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.…

I spent my last cycling night in the Flinders Hotel in Port Augusta. Like many of the rural hotels in South Australia, it features “Pokies” – a video slot machine/poker game thing that I don’t understand, but it’s a big…

These updates usually end when I get to the destination town. At that point I need to a) find the grocery store, b) find accommodations and c) find dinner – quickly. Grocery stores (supplies for next day) close at 5:30P,…

The Eyre Peninsula is shaped like an upside-down pyramid. There are two ways across. You can go (roughly) 500km across the top through farmlands, or 800km (400 down the west side and 400 up the east side) through some small…

Let me start with a diversion – this Japanese guy. He was heading west (!) and we passed somewhere between Penong and Ceduna, maybe 100km into my day. He was really well equipped, didn’t speak hardly a word of English,…

At 18.9kmph this was my slowest riding day. When I left Nullarbor at 6:45AM there was already a moderate headwind. It was overcast (good) and cool (good). Going past the mileage sign I was only able to cruise comfortably at…

Since I didn’t get to photograph the Eucla Roadhouse in the darkness last night, we need to start with it today. This makes 6 down, 5 to go, I think. The next roadhouse was ridiculously close – only 15km into…

Riding with the Scandinavians yesterday, we finished early. Just in case I rode with them today, I went for a brief solo ride at the end of the day to catch the local distance and information signs. This second sign…

There’s nothing out here except the roadhouses, usually 120 miles or more apart. The roadhouses are basically a gas station with a little café and a few aged motel rooms tucked in behind. They need to supply their own electricity…

Called by various guides “one of the worlds epic car journeys” and “a trip of legendary monotony”, I left Norseman at 8:15A for the ride to the Belladonia Roadhouse. I expected some fanfare, but all I got was the usual…

My brain started shutting down non-essential functions around 3PM to concentrate remaining resources on getting to Norseman before dark. 129 miles on flat road is normally no big deal, but this wasn’t quite flat, and there was a steady headwind…

I woke up about 12:30A and considered leaving the dump at Jerramungup very early and going for a record mileage day. I put on my moccasins and wind breaker, and took a walk to check it out. A couple blocks…

I left Albany before 6AM on a Sunday Morning in a dead quiet, except for the birds. The Albany Highway heads about 6km NW to the world’s biggest roundabout where I transition to the South Coast Highway heading NE and…

First, here’s a picture of the Tree Top Walk Motel, where I stayed last night. Chris, who with her husband just bought it a month ago, traded a glass of a local Cab/Merlot for this placement. They keep an immaculate…

Big hills, big wind, and cold, driving rain kept me from getting anything like momentum going today. Much of the day was quite miserable but interesting as my bike and I huddled against trees and scrub seeking shelter, waiting for…

It’s come to my attention that some of you have little idea where I am, other than Australia. Itinerary, Section I, has details, but here’s a map, just in case. I’m in Pemberton, at the top of the little inverted…

Yes, that’s 4 stars – ****. In spite of the fact that I’m staying in the Bayview Resort (read “Youth Hostel”) in Augusta, in a room that is lacking heat and a phone, and that I had dinner at an…

When I woke up this morning at 5:30A, I realized I had forgotten my routines. No water, Gatorade, nuts, gummi-bears, M&M Peanuts, Bananas, Orange Juice – no fuel. If there were any stores, they would be closed for the first…

By chance I picked up a copy of ‘The Wheels of Chance – a Bicycling Idyll’, originally published in 1896 by H. G. Wells (‘The Time Machine’, ‘The War of the Worlds’, etc.). The protagonist, a Mr. Hoopdriver, leaves his…

My last day of part 1 of RAAUST, I left the restaurant (closed Tuesday), gaming, bar and accommodations place called Beaches in Thirroul 20km north of Wollongong before 6:30A. It was the most beautiful morning of the trip to date.…

The Royal Harbor Hotel in Ulladulla gets the first hotel of the trip award. They gave me their best room for a great rate (nowhere near the $A25 from the Genoa Hotel a couple days ago but I don’t want…

From Lakes Entrance in Victoria to Eden in NSW is the “Wilderness Coast”. Forests with just a couple small camping/fishing oriented towns along this 300km long area, where the coast turns from facing south to facing east. I’ve been riding…

In these small town bars, you can’t always tell who’s a patron, an employee, an owner. Regardless of position, the locals all provide support and direction to one another. The guy who tried unsuccessfully to fix the heater in my…

It’s been a fun day. I couldn’t get any transport to Cann River until 12:41P, so I had time to go back and ride part of the Bairnsdale-Orbost rail trail (it currently ends at Nowa Nowa – 30km of the…

Walking out the door of the Royal Hotel in Mornington this morning, I noted that my rear tire was soft again. So I pumped it up, rode into town, made some inquiries, settled down for breakfast with the morning paper…

The Great Ocean Road is Australia’s Pacific Coast Highway. The Lonely Planet Guide to Cycling in Australia says that if you only have one week to ride here, this is the best place. A plaque (later) says it runs from…

After 9 days, 7 on the bike, I’ve ridden 685 miles (1,097km), covered another maybe 150 (240km) by car and another 60 (96km) by train. The problem with this is that I’m supposed to be riding across Australia, not taking…

Where is Bob? Bob was last seen at the Melbourne Train Station, enroute to Apollo Bay, Victoria. It was traumatic abandoning him in cold, rain, and wind but his spirits were high and his “paniers” (containers on the side of…

We returned to Bairnsdale around 7:30A under partly cloudy skies, with cool but comfortable temperature. Got on the bike. The back tire was flat. Pumped it up and saw water spurting out from around the stem. Everything was soaked from…

It wasn’t an exciting day, but it was much better than I thought it would be. The forecast was for high winds, cold and rain. We got the cold and rain. Melbourne is a big, world-class city. It has layers…

Bob invited me to do an update. This is both a privilege and a curse. It means I have to use his miniscule computer, with a dot for a mouse and its new and improved web software to upload, cut,…

Pre-story opening comments: Thanks for the comments on the Murray River, the Coorang aborigines, and the magpie repellent. It’s nice to have the brain trust keeping things clear. In Melbourne the night of the 15th, I’m right on schedule, but…

The first *** day! I left Warrnambool late, around 8:30A again. Losing the first couple hours of daylight, when it gets dark at 6:00P leaves little margin for error or sightseeing. About 10k out of town I came to a…

After 4 days, this place is starting to become a little familiar. The people are “give the shirt off your back” friendly, they have an interesting vocabulary, and things are opposite here (September = Spring, drive on wrong side of…

3 days done. 98, 118 and 101 miles, 317 total – 106 average. 9/11 was a fairly easy ride – head out of picturesque Robe and into flat cattle land along the ocean. The first interesting sign I came to…

We haven’t seen a chain restaurant or hotel, or a stoplight for that matter, for the past 300k or so. The September 11 ride was good. 300km, mostly flat, no wind, cool (10-15C), sunny to begin and end the day,…

I left Adelaide at 7:20A. Here’s the first bike picture, coming off Rundle Street at East Terrace. This is one of the busiest trendiest streets in Adelaide. Note the architecture. Reminds one of a frontier town. Consider this the before…

Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, Sydney, Adelaide. 23 hours in the air over 2 days. Yes, there are easier ways, but my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary was not to be missed. 80 relatives and friends gathered in Illinois to show love…