Day 11 – Nullarbor to Penong – 195 km Of Heat & Cross Winds

by admin on September 22, 2008

Sunday September 21, 2008

Today we set out about 45 kms east of the Nullarbor Roadhouse (where we were meant to stay), after an enjoyable night spent round the campfire chatting with Bert, Claudine, Bob and Daphne (all touring about in caravans).

We packed up and set off at 8am into the cloudless day where tempearturs soon hit the 31 degree mark.

Unfortunately the headwind we rode into didn’t let up and we spent most of the day struggling up hills.  There were very few kangaroos littering the side of the highway (just 3 for the day), but we saw probably 20 dead wombats – sad to see.

Jack with Janice – Janice donated $5 and
7 slices of Corned Beef!  Delicious!

Stu Joins Us For Day 1 and Day 11

The highlight of the day was when we were riding into Nundroo for lunch- a cyclist was riding the other way and as we got close he yelled out:

“Heh, aren’t you the Paris Hilton of Australian cycling?!”

That was what Stu and I (Stu rode us out of Perth on Day 1) called Jack when he was getting all the media attention in Perth.

Jack, Stu & Brendon

Stu had driven from Perth to Ceduna (about 2,000 kms) to buy a caravan and was on his way back when he saw the team waiting for us in the Nundroo roadhouse.

Stu had bought his bike, so jumped out, onto the bike and rode out to see us.  Really nice to catch up with Stu even if it was only for a few minutes (Stu is Ange’s brother).

Mel always follows directions!

Rest Of Day Into Crosswind

The rest of the day was into a crosswind.  It was a real tough day, but at the end we’d manged to clock up 195 km and we’re just 72 kms from Ceduna where we pick up Laura and Harry (Jack’s sister and brother).

We set up camp 16 kms out of Penong and Spud droe out to bring us back in at 5.40 pm.

Emily cooked up fried rice which went down a treat – Jack went back for seconds, thirds and fourths!

Cheers

Brendon

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Spud September 26, 2008 at 12:19 am

Hi Guvs
Because I’m a bit of a weather nut I thought I’d start sending the forcasts for the journey.
From Port Augusta – fine and sunny moderate northerly wind over Flinders Range ahead of southerly change.
Sunday Broken Hill – Fine 12 – 23 Moderate south to southwestly wind. More to follow.
And as the truckies say “Keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down”
I am so proud of you both I have tears in my eyes.
Love Spud

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