Australia

We have arrived in Brisbane after riding over 3,400 miles across Australia, mainly into a headwind and having completed the Australian stage of our journey around the world. We crossed the Nullabore desert riding the longest straight road, cycled in extreme temperatures, (over 45 degree heat and less than 10 degrees on the coast), and changed our route to avoid the bush fires, which are devastating Australia. We saw extreme drought in New South Wales and Queensland, and most of the way we have been followed by a swarm of flies. We met amazing people, who have been extremely kind, supportive and generous. Australia has been hard, the toughest stage so far, but utterly amazing. 

We arrived in Perth in early November and with the help of Nigel and Trish and with a send off by MND WA (Western Australia) and the lovely Sarah, we set off, heading out of Perth towards the Perth Hills and on route to the Nullabore desert with our mascot Nik the Stolen Goat and his new friend our new MND puppy called Shelia. 

We stopped in York, the first evening, riding into the town the next morning accompanied by Mike  dressed in his blue suite riding a penny farthing, which was fantastic – especially the looks from the local residents. 

We soon realised that Australia was going to be challenging. Even during the second day out of Perth we experienced significant distances between towns, flies, headwind and heat. We passed through the wheat-belt. The landscape was vast – and the wildlife amazing. We saw fabulous birds including the rare black cockatoos, parrots and the famous Kookaburra. We were heading towards the Nullabore desert, the vast desert between Perth and Adelaide which stretches across Australia and includes the famous longest straightest road. It was almost 1,700 miles between Perth and Adelaide and it was hard to believe that much of this would be uninhabited. 

As we headed towards the desert, we had our first major mechanical. The timing chain which connects the front and rear riders, kept coming off and the mechanism to tighten it was stuck. We stopped by the side of the road in the heat covered in flies trying to fix it. A gold prospector stopped and we borrowed his tools, but we still couldn’t tighten the chain. We shortened the chain and discovered that some of the teeth in the chain wheels were bent – we used a mallet and a nail file to straighten and smooth them. It took around 7 hours to fix, but we were back on the road heading to Norseman and the official start of the desert. 

We met Angus who was heading our way and it was great to have his company for the next few days. We discovered at Norseman that the road into the Nullabore had been closed because of a bush fire. We stopped in the quirky Railway Hotel hoping that we would be able to continue the next day. 

The Nullabore is a vast desert which includes a plain with bush land as far as the eye can see. The soil is red in colour because of the vast amount of iron ore it contains. There are no towns, but the desert it serviced by Roadhouses which are significant distances (if you are cycling) apart. Road Trains which are massive lorries sometimes oversized carrying huge pieces of equipment or up to 5 massive trailers long, thunder across the desert and we needed to get off the road as we passed. 

The Roadhouses are expensive – but the only source of water and food in the desert. They also have accommodation – rooms or camping. For the most part we camped but occasionally we got a room for a good night’s sleep and the luxury of a hot shower en suite. 

We travelled along the longest straightest road into a headwind. Because of the distances between roadhouses we sometimes cycled over 100 miles each day – 121 miles being the longest day. As we crossed the Nullabore Plain we could see the Ocean. It was fantastically blue and the beaches along the coast deserted. We thought we spotted whales out to sea. We wild camped (free camp in Oz) one night near the coast with the wind nearly blowing the tent over. 

We finally reached Ceduna, a small town on the edge of the desert and by the Ocean. It felt amazing to have crossed the desert although the scenery didn’t change that much even as we emerged from it crossing the State border into South Australia. 

We had seen some amazing wildlife on route including a dingo. We had also ridden along side a mob of Kangaroos and spotted families of Emu. We also saw a significant amount of roadkill – especially kangaroos but we had also passed by dead camels, wombats, eagles, wallabies and emus. The smell and general carnage made it pretty grim at times. 

It was fantastic when people stopped to offer us water and sometimes food. Sasha from Switzerland was a life saver – giving us water as where Renato and Leonie who we saw so regularly on route that in the end Renato stood at the side of the road waving a coffee cup inviting us into their caravan for coffee and cake. A massive thank you to everyone who stopped, particularly for the cold water. 

We were almost half way across Australia when the temperatures started to get really hot (as opposed to just hot ). We cycled in over 40 degree heat and saw that the forecast for the next day predicated around 45 degrees with wind gusting at over 40 miles per hour. We decided to set off early to avoid the worse of the heat and wind. We left at 4am and cycled nearly 70 miles. Having lingered too long in a café, the last 10 miles were incredibly hot and windy. The wind had stirred up the dust and the sky was full of red dust. We saw a campsite in the grounds of a farm and pulled off the road. We knocked on the farm door seeing a sign inviting us to have a look around. The farm had been the residence of the Matthews family, the parents had died and the family had preserved the farm as it had been in the 1970s, including the place settings on kitchen table complete with the parents’ spectacles. What with the wind, dust and heat it felt like we had entered the set of a horror movie but we were incredibly grateful to have found shelter from the heat and wind. We spent the afternoon at the farm setting off early evening for the final 40 miles to Kimba, which claimed to be half way across Australia and where we met up with Angus again!

