Green, Solar and Big

23/10/15 Port Augusta to Mambray Creek 57km

After getting kicked out of the camp kitchen with a heap of other campers, (it gets locked up at 9:30) we were all forced off to bed. The Solar car crew were in full swing, with generators blasting away, and lots of other very noisy activities. It was difficult to sleep, and some other campers had set up next to us too. It made for a restless night, but at least there was no rush today. A moderate ride to the Mt Remarkable National Park, to enjoy some relaxing nature, before heading into Port Pirie to catch up with a friend.

Some of our neighbors had left by the time this was taken.....got busy!

We'd chatted to a couple in the camp kitchen last night, Rick and Danyelle, who are moving back to Perth with their three small children. They are taking their time, and enjoying the journey. Rick told us about his super green smoothies, that they all enjoy every day before breakfast, and offered to make us one. So as soon as we had packed up all our gear, we headed over to their camper trailer, where Rick was busy blending the hell out of a heap of green things. He reckons one of his mates is a competitive cyclist, and has this stuff every day, so it should make us super. Well, it wasn't half bad, and after another great chat, we went over to the kitchen to have our brekkie.  This took a while, as we relaxed and chatted with some more campers. A good start to the day.

Cheers, Rick, thanks for our super start to the day.

As we were getting ready to go, we realised that today was the one year anniversary of selling our roadhouse, and decided that we needed to celebrate it with a bottle of wine. So off to the bottle shop on our way out of town. It was the expected stressful run out, that goes with these bigger centres, but as we were heading over a bridge, we were passed by one of the solar cars. Cool, shame we were too busy not getting run over to take a picture. But then, just out of town, we saw a sign saying there was a compulsory stop ahead for all competitors. Awesome, we stopped in to see what was there. There were three cars, and lots of support crews busy doing stuff, so we rolled by, snapped some pics, and kept going.

Back over the old bridge, which was actually built in 1927.

This is what is left of an old barge. They've tried to remove it but can't. 

Two Japanese teams. Washing the solar panels so they work better.

Another Japanese team. The actual winners were in Adelaide two days ago.

Pretty cool, aren't they?

By the time the first Solar Car caught us, we'd done 20 kays, and we were ready for them with the camera. Luckily, they had a couple of lead cars, with flashing lights and warning signs, so all the other traffic had to slow down too. So we got some cool pics and GoPro action too. In between the solar cars passing us, the traffic was very heavy. It was a nice surprise to find the road from Port Augusta had a Very Good Shoulder, nice and wide, and not too bumpy most of the time. The trucks just kept coming from both directions, and car, after car, after car. It was very tedious, and detracted from the quite interesting views of the ranges, to the left, and the Spencer Gulf on the right.

We were doing 25, he was doing well over 60. Very quiet too, just like us.

I'm happy because there is a great shoulder, oh and the hills are pretty.

Suddenly, we came to a long winding incline (not steep enough to call a hill), and there was a strange vehicle coming towards us with flashing lights. It also had a LED display, that had a message on it, telling us there were "2 X 8 metre" somethings coming behind. So we just pulled right off the road into the gravel, got our cameras ready and watched these two massive trucks carrying dump truck trays come past us. Another "Cool"!

Even with a VGS, best just to let them go by.

They weren't going that slow either, but fast than the solar cars.

Then it was back to getting up the incline. We weren't very far from our destination, maybe 10kms, so we pedalled along in 7th gear until it flattened out, after a few kilometres. A couple more Solar Cars came past us, they have until Sunday to get to Adelaide to complete the challenge, but as we noticed soon after, some of them didn't make it. A couple on their trailers came past us, and it was kind of sad. Poor little cars. 

This one is pretty cut hey?

The difference in sizes was interesting. They had heaps of support cars too.

It was starting to get hot, and the wind had developed too, but we found our turn, and it was such a relief to get off the busy highway again. Now we had a five kilometre uphill (very slightly) ride to the camping area, but as we rode, we spotted a couple of Emus, a big goanna who ran up a tree, and a couple of small goannas just sitting together in the middle of the road. Hmmm, not sure they were "Just sitting", if you know what I mean, they did not move as we rode past. 

