Week 21 :: TandemWOW

Week 21

18 Nov 2019
Mark

Day 141

Saturday 16th November 2019

Nullabore National Park to Nullabore Roadhous.

One word which could summarise the day- headwind!

Woke as the sun was rising over the Nullabore NP. It had been windy and cold during the night. Good job the tent was fully pegged down- if not I think we would have been blown away.

We packed up and set off into the wind and across the Nullabore Plain. The scenery is beautiful but desolate- we could see across the plain for miles.

We saw a dingo!

It was gruelling riding against the wind. We pulled off into a picnic area and rested Alice against the bin (as there were no tables)! Leonie and Renato, driving from Perth, came over and said how exhausting it was driving into the wind - explaining that they were using lots of fuel! We know how they felt . They made us a coffee and boiled water for our flask - which was incredibly welcome.

We caught glimpses of the sea, as the coast wasn’t far away. We finally caught sight of the roadhouse - though it didn’t seem to get any closer as we rode towards it.

We finally arrived. Had a great dinner of pasta and chatted to a couple of fellow cyclists also from the UK. Another big ride tomorrow as we get closer to Ceduna and the end of the Nullabore!

Day 142

Sunday 17th November 2019

Nullabore Road House to Nundroo Road House.

Left the roadhouse riding into the usual headwind. We were still crossing the Nullabore plain and all we could see was bush/grassland stretching out before us. We saw a turnoff to the coast - it was tempting to see if we could spot some Whales- but we carried on.

The scenery started to change and we climbed out of the plain into forest. The parrots were back and we tried to spot wombats in the woodland. We stopped at a picnic spot and were grateful for the shade of the trees.

The road was undulating which protected us from the wind but hilly as a result and it was hot!

Evelyn and Ashok stopped in their camper and gave us water. Yewli and Matthew also stopped with a tandem on their roof on route to a ride along the Ocean Highway- and gave us fruit - including home grown bananas (which was fab).

We carried on through Aboriginal land finally emerging into fields on wheat (the first we had seen for days). The last few miles were a battle into the wind but we finally made it to the roadhouse where we have just paid $10 for two cups of tea.

Day 143

Monday 19th November 2019

Nullabore Road House to Ceduna.

We have crossed the Nullabore desert! Since arriving in Australia we have cycled around 1200 miles, had a serious mechanical, cycled along the longest straightest road - all into a head wind and in some of the remotest areas we will ever see. We are quite pleased to have survived it - especially in the heat today.

We left the roadhouse having packed up our tent in the cold morning air. We set off - watching the scenery change as we passed through desert and into farm land.

We passed through a wombat graveyard (roadkill) and stopped for lunch in Penong. By this time it was really hot and we were followed by a swarm of flies. We passed through a quarantine area for fruit and veg and finally arrived in Ceduna with views of the sea. A man who had seen us in the road gave us oysters to celebrate.