We were on route to Adelaide where we stayed with the fantastic Alex, Trish and Chloe who made us incredibly welcome and helped us get Alice sorted after her breakdown in the Nullabore. We left Adelaide climbing into the hills, which were cold in the early morning, as we tried to spot Koalas in the Eucalyptus trees. 

We were on route to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road. We managed to camp on top of a sprinkler system one evening thinking it was torrential rain until it suddenly turned off like a tap . We saw painted grain silos and where offered accommodation with Jenny and John on the back of a conversation at a local café. 

We crossed the State border into Victoria and headed south to the Great Ocean Road. It was raining and cold as we set off from Port Campbell on route to the Twelve Apostles.   The good thing about the rain was that we were the only people visiting the Twelve Apostles, which is an iconic sight and beautiful in the early morning light, the downside was that it was cold. 10 degrees at the coast and colder as we climbed high through fabulous rain forest. We were wearing sandals and fingerless gloves, our breath was freezing and it was hail stoning . We lingered way to long in the café at the top of the hill, before setting off on the freezing descent. 

We eventually made it to the coast and headed north towards Melbourne. We saw a Koala munching on Eucalyptus leaves and searched for accommodation. It was here that we had our worse experience of the trip at a campsite in Kennett River, where we had set up camp in the rain but hadn’t paid as we had arrived when the office was closed. We had called but no one had answered so we thought we would pay in the morning. The owner (when we went to pay) was incredibly hostile screaming at Raz or get out of the office then trying to kick her. This was not our experience of Australians who have been incredibly hospitable and generous. Clearly this women was having a bad day. 

We finally made it to Melbourne meeting up with Jonathan a distant cousin of Raz and staying with the lovely Jennie and Lynton. We visited the Oxfam team in Melbourne hearing from Tania about their fantastic work, especially with the Aboriginal communities and supporting women. 

We were on route to Brisbane, the final part of our epic journey across Australia. We stopped in the small town of Oaklands where we were invited by some truckers at the bar, to the local club. We later learned that clubs in Australia are were the local community gather, often to eat and generally to be social (not like clubs in the UK). Tentatively we went along. We were made incredibly welcome, details of our ride where announced and the raffle monies donated. We also looked at the route with drivers who regularly went north. Bush fires had been burning along the coast, around Sydney and on route to Brisbane. The fires were early this year and have been devastating. We decided to change our route to avoid the fires and smoke. Unfortunately, this meant that we were unable to stop in Newcastle where we had arranged to send spare parts for Alice, and to meet Tanya. 

We crossed the border into New South Wales, stopping in Wagga Wagga, meeting up with Fiona and Richard and taking the morning to have Alice’s cables replaced whilst having coffee with local cyclists. We headed north into an area of devastating drought. What was once fertile farmland is now barren in parts. Livestock has been sold and the remainder is being fed with food transported in at great cost. 

This area was incredibly hot and exhausting to cycle through. It was hard to drink enough water to keep hydrated. We stopped in motels as it was too hot to camp as the night time temperatures were really high. 

We met Tanya in Dubbo who had kindly driven from Newcastle with the spare parts for Alice. In Parkes, famous for its telescope (which we visited) and its Elvis festival (which we didn’t) we woke to the small of smoke from a bush fire burning more than 50 miles away. The sky was yellow and our eyes streamed as we rode along. 

We made it to Moree having crossed that State border into Queensland, where we “took in” the famous waters and we were then on the final push to Brisbane. It was simply too hot, but we kept cycling stopping in Forest Hill with Edwina and Gary and finally onto Brisbane on a day which broke records for its high temperature (43 degrees). 

In Brisbane we stayed with the incredibly generous and kind Alysia, who fed, watered us and drove us around as we needed to service Alice. We were also interviewed by ABC news about our ride. 

Australia has been an incredibly experience. We believe we have seen the real Australia with its generous and hospitable people, it’s amazing wildlife but also with its incredibly challenging environment. The bush fires are devastating, people are loosing their homes and the wildlife is being decimated. The drought has been ongoing for years with some places not having rain since 2016. This is laying to waste to what was once fertile farmland. The winds are also changing – apparently much stronger in some areas than in the past – certainly we spent many hours battling into a headwind. 

Many people we are met are skeptical about climate change, but from what we have seen on our journey so far, the climate is changing. We saw massive flooding as a result of an extended monsoon in South East Asia and significant drought in the beautiful Australia. We saw a sign as we headed into Queensland which simply read “Pray for Rain”. I’m not sure this will help but we will be thinking of the amazing and generous peoples of Australia and hoping for rain to end the awful drought and bush fires sweeping this beautiful country.