall Total
125 km	1324 km

Wayne, david, sven.. which one do you blame, or all of them. Herr Kinsmann better deliver the goods now. Bit pissed off that the "man u" ronaldo had to score the winner. Alle le bleu.

Getting out of newcastle on a sunday was good, since with three lane highways for the first 40km on the pacific highway. I reckon a monday morning would have seen me playing death cycling with large trucks.

Hit "The Buckets Way" which is another of these aussie road that seem flat, but have never ending slight rises and large decents. For a simple 150m climb, i had to accended over 800m today.

Yet again the navigator has under estimated the distances, we're going to have to review the staff profile.

July 3rd - Gloucester to Nowendoc

Distance	Overall Total
77 km	1401 km

The cycle book i'm using recommends traveling this stage in the opposite direction.
Warning one. As quoted from the book, "the 6.4 km winding very steep descent", warning two. So of course i'm doing it against the grain - so the enjoyable downhill stage turns into a 7 hour slog with over 2000m climbing. You know its steep then the trucks are coming downhill at about 5kmph, and there are runoff ramps about every 1km.



Anyway - at the end of the day - it was all TOO EASY. The mountain was broken.

Nowendoc has about 4 buildings, a general store, a motel and two others that seems to be used by horses. The dude running the general store is a belfast man who came out here in 1961, had a good chat with him about ship building and other random things.

July 1st - Newcastle

Great weather for chilling in newcastle. Will head inland into the great
dividing range tomorrow for a few days, so recharging the batteries is a good
idea.



Start of tour de france, maybe next year!!

June 30th - Kincumber to Newcastle

Distance	Overall Total
90 km	1389 km

Headed towards avoca beach and hit the coast at tergial.

The pacific highway is fairly busy as it approaches newcastle. Get the
first drops of rain as i approach swansea, decide to stop for lunch and
let the weather pass.

The rain has stopped after lunch but the roads are wet and cold for the final
30km into newcastle. Find the YHA with no hassel.

Vince Golding the new owner of my trek fuel 90 mountain bike is from newcastle,
had suggest checking out "The Brewrey". I confirmed that it this as its name suggest - have beer.

World cup quater finals, had a feeling the germany game would go to penalties.
Didn't care about the other game, german will beat them in the semi either way.

June 29th - Sydney to Kincumber

Distance	Overall Total
75 km	1299 km

Headed north out of sydney CBD, across the harbour bridge. Eventually find Manly beach and work my way up the coast, getting to Palm beach eventually.



Use the ferry to cross the channel. The late start and ferry delay, means i have to stop in Kilcumber to the night.

June 24th - 28th - Sydney

June 24th - Sydney 1

Wake up about 7ish, with some auld dude snoring into my ear, an accidental
of movement woken him - punk. So we seem to be close to sydney, i think we
must be ahead of schedule. We hit the sydney subarbs and the train like
slows to waking pace - completly ridiculose. The old dude has started snoring
again,, get me of this train..

Eventually get into sydney main station. At last a proper city. Anyway, sort
of somewhere to stay. Ireland play the aussies tonight, so arrange to meet a
friend of my sisters. The irish mafia are everywhere. Watch the match in coogee,
the bar has this special on once the game that all scooner beers are free until
the first point is scored. We had a scare after 5 min when ireland looked liked
kicking a point, but our man o'gara went for the line. Someone scores after about
15 mins, and ther must be about 20 beers of the table in front of us. Needless to
say these where all drank, the result of the game was forgotten, and of course we
have to head back into the city for some dodgy irish pub.

June 25th - Sydney 2

Think i got home about 4ish, with the biggest collection of aussie coins in
my pockets that anyone has ever gathered.

I woke up about 4ish (pm). Small tour of the town, various promises of never
drinking again.

June 23th - Adelaide to Sydney

10.00am

Left adelaide on a 24 hour train journey to sydney.

4.00pm

I know why the train takes 24 hours, because its only going about
30kmph - i reckon i'd cycle quicker. Seems every OAP in austalia is
afraid of flyling or else they gets a free ticket, because the average
age on the train has to be in the triple figures. Train stops for a
hour at broken hill, maybe there's a retirment village there.

7.00pm

Broken Hill - having been stuck on the train for 8 hours i was looking
forward to this stop, to strech my legs for an hour. I was back in my
seat after 15 minutes - absolutly NOTHING to do in this town.

23.00pm

Two dudes have got on from somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I now know how
to track, kill and a render various native and ferial animals of the austalian
outback. Seems shooting is the main leisure activity of the two dudes. Kangeroos,
foxes, emu's, wild boars, rabbits, cats and many more animals are on the nightly
hit list for these boys. Beers and four wheel drive vechicals are also needed.

00.43pm

All the beer has been drunk and the bar's closed. The track seems to have been built over every bump.

June 20th - Kangaroo Island Bus Tour

Seal Bay



Remarkable Rock





At last, they have found some thing that will fit on my head. Might be a bit heavy for the bike but..





Another cool aussie sun set

June 21th - Cape Jervis to Adelaide

Distance	Time	Overall Total
101 km	4h	1224 km

Always going to a boring day with a return leg back to adelaide. Had to get the
8.30 ferry which was as choppy as the irish sea in winter. Was feeling a little
bit green when we arrived.