Only five more kilometres, that's is good, it's getting warm now.

This guy, on the right side of the tree, did not trust us, and ran up so fast.

What are you to up to, you look like naughty children, pretending nothing is up.

Once at the campground, we have to book and pay online, only there isn't any phone reception here. Hey? Bloody hell! So Will unloads most of his gear, and rides back up to a rise about 500mtrs back, and tries. The site kept crashing and having issues, so he came back. We found a phone number for help, so he rode back again, and finally came back with a site location for us. Yay, I am hungry, and ready to relax. Thanks Will, you just sit now and drink your two cold beers you have in your cooler bag (better known as The Bike Eski). So we sat and made some rolls for lunch, and relaxed. Just as I was getting sorted to put the tent up, a nice man (Morrie) came over and asked us if we'd like a nice cold Coke. Thank you very much Morrie, that would be wonderful. How nice is that?  Next I sorted our sleeping stuff, and then went and had a shower. Yep, this National Park has flushing toilets and hot showers. Very clean and eco friendly. When I came back, Will went, and while he was gone, a lovely lady (her husband is the ranger here, and they live across the highway, Russel and Joy) came and gave me two icy cold bottles of water, and two cold beers. Wow, wow, wow, guys, this is awesome! It feels like our very lucky day.

Good to get the bike gear off, and air out my hot feet.

A well deserved relax for Will.

All we have left to do is cook ourselves some dinner on the FREE BBQ's, and it will have been another fabulous day.

What a beautiful spot for dinner...

Cute little Euros came by to visit us while we cooked.

Mambray Creek actually had some water in it. Very nice.

Very nice day, hey Will?

Tailwinds And Tools

22/10/15 Whyalla to Port Augusta 81km

Firstly, yesterday was a good day not to ride. The weather was appalling, it rained until after lunch time, and it blew it's butt off all day. Basically, we sat in the cabin, reading and drinking coffee until we were starving (we had no food), and had to go to the shops. We had to take the bikes, as it was a 13km round trip to the shopping centre, in the wind. Then we just read some more, and cooked ourselves a delicious dinner, of steak and salad. So much better than our last dinner.  We also did our washing, but basically, we lazed about.

This is what the weather is doing, even on the camera lense.

Shopping adventure in Whyalla....Will is in his only clean clothes.

This morning, we got up a bit late, but we weren't worried, it was still windy. After brekkie, a couple of coffees, and re-packing our gear, we left the cabin just before ten. We rode down to the foreshore, and had a better look about the town (we hadn't really missed much), before hitting the highway.

The kids are ready, where are we?

A bouncing pillow. Shame Will had his shoes on, or he would have been bouncing.

We loved the Whyalla high school, it reminded us of something from the movies.

The foreshore! Check out the palm trees, that wind is good for us today.

It is not a very indearing town, very mining and industrial. Kalgoorlie/Port Hedland.

The first 12kms were a bit busy and we had the SDS (stupid dick shoulder) but to help, they had two lanes. The traffic was super busy, with about 5 vehicles per minute. Luckily for us, the weather gods had it going today, with a tailwind of about 20-30km/hr. With this, we were screaming along in the high twenties, going up a slight gradient. We didn't even notice! 

SDS, but two lanes is a bonus.

The old battleship Whyalla, it is at the visitors centre on the edge of town.

Both wearing the yellow that attracts flies, we were super happy with the wind again, because the little pests couldn't stay with us. Even when we stopped for some food, the wind blew them away. At one stage, Will asked me to keep an eye out for cars, as he wanted to get a picture of an Aussie made Bushranger APC, coming towards us. I moved out into the middle of our side of the road, with my eye on my mirror. Suddenly, the car behind the APC, pulled out to overtake, heading straight for me. I took evasive action to the edge of the shoulder, behind Will, waving my right arm wildly, to gain the attention of the stupid lady trying to kill us. She didn't even blink. God knows what the APC driver was thinking. We'd done 38Kms in an hour and a half, and felt like we needed some food, so stopped for a couple of peanut butter rolls and then carried on. As we got back out onto the highway, the traffic increased a bit more, but so did the shoulder. It was actually pretty reasonable. 

