About : RAAUST

Adelaide – Sydney September 10 – 25, 2002 Perth – Adelaide October 7 – 25, 2002 Why? “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off this feather bed of civilisation, an find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.” Robert Louis Stevenson

The Summing Up

RAAUST 2002 – Ride Across Australia
Adelaide – Sydney September 10 – 25, 2002
Perth – Adelaide October 7 – 25, 2002

Why?
“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off this feather bed of civilisation, an find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.” Robert Louis Stevenson

5,607 km, 3,504 mi – Bob’s RAAUST route
5,127 km, 3,204 mi – Bob’s actual distance ridden
4,315 km, 2,697 mi – Bob’s RAAM route (for comparison)
4,200 km, 2,625 mi – Paul Salter’s RAAUST route (Bike Australia – see bibliography)
480.0 km, 300 mi – distance Bob covered by bus
176.8 km, 110.5 mi – Bob’s actual average kilometers ridden per day

29 – number of days on bike
4 – number of break days (Adelaide, Melbourne (2), Sydney)

hundreds – number of nice people met in Australia
hundreds – dead kangaroos/wallabies seen (all over, but mainly western Nullarbor)
70 – people who registered on the website and joined the trip
dozens – live kangaroos/wallabies seen
dozens – number of times dive bomb attacked by magpies
dozens – live emu’s seen (western Nullarbor)
a few – dead emu’s seen
4 – flat tires (Bairnsdale, Orbost, Mandurah, Nundroo)
3 – dead camels seen (20km east of Norseman)
2 – koalas seen (in a nature park by Bateman’s Bay)
2 – number of assholes met in Australia (really only one guy)
1 – oz. liquid per kilometer (fuel, kind of like mpg)
1 – number of live camels seen (on a farm outside Augusta)
1 – number of live dingo’s seen (eastern Nullarbor)

Places in Australia I’d go back to:
#1 – Southwest coast & forests from Perth to Albany, maybe Espreance too
#2 – Southeast coast from Lakes Entrance to Sydney
#3 – The Cities: Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth

Most fun places to ride in Australia:
#1 – Southwest coast and forests
#2 – Great Ocean Road

Places in Australia I want to go that I haven’t seen:
#1 – The East Coast from Sydney to Cairns, Queensland
#2 – The North Coast and central Australia – Darwin, Ayers Rock
#3 – The Eyre Peninsula Coast

Places in Australia I will probably not ride across again:
#1 – The Nullarbor, from Esperance to Norseman to Ceduna
#2 – The farms and pastures – Melbourne to Lakes Entrance, Eyre Peninsula
#3 – The hills between Lakes Entrance and Wollongong

Some things I like about Australia:
#1 – The people. Almost universally friendly, helpful and into life.
#2 – The culture and scale of things. Less commercialism, more egalitarian, very comfortable.
#3 – The differences. Flora, fauna, language, side-of-road, seasons, etc. Makes it feel like you are exploring a slightly different world.

Next BIG rides:
#1 – Europe (Lisbon, Madrid, Lyon, Munich, Prague, Warsaw, Minsk, Moscow)
#2 – South America (Lima, Antofagasta, Salta, Asuncion, Sao Paulo)
#3 – Asia (Moscow, Omsk,Semipalatinisk, Ueumqui, Lanzhou, Shanghai)
#4 – Africa (Freetown, Lagos, Douala, Bangui, Kisangani, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam)

And thank you to everyone who “rode” along with me…
Aaron, AB, adam werbach, Administrator, alex, Anne, Barb, becky snyder, betty, bill, Bill Capps, Bob, Bob Jackowski, bob lee, Brad Johnson, Bridgett, bryan, BryanR, Charlie, Christine, chuck, Claire, Colby, csalisbury, DAVE, Dperkowitz, Food Snob, Ginny, Glenys Thompson, Guy, Holly Welch, Jessie & Nora, Jim McLaughlin, Jim Wilson, John Calaway, John DeCock, K, Karin, Kathy, kort, Lisa, Lisa C, Lynne, Martin, Matt & Bobbi, Mette, Mom Perkowitz, Niece Nicole, pdt, ray, Rob Bierregaard, Steff, Stuart C, Susie Perkowitz, sybil, Sylvia, teresa, terrim, The Other Tom Perkowitz, Thomas Morrissey, tica, TinaK, Tom Perkowitz, Tracy R., Treven, VBOGUST, Wandaurbanska & Warren (and Andrew Ward)

November 9, 2002 Charlotte, NC

(If you’re new to the site, the days are marked with *, **, *** to indicate more interesting days. Go to “About” for full information on the site.)

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