A nasty 350m climb for the 5 km was tough, and not cleaning the chain after the dirty roads on monday was not the best idea. Had a strong head wind all the way, which made the going hard, and you know your up against it when you have to peddle to keep the bike going downhill.

June 19th - Kangaroo Island Cycle

Distance	Time	Overall Total
101 km	4h	1224 km

Another really well setup YHA hostel, just 5 mins from the port in penneshaw.



Having booked myself on a bus tour tomorrow, i took the bike and did some
off road touring, around the davids penisula end of the island.


The dirt roads are fine to cycle on, but alot of concentration is need to avoid
holes and stones. I found cycling in the middle of the road the best, as the road
edges tended to contain patches of soft sand that the front wheel would stick in.



The town of penneshaw from above, with the main land in the back ground.

June 18th - Adelaide to Cape Jervis

Distance	Time	Overall Total
113 km	4h 52m	1123 km

Started about 9am and meet a lot of sunday cycle groups leaving from adelaide
for the hills as i made my way out of the city.

I worked my way down the feriuer penninsula

The sea link ferry covered the 12km strech between kangeroo island and the main
land in 45 minutes.

Since i arrived at the ferry at 3, and the next sailing wasn't until 6, i was about i capture this neat sun set across st vincents bay.

A day had a couple of a small climbs, with the last 20km a constant rise. The decent to the ferry from 350m was quick.

Google Map

In case peoples geography isn't too good, the map above may help you track where i am and have been. Still a beta version. Off to sydney tomorrow on the train. Next updtae from the east coast.

GMap Test

3rd Test

June 16th - Adelaide Hills

Distance	Time	Overall Total
62 km	3h	1010 km

Headed for the adelaide hills first thing this morning, a nice excuse to test the new rear wheel. I also replaced the chain, rear gear cogs and brake blocks. It's amazing how smooth the ride on the bike is now. The weather didn't help the view from the top.



Taken on the decent back into the city, glad i replace the brake blocks.



Once I was back in the city, i decided "forest gump" like to continue cycling, and had lunch on the beach near henley. It was tough having to sit in a pier, with warm sun and sound of waves as i ate my lunch.



For the stat's people, the polar heart rate/speed/altitude graph of todays ride.



The evening will be spent with luandry, blogging and figuring out a plan for what/where to do next week.

June 15th - Adelaide City

Distance	Time	Overall Total
27 km	0	948 km

Collected the bike at mid afternoon and did a small tour around adelaide.



Good being back in city again, really like this place.

June 14th - Tintinara to Adelaide

Distance	Time	Overall Total
0 km	0	921 km

The megaopolis that is tintinara. Facts

Tintinara will be 100 years old this year.
Tintinara has a train line, but no train station.
Tintinara has 4 vowels in its name.



Premier State Liner bus arrived in the dot at 12, and where on our way to adelaide.



Find a local bike store. Long and store the boys there will build a custom rear wheel, with a stronger rim and spokes - will have 24 hours. Will chill in adelaide for a couple of days.

June 13th - Keith to Tintinara

Distance	Time	Overall Total
45 km	2h	921 km

You'd think the soccoroo's had won the friggin world world cup the way the morning tv shows and newspapers are going on.. bring on brazil.



Anyway, another long one planned for today, 120km upto Tailems Bend, so set off about 9.30. Pulled in after 40kms for an eleven o clock break in a small town called Tintinara.



Heuston we have a problem

About 4km outside to tintinara, i hear a ping, then a second ping - ping.
Look down to see what the issue may be.

"We have serious mechanical difficulty - Heuston!!".

"Can you confirm the nature of the problem trek 1000".

"Yeah - well, it looks like four spokes in a row have broken, two are completly
missing, and the other two are at very strange angles. The wheel not to be outdone
has buckled so badly that its wedged itself into the frame"

I dismount and then have the persuade the wheel that it should go back towards its normal position. This involves holding the frame with my hands, and using my foot to apply pressure to the wheel. There were some weird looks from the passing cars as this operation took place.

Go the wheel moving again, kinda, and limped back to the town. Had just missed the only bus to adelaide, so just cut my losses and booked into the local motel to wait for tomorrows bus, and a decent bike shop in adelaide.

June 12th - Naracoorte to Keith

Distance	Time	Overall Total
113 km	5h	876 km

Bit worse for wear this morning after watching the holland / serbia game, and having necked a few beers last night. The yard looks very clean this morning, but there was a dude looking for a pair or runners he'd left out. i'll let the other explain.

Sunny but cool morning pulling out of Naracoorte at about 10.30ish.



Boredom on wheels today. Field, car, field, cow, truck, field, vineyard, sheep, truck, cow, field, [randomly sequence for 100km and you get the picture].

Finally hit the town of Keith at about 4. Crash in the motel, then when out to jump on the socceroo's bandwangon which had happened to stop in the town for the Austalia v Japan game. I had to explain th offside rule to about 4 people, don;t think they'll
ever really understand it. Anyway good result in the end.