Travelogue

Desert is coming

While cycling on and on, the impressive termite hills became smaller and also more scarce. Also trees weren't tall anymore. In Renner Springs we asked a bloke, when the desert finally would come. The answer was "You are in the desert. It begins right here". Indeed this little locality (after thorough consideration our interlocutor declared that this place counted 11 inhabitants) marks the more or less official beginning of the (semi)desert. Subsequently the landscape was determined by shrubs and grass and we had a better view, since there were no more trees hindering the sight. Since we didn't camp on campgrounds, each evening we had to prepare a thorn-free place for the tent. This is not a bagatelle, if there is nothing else than thorn-bushes around you!

The Devils Marbles

About 100km south of Tennant Creek are the Devils Marbles. There is not a lot to say about them; they just are there since thousands of years. Apart from the nice forms of the marbles we liked particularly that we could walk around freely. They still aren't overrun by tourists although the Stuart HWY passes only at a distance of about 500m. We spent a lot of time there just enjoying the scenery. 

Alice Springs – in the heart of the continent

It almost seemed that the wind absolutely wanted to keep us from reaching Alice Springs. Now, it blew so strong, that even for Aldi pedalling became pretty hard. But we made it all the same. In the city we spent two well-deserved days of rest which each of us spent individually. I bought some casual trousers. And of course I profited of the opportunity to take a shower. Taking a shower, changing and washing cloths - these are things we usually did when we spent a day of rest in a city, passing the night on a campground (this happened every 5-6 days). 

An especially nice event was the dinner at "Casa Nostra", a noble Italian restaurant with a good atmosphere. Right after that dinner we left the town. As the bulb of my headlight was defect since 600-700km (thus already before we passed Tennant Creek), I didn't see much and nearly bumped into a pedestrian walking down the street in the dark. Yet no-one can accuse me of not having searched for a substitute. At Tennant Creek I checked up the one and a half bikeshops, but even the two real bikeshops in Alice Springs couldn't help me. It was not until Port Augusta, at the other end of the continent I finally got a suitable replacement! 

The Red Centre and our culinary highlights

Two days later, at Erldunda, we turned onto the Lasseter HWY, which led us to Ayers Rock / Uluru. We didn't like the road too much, since it was not as large as the Stuart HWY. In compensation to that the wind blew -due to the direction of the road- from behind and made pedalling easier and faster. The roadhouses of