What the hell is that to my left? A reasonable shoulder?

Look at a this idiot, can't you see me in my bright yellow top? The flies don't miss me!

A needed break from the stupid traffic. Peanut butter should do it.

We were both getting tired of the constant traffic, but knew we only had about 15kms to a back road we could take to Port Augusta. At around ten, joined the Eyre highway again, and had another brief stop at the Lincoln Pass Tanks for an apple and a nut bar. Will is addicted to these little things. I just eat them cause they are there. Traffic here as getting ridiculous, and we were powering on to get off this highway. One more freaky close call, by a road train, who had no oncoming traffic, a clear view, and didn't move over, oh yeah, we were back to the SDS. Ugh! Just in time, the turn off appeared, and we couldn't get off quick enough.  The road was really rough, sealed, but rough, and more hilly ( well hardly), but we didn't care. There was no traffic.

Nice, a bit better than that first one we saw, 1986....

Another quick break Jen, then we can find that back road.

The Lincoln Gap tanks, we've seen them before.

Let's get off this road....

Yay the back road. It's bumpy, but quiet.

I think I've lost enough weight to be allowed over this one.

This was the back road to town, the road to the Army base, and the airport. Over the last 17kms, we saw maybe four cars. It was bliss, even with the wind now a crosswind. We also saw some emus. Finally we spotted some water, and found our way across the Spencer Gulf, to the shopping centre. We bought some food for the next two days, some drinks for the night, then back across the gulf to the Big4 caravan park. We were told some of the competitors from the Australian Solar Challenge, would be in tonight too, I hope we see them. Tomorrow, we are looking to get to Mt Remarkable National Park, about 50kms south. A nice camp spot we stayed at in January. Today was a great day riding, even with the zombie drivers who have no idea.

Great views, and peace.

The army base, are you sure, it looks like a prison.....

This is a weird house in a weird spot. 

The pedestrian crossing. It is the old bridge. Rough as guts, but no traffic.

Our tent site out the back. Notice the protection above?

The Weather Gods Blew It

20/10/15 Cowell to Whyalla 109km

Plan A - Get to bed early to be well rested for getting up early and big days ride. This plan started off well, with a home cooked early dinner, and head to bed by 9 ish. Then around 11:30, Will's phone rings, and one of our children needs some assistance. No drama, all good, but then a restless night, waiting to get up. Plan A foiled.

Plan B - Have shit sleep, get up early, feeling sleepy and grumpy, ready for big days ride. Never mind, we're up now, the wind is blowing, not quite the direction it is supposed to be, but it might turn. We managed to have bacon and eggs, before getting packed and on the bikes by eight, with very few chats to slow us up. First job was a quick ride around to the jetty, and more of a look around town. It really looks like a nice little town. Then, onto the day's work, as we hit the highway.

The pink top is to cheer me up, and keep the flies away. 

Port Neill hard a gun too, nice to know they were ready.

That is the jetty, and where the ferry to York Peninsula used to leave from.

Looking back towards Cowell. It looks like a nice place.

It still had the stupid dick shoulder (SDS), but the traffic wasn't too bad yet. The wind seemed to be going ok, from our back left shoulder, and lightish, and there were a few hills. After just over an hour, we'd done twenty kays, and had a very quick stop for a snack, and we both mentioned how hard we're working. Then we noticed that the wind was actually a westerly, and getting more WNW. Poop, I think the weather people should go back to school and learn to get it right.

Look at that SDS. Ugh!

