bikes shoorams

May 21: “I’ve Heard All About You.” Off in the distance I could see something smaller than a motor vehicle. It was moving slow. Was it an animal, or could it be??? Yes, it was a cyclist! I crossed the road to meet him. The first thing he says is, “I’ve heard all about you.” Actually, I had heard about him too from one of the caravan people. But, you’ll never guess how Mark had heard about me. He met Dorothy and Bev!!! Of course, it was a couple of weeks ago, he said. I forgot to ask him where he had met them. They told him to be on the lookout for me. That just made my day! As for the rest of the day, it was a good 99kms. Twice I went out to the Bunda Cliffs to have a look at the view. It was just short little distances off the highway. The first was just a dirt road, but I could see caravans were out there. I met a couple who were taking in the view while having their lunch. They were Jen and Rodney. Jen asked if she could take my picture. I told her of course she could.  The seco...

May 17: The Last Town for a Good Long While Since the wind was going to be in my favor, I didn’t worry about getting an early start. Besides, I only needed to go 72kms. Wanting to reserve my food for the Nullarbor, I stopped at the bakery in Ceduna for breakfast. I realized, as I was stopping to pee for the third time, that my breakfast had been mostly liquid (juice, hot cocoa, peanut butter smoothie in a bowl with seeds, granola, and fruit, and two pieces of raisin toast). It was delicious though. So, although the Nullarbor “officially” goes from Ceduna to Norseman, it’s not very Nullarbor-ish yet. It’s pretty much what I’ve been riding through the last few days. I didn’t see any wildlife (and no roadkill either).  Tilmann was probably the heaviest I’ve ever ridden with all the food I’m carrying (don’t even have any extra water yet), but with the tailwind, it was not bad. My average speed for today was 17km/hour. One thing I have been able to unscientifically prove is that, in a t...

When I was in Streaky Bay, everyone who talked about Ceduna only had bad things to say. They made it out to seem that Ceduna was a hotbed of crime. People only came to Ceduna to get parts for their caravans, or stock up for the Nullarbor. Nobody talked to anyone. Well, as usual, I have not found that to be the case at all. I’ve talked to many people in the caravan park and the town. In fact, I’ve found Ceduna to be one of my favorite places. The town is compact, and easy to walk around. It’s clean and has everything one could need. It even has an outdoor shop with bike stuff. I went to add some air to my rear tire (something that hasn’t been done since Maria Island off Tassie), and discovered my bike pump was nonfunctional. This one part (a small little coiled hose) had basically disintegrated. I went to the outdoor shop, and was able to get a new pump. Most amazing of all was that it only cost $10.99! And, it’s not crap either! Anyway, I’ve found all the trash talk about Ceduna to be ...

A little update from last night is in order. My camping neighbor, Ian, was also a cyclist. We chatted for a bit, then he offered me some fish for dinner that he was going to be cooking up. I said sure. Well, it wasn’t just fish, it was also pasta salad and tomato too. I contributed some chocolate for dessert. We had fun cooking on the BBQ with parchment paper (a new thing for Ian...the parchment paper). Ian was pretty funny. He had a very dry sense of humor. He is from New South Wales, and is driving to Perth to visit his sons. I have to say, about half the time I had no idea what he was saying. I’ve gotten pretty good with most of the Aussie vernacular, but sometimes the accent still throws me. Every time a person would walk by, he would say, “Hey Champ, how ya goin’?” Then when they answered, he would ask where they were from. Then, there was a camp trailer parked across from us (between us and the water). He said he wished he had a bazooka so he could blast that trailer because it w...

May 12: Back to the Coast Today was 92kms from Lock to Elliston. I have now traversed the Eyre Peninsula, and am back to the Coast. It’s taking longer and longer for the sun to come up in the morning. This morning, I got dressed, and packed up with my headlamp on. Fortunately, the Laundry room (which I repurposed as a camp kitchen) had a light. I heated water for my breakfast with my stove. I’m still on the same fuel cartridge that I started with, but I’m thinking I may have to get another one in Ceduna. Hopefully, I can get a small one. I was on the road earlier than usual, at 7:20, but there was no reason to hang around in Lock. Plus, the wind was minimal that early. There was also zero traffic. It being Saturday probably had something to do with the no traffic. The land today was mostly fields of rocks. Some enterprising folks had made walls of the rocks, but I’m not sure what exactly they were walling in (looked like more rocks to me). There was one really big rock, okay, it was mo...