Caiguna to Eucla

Leaving Caiguna on Wednesday we were pleasantly surprised to find the weather forecast had delivered – we had a tailwind. Blowing from the north west it made pedalling a whole lot easier and we made good time towards Cocklebiddy, 66km away and our intended destination for the day. 

Before we left the roadhouse I answered a question on the blog from Brian saying we had not seen any snakes. Talk about tempting fate!  Five minutes into our cycle there was the highly venomous western brown snake sunning itself by the side of the road reminding us to be careful at our next bush camp!  I’m now hoping Brian doesn’t ask me any questions about big hairy poisonous leaping spiders!

Further down the road we met Eric who was battling the wind in the other direction. He had started in Melbourne and was heading for Perth.

Eric was actually the first long distance cyclist we had met in Australia. Motorists tell us about other cyclists on the road but Eric was the first meeting. Incidentally, he had been hearing about a Scots couple on an ‘amazing machine’ for the last 6 days – I think that’s what you call ‘bush telegraph’.

We arrived at Cocklebiddy at 1300hrs and started lunch.  A nice chap from Adelaide spoke to us ‘you will catch the rain tomorow’ he said. I was puzzled because we keep a close track of the weather forecast. ‘Not on my forecast’ I replied. Undeterred he came right back ‘so do you like cycling in the wet’. ‘Well actually I don’t really mind but where’s the rain?’ I said as I theatrically looked at the blue sky. ‘Thunderstorms all over the Adelaide and Mebourne area’ he smiled. I looked at him and looked at the bike as it suddenly began to dawn on him that it would be a long time before we got to Adelaide!  These motorists are funny people – no concept of space, time or distance 😀

Susan and I quickly finished our sandwiches as we had decided to make use of this wind and go for the next scheduled stop at Mudura, a further 91km. Our race was to make it before dusk at 1700hrs. Unfortunately it was a race we were never going to win and we kind of knew it before we started. But on cycle journeys like this you always have to be positive and try. 

As dusk arrived we saw a ‘mob’ of approximately 50 kangaroos (yes that’s what they’re called)  sitting watching us. ‘Hoi’ I shouted and they bounced all over the place. Fantastic!  Bounce bounce bounce!  Then I got a row from Susan to spoil my bouncing fun. ‘Don’t, they may come down to the road and attack us!’ I briefly had a thought from my childhood of pictures of kangaroos with boxing gloves (where did that come from?) I also remembered Canada where Susan stopped me taking a picture of a gigantic Moose in case he charged us. This time I appraised the circumstances. The Moose was bigger than a horse and pretty scary but here I was the biggest thing for miles and the loudest. ‘Hoi’I shouted and oh how they bounced all over the place. Honestly it’s great how they bounce then stop absolutely still like they’re pretending they’re invisible. Then I shout and its bounce bounce bounce. 😀 I’m sorry but most immature men would do exactly the same 😀

Dusk on the road is a quiet and peaceful time (when I’m not shouting at the Roos) when we have the road to ourselves.

Unfortunately, dark followed dusk, the hills increased,the wind eased and our legs felt like they belonged to a rag doll. So it was time for me to reach into my ‘tactical tool bag’. Yes it was bike party time!  Susan loves bike party time! 

We fixed the Bluetooth speaker to the handlebars, started the 80’s playlist, drank Red Bull and ate Mars Bars. Immediate energy boost. With the bike lights on and the extra high intensity flashing rear light bouncing off the reflective road marker posts and the GPS unit shining a light into the sky we genuinely looked like a mobile disco cycling down the road. It was pitch black and I bet unseen Kangaroos everywhere were bouncing as we cycled along. 

Thankfully, 45 mins later we reached Madura, our roadhouse stop for the night. 156km that day so I devoured my T-bone steak and chips that night whilst Susan had roast pork and a mountain of vegetables. 

The following day the wind was even stronger and we sailed along to our next stop at Mundrabilla, 116km later.

I think we finished just in time as the wind was becoming unmanageable to cycle. This roadhouse, like all roadhouses is reasonably rubbish but as least they served a good lasagna. 272km in two days. 

The following day was a shorter cycle of 65km to our present location at Eucla. Our cycle across the ancient seabed at Nullarbor has been excellent. The ground is sand, shells and sparse vegetation with the ancient shoreline cliffs on our left and the present shore on our right several kilometres always. Photos can’t do this place justice and nor do I think you can appreciate such wilderness driving though it in a car at 100km/hr. Oh yes that’s me on my cycling soapbox again – cycling is a great way to travel and ‘properly’ see a country. 

Unfortunately, the tailwinds are now away to be replaced by cross and headwinds. Oh how we cried last night.  Actually, it was only me that cried and that was because I have only had one small bottle of beer in the last week. £6 for a small bottle all over the Nullarbor!  You can’t enjoy a beer at £6 a gulp! Now that I think about it, if I was driving I could have a case of beer in the boot!  So let’s revise my earlier statement – the only way to see the Nullarbor is to drive and have a big boot!!

Today we are having a rest day after 712km in 7 days since Norseman.  That’s 442 miles mother (my mum prefers a coversion to miles).  

Tomorrow we start heading for Ceduna and should, hopefully, arrive next weekend depending on the weather. Looking forward to a bush camp tomorrow as we have no alternative. Just don’t mention snakes!

1,471 km to date. 

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