Keep Cycling! Perth to Gold Coast - 2022

I completed our NZ Passenger Declaration forms this morning. Then we climbed Hummock Hill, just behind the motel, to admire the views of Whyalla. This impressive sculpture of a scuba diver is just outside our motel. Below, views from Hummock Hill. Whyalla's unique, circular jetty. The foreshore is quite shallow. The sand beneath makes the sea appear pale blue in comparison to the dark blue of the deeper water. Whyalla has a busy steel mill. Steel and iron ore from the Iron Knob mines is barged out to awaiting ships. During WW2, the area was protected by a large, manned artillery gun. Behind the motel is a tranquil park with an aviary and the biggest tree I've ever seen! I forgot to mention that, on the way back, we detoured into Whyalla's main street and shouted ourselves to a lovely coffee and cheesecake!  Old habits die hard!

A few weeks' ago, at the Nullarbor Roadhouse, we met Jody Hamilton, an ABC journalist, doing an article on people she met on the Nullarbor Plains. She recently sent us the online link to the video and story she wrote about us for ABC. The whole thing just about sums up the reason why we're here in Australia and why we put ourselves through some challenging situations. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-28/octogenerian-new-zealand-cyclists-conquering-nullabor-plains/101477654?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web Hopefully you'll be able to access the link. 

We were determined to get our homeward bound flights etc sorted ASAP so we could enjoy Whyalla before we go. We booked with Quantas (with several stopovers) and arriving in NZ at an ungodly hour. Quantas, it seems, charges $20 per kilogram for bike boxes. We calculated that we could EACH be charged up to $400.  We decided this morning that we would sell the bikes for what we could get for them or, if all else fails, donate them to charity.  We removed several extras and eventually donated them to Vinnies (St Vincent de Pauls). We'll donate the tent to them before we leave. Time to investigate the Whyalla foreshore. A new jetty offers glimpses of dolphins seasonally. Today there were a dozen fishermen fishing for sprats from the jetty to use as bait to catch crabs, a local delicacy. And a cheeky pelican waited for the odd sprat to come its way. A barge was being loaded with iron ore prior to taking it out to an awaiting ship ancho...

During the night, in the tent, Del was aware of trucks and rock crushing machines working on the nearby hills.  He woke me at 4.00am and we went through our breakfast and packing trailers and tent routine. Del's theory is that if Iron Knob's a series of hills and Whyalla is by the sea, then today's route should be downhill.  We pedalled out of Iron Knob and immediately we hit the switchback highway again, but this time with a ferocious head wind.  The landscape was bare of trees or shrubs and covered in low lying scrub, so offered no protection from the relentless wind. The road and the wind continued all the way to Whyalla.  AND we saw our first, one and only, in 2 months of cycling through the Outback, LIVE KANGAROO!! Made our day! It hopped onto the road, studied us carefully, then hopped back into the bush! And what a lovely seaside town Whyalla is. After booking into our motel, we set off to find a bike shop to scrounge a couple of bike boxes. Then w...

We started the day with the intention of a bush camp at about 50kms. We had the trace of a tail wind and decided to make straight for Iron Knob, 92kms away! We photographed Kimba's famous Galah statue as we were leaving. We passed fields of wheat and canola that gradually morphed into a landscape even more tree and shrub less than the Nullarbor. The highway was like a switchback railway- up and down, up and down. We walked lots and had some lovely long downhills. Then the bare hills came into view. Trucks and machines were at work and there seemed to be a mini settlement established at the base of the hillside. We eventually arrived at Iron Knob. It's a relative ghost town now. The caravan park is run by volunteers and mainly caters for caravans. We erected our tent on the only bit of green that we could find - right next to the toilet block! Unless the few caravaners here decide to have a rave up, it shoul...

Well folks, we've been reviewing our plans! What an experience this has been! We've cycled over 2000kms, crossed 2 time zones and have survived some very challenging conditions. We're just not doing the daily mileage that we expected to do - hills, head winds, trailer weight and age being the main factors. This has meant more bush camps (over 25 so far) which in turn has meant carrying more heavy water supplies and food, which most certainly contributed to Del's broken spokes. With the hills of the Flinders Ranges, Broken Hill terrain and crossing the Great Dividing Range (some 1740kms), we realise that, at our age and with Del's bike problems, it is a challenge that would be lengthy, gruelling, potentially dangerous and probably beyond our ability. (We've cycled Coffs Harbour to Coolangatta on a previous trip.) We have decided to continue to Iron Knob then turn south to Whyalla, a major town with an airport. From there, we'll prepare to fly to Adelaide, the...