Its hard to believe that Ive been on the road six months, this was only meant to last four but a change of circumstances early on along with a renewed focus on the message and cause above and beyond the competition itself has seen me extend that with a little bit more still to go. Today was all about landmarks, crossing the state border into South Australia, my first two hundred kilometre day not greatly assisted by gravity, passing the 12,000 km mark, reaching the western end of the Nullarbor plain, crossing yet another time zone and standing on the edge of the awesome Nullarbor Cliffs overlooking the Great Australian Bight are just some of the things Ill take away from today. It started off pretty normal, Id had a rest day in Eucla yesterday so the legs and head felt good on waking. Even better was not being disturbed ridiculously early by housekeeping for only the second time in over a week. I reckon after yesterday she had checked whether I had checked out this morning first. I made my way to Border Village, only twelve kilometres east along the Eyre Highway and stopped for breakfast. There is something a little better about finishing breakfast knowing youve already gotten started for the day and you have that little but less to do afterwards. I ordered a chicken burger and beans on toast. Knowing I had two hundred kilometres to cover I was looking to stomach as much food as possible. I had been given a fantastic water holder by a lovely couple I met in Mundrabilla. Think the inside of a wine box but large enough to hold ten litres of water. Once again I had lost the two water bottles from the rear bottle holders under the saddle which had been a disaster from the get go. The bag allowed me to store much more water, I half filled it, the only problem now was how to carry it. I toyed around with a few ideas around the bike itself and my backpack before settling on a bit of a master stroke. I have a rain cover attached to my backpack. I placed the water bag on my backpack and secured the rain cover in place over it. This resulted within a few kilometres of the water bag settling to the base of the rain cover but proved to work perfectly. The extra capacity has proven fantastic, Ive not been able to finish all the water during the day havent been thirsty once. There were a number of look out spots along the Bight which allowed a decent view of the cliffs overlooking the Southern Ocean. This view was absolutely mind blowing. Ignoring the signage and barrier I got as close as I dared to the edge of the cliff. It really struck me the symbolism and parallels of physically standing at the edge of the cliff and my journey over the last four years. Due to stress and other pressures I didnt think I could control, I was at a metaphorical cliff edge back then thinking about throwing myself off in order to resolve my various problems and scenarios. In deciding to take action to wrestle control of my life and progress in a positive direction I have ended up at the other end of the planet looking off the cliff. One of the men in the group that had formed at the viewing area on seeing me passed a comment about how cycling across the Nullarbor would have to be the worst thing imaginable. I replied with On the contrary, its the best experience of my life before his wife turned and immediately agreed with me. Another couple Peter and Karen were also fantastic and offered me their fruit stocks as they would lose them on arrival at border village. A couple of apples were added to my water supplies. After the final lookout of the day, at 3:30pm, the traffic numbers dropped considerably from their earlier level. I was encountering maybe four to five vehicles per hour on the road. With twenty kilometres still to go I came over a crest in the almost dark. I spotted the lights of two trucks ahead in the distance after a left fade in the highway in the distance. The lights which had seemed to be moving now appeared to actually have been the road house which was visible a massive distance ahead. Given that there was nothing except the highway, and now the roadhouse, in view to the horizon in any direction it means I could see an area of 1,250 square kilometres with one single inhabitant for most of the day or when compared to some of the countries Ive passed through its half the size of Luxembourg or twice the size of Singapore. I covered a fair bit of ground today but a bit of a hiccup hit around ten kilometres from the roadhouse, with 189km on the display the Garmin froze and refused to react to any buttons. The data was lost but luckily I took a picture to record distance. I also have videos and photos from through out the day. I finally got to the roadhouse and two people were checking in ahead of me. The guy ahead of me asked about changing his room and the lady replied with We have no other rooms Im afraid. I began to panic a little. When I reached the counter I asked if I had heard her correctly and she just said please tell me you have a booking. My heart sank through my shoes. I asked if they had anything to which she instantly said yes. I nearly kissed her with delight. She offered me a cabin or a backpackers. At half the price of anything else available and of where I had been staying along the Nullarbor I was elated not to be on the side of the road. She tried to suggest an upgrade to a cabin but mainly for budgetary reasons I decided to remain where I was. The room was a little cold but nothing an extra cover robbed from the other bed couldnt sort out. I ordered the chicken wings and they arrived looking and smelling fantastic. My first bite of the spicy wings had me begging for water and the waitress just laughed and wanted to know if I had been warned. I indicated I hadnt and she laughed again while bringing a bottle of water to my table. Im tucked up in bed now and looking forward to a decent sleep before a 150km spin tomorrow.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 13:39:03 +0000
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