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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Another interesting day – we’d left ourselves 120 kms into Port Augusta so we could get in early and meet up with some friends coming along for a ride.

Off we went at 7 am, looking to do the 120 kms in about 4 hours.

Unfortunately we rode smack bank into a headwind of 20 knots and ended up taking 6 hours, 23 minutes!

The ride was fairly flat but the wind made it feel like it was all uphill!

We were pleased to finally come into Port Augusta, but then managed to miss Mel and rode an extra 5 kms along the road before she found us.

We’re currently at the Shoreline Caravan Park where we’ve had our first showers for a few days and are sitting back relaxing before we head out for dinner.

Looking forward to a nice climb tomorrow of 450 metres (the Flinders Ranges in the photo below).  That will be our first big climb for the ride.

Cheers

Brendon

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

A real bumpy day today and the hills made a change from mostly flat days.

Surprisingly there was very little traffic today.  The weather was lovely with not a cloud in the sky and a fairly gentle breeze.

After a slow start we managed to crank out another 168 kms, ending up 38 kms east of Kimba – making us 38 kms ahead of schedule and set for an easier day tomorrow.

Jack’s feeling great and he’s been dragging me along for the last 100 kms or so at the end of each day.

We’re looking forward to getting into Port Augusta tomorrow and catching up with Chris and Jo (Support team # 2!) and David and Maree White – David is the Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Australia.

They’ll all be riding with us and we’re hoping for some drafting opportunities!

Cheers

Brendon

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A different kind of day for us as we lost 3 of our support team (Ange, Spud and Emily).

Brendon, Emily, Debora (Spud), Ange, Jack

We rolled out of the Ceduna Scout Den at 8 am and started along on the 173 km day.  The headwind was with us again, along with rain for the first few hours.

Emily Leaving Via Plane

As we went past the Ceduna Aerodrome we saw Mel dropping Emily off for her flight back to Adelaide.  A final wave as we sailed past.

The first 60 kms for the day was hilly, with no respite from the rain.  Taking turns up front we made good time to the first stop – it was a stop at the juncture of the entrance for 3 properties.

3 Old Fridges

Here we found 3 old fridges standing by the roadside.

We thought it odd that these old fridges were standing there until we discovered the farmers use them as mail boxes: you see, the seals are watertight and nothing gets in….a great place to have your mail delivered to.

The next 50 kms were a constant climb, we had to get off the road a couple of times for houses being transported along the road.

191 Kms For The Day

Once the wind died away we had a chance to really bump the speed up and so continued on our merry way – ending up doing 191 kms for the day and getting to 16 kms east of Minnipa.

An enjoyable day with Harry (Jack’s 14 yo brother) joining us for part of the ride.

We camped in a gravel pit about a kilometre from the road that Trevor managed to somehow sniff out.

Loving this bush camping!

Cheers

Brendon

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Hi, quick update from the side of the road 24 kms out of Kimba.

We did a tough 191 kms yesterday, mostly into a headwind. Today has been 100 kms to lunchtime and we’re just 24 kms out of Kimba (meant to be our stop for the night) – but we’ll push on and get ahead so that the ride into Port Augusta tomorrow is much shorter.

Tomorrow we meet up with Jo and Chris (Support Team # 2) who have driven down from the Gold Coast, and David White from big Brothers Big Sisters Australia.

Looking forward to meeting up.

More later with photos and info.

Cheers

Brendon

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Below you’ll find a couple of minutes video of the action so far:

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Monday, September 22, 2008 – 10.06 pm

Thanks so much for everyone’s comments – they’ve been a great boost for the boys when the going gets tough.

Keep them coming – we’ll be reading them every night!

You can send a comment by clicking on the ‘Comments’ link at the bottom of each post/update.  We then approve your first comment as soon as we see it (to avoid spam) and after that your comment appears instantly.

Mel

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Monday, September 22, 2008 – 6.03 pm (Gold Coast time, 5.33 pm SA time)

As you can see, we’ve finally gotten Internet access after 7 days on the Nullarbor and have had some time this afternoon to write some info and update posts below.

Here’s what Jack and Ange were doing 2 minutes ago:

Cheers

Brendon

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Monday September 22, 2008

Okay, we’d done all the hard work and got ourselves just 72 kms from Ceduna – one of the few places where we have to be at a certain time.

72 kms in a day was meant to be a breeze after days of up to 260 km.

But it didn’t quite pan out like that…………

50 Knots Winds, 3 Degrees C

We were woken several times during the night by the 50 knot winds hammering the camper trailer.  We woke at 6.30 am to find the wind still howling and the rain pelting down.

Not So Happy Campers – Mel, Emily & Trev

Unfortunately Ceduna had moved no closer durng the night so we’d still have to pedal.  Jack and I jumped onto our bikes at Penong where we stopped last night and started pedalling.

• 3 degrees C
• 50 knot crosswinds
• Freezing cold rain

Road Trains storming past and the buffeting was enough to take you from 20 km/hr to just 8 km/hr!  As the cold water spray hit us it would literally take our breath away.

It was, without doubt, the hardest bike ride I’ve ever done.

Just Trying To Get To Ceduna In 1 Piece

And there was Jack riding along without a word of complaint.  Just trying to get to Ceduna in 1 piece and with all his fingers and toes free of frost bite!

Even Old Dave Said It Was Hard!

We bumped into a guy called Dave in the local cafe – Dave rode from Penong a few hours after us.  Dave is an older guy who has ridden everywhere and done it all.

Even he said it was the hardest ride he’d ever done.  So we didn’t feel quite so soft after all!

Cheers

Brendon

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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

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