Updates

A Desert Rose

Date of update

Just a quick update before the Postie Bike Challenge gets underway properly tomorrow. Today was registration day and we all got allocated our bikes. There are 40 of us on the trip and my bike is Number 24, a somewhat impersonal name I thought, so I've christened her, Rosie, as she'll be my Desert Rose.

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ahhhh

Date of update

Saturday 20 September 2014

Well, it's been a busy few days. After our night in the swanky 5* Rydges Hotel it was time to move on for most people. I bit back the tears and said my final farewells then Walshy, one of the Postie Bike riders who lives in Adelaide, gave me a lift to the youth hostel.

Slow Rider

Date of update

Monday 22 September 2014

I loaded up Ruby and left Adelaide yesterday. Although I have considerably less luggage than my last trip to Oz, it still takes my two panniers, a top box and another small bag to carry it all, so looking at a picture it doesn't look like I have much less than I had before.

Breaking the Rules

Date of update

Wednesday 1 October 2014

The number one rule of the outback, apart from “Never drive past fuel” and “Never walk past a toilet” as I had learned, is “Don’t drive at dust or dawn” as this is when all the kangaroos come out. I was about to break this rule – big time.

Today I was heading back to Coober Pedy. I’d had a brief glance at my map and added up that it should be about 675 km, this would mean a seriously early start to cover the distance.

End of the Road

Date of update

After a very cold night, I started the "Ninety Mile Straight", the longest piece of straight road in Australia. And boy was it straight - it had two RFDS emergency runways it was so straight.

When you do these huge distances you start to go into a kind of daze and it was only when I saw a bunch of people crowded around a sign on the other side of the road followed by a bend, that I realised I'd come to the end of it.

Riders on the Road

Date of update

Friday 10 October 2014

Up until now I hadn't met, or even seen, many other bikers, but today was to be different. First, a guy I'd seen in Ceduna and also at the Nullarbor Road House kept catching up with me. He was with his family who were towing a caravan and setting an even slower pace than mine hence the reason I kept meeting him.

Loads of bikes seemed to be going in the opposite direction too. I presumed they were going to the Moto GP races at Phillip Island which Mark and Kim in Port Augusta had been heading to.