The next twenty plus kays was all uphill, with the wind blowing strongly at our left side. The SDS was deteriorating, now with corrugations on what little shoulder we had (CSDS). Some of the dirt roads were better than this. It got so bad, I was coming up with other names for the CSDS that were not acceptable for publication. About five more kays, saw us duck off the road into some tree cover to escape the rain that had just started. We whipped out the blue tarp, got our jackets on, ready for the downpour, but then it stopped. So we carried on, still in our jackets, but soon got so hot, we had to stop again to take them off. Ride some more, and it drizzled huge drops, but we just kept going. There was lightening in the distance, and we could see the storm ahead of us. Luckily, the wind was blowing it away to the east, at about the same speed we were managing up the hill. We stopped for first lunch, at a rest area, one of two for the entire distance), after 45 kilometres, in view of the Iron Duke mine site. It was a nice view, but I have to say the rubbish around was unpleasant. There was a huge bin there too.

We're ready for the rain, but it's not ready for us.

Too hot in these jackets, bugger it, they're coming off.

Pretty view of the Iron Duke mine. They have rehabilitated a fair bit.

After first lunch, we had some nice downhill action. We'd got up to 217mtrs, from sea level, and according to Google maps, only had one more descent uphill to go, then it would be downhill for the last 50 kilometres. I was doubting. But we'd broken into the sunny skies, it was pretty warm, and we were now pumping along at 30kms per hour. Much better. The scenery was really nice too, with woodlands and scrub all around.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Down, down down.....

At last we could see the final ridge we had to get over. It looked a hell of a lot worse on the elevation graph, than it did in real life, thank god. So at the 60km mark, we hit the top of the ridge, at 205mtrs, and my phone rang. Huh, how funny. I did stop to answer it, as the view was nice, and we were enjoying the anticipation of our huge downhill run to come. Nothing serious or important, so now off we goooooooooooo.

The last hill done, now it's roll, roll, roll......with some light pedalling.

Saltbush city......hmmmm, sort of like a song....Nutbush city limits....la la la

Forty plus kays an hour for about five kays, before the road levelled out more, and we could happily ride along in the mid twenties. The woodlands had turned to saltbush plains, similar to the Roe plains across the Nullarbor. We took another short break around the eighty kay mark, to rest my toes. They were getting a bit sore in the shoes (Seems to be around this distance for me, but getting longer). After a banana each, and sharing out our last Barley Sugars, we took off for the final 30kms. The riding was better, even though the wind was still challenging, the decreasing gradient was a plus.

At this speed, I hope we don't catch that bloody thunderstorm...

Actually could be over Whyalla, which is in that general direction.

With only 12kms to go, we had to take another break. We were both flagging a bit, and we'd turned more to the east, and the wind had turned also, making it a head wind. Ugh! So we found a nice tree to sit under and have second lunch. Shoes off to stretch the toes, and get psyched for our final run. You could see the city in the hazy distance, the road was dead straight, and slightly downhill. 

Second lunch.....always good. Nice shady rest under an old tree.

Away we go, into the wind, as the SDS disappeared, and the traffic increased. It had been pretty good all day, and of course, there has to be one complete tool to leave a lasting memory. A small rigid truck, speeding along, passed within a foot of us both. "Holy shit!", we both shouted at the same time, arms flying up in abuse. That was the closest call yet. That driver was either a complete arsehole, or moron, or both. Did he do it on purpose, or was he just tapping on his phone, or fast asleep? There was a huge semi coming behind him, who moved right over into the other lane, and gave us a toot, as if to agree with our cursing and gesturing.

Luckily, the final kilometres went smoothly, with a bike lane appearing on the outskirts of town. We road about 6kms from the outskirts to the caravan park, which is two kms from the centre. Very spread out, and the biggest centre so far. We've booked a cabin for two nights, to wash and do all that stuff, before heading towards Adelaide. Not to mention the crap weather tomorrow. So we rested a bit, showered (oh the bliss, the bliss) and walked in to find a pub and some dinner. Both pubs are old and a bit dodgy, and they don't have a proper kitchen or chef. So it was horrible pre-cooked, heat em' up meals, that filled a gap. Never mind, we'll find the shops and cook a good meal tomorrow, with lots of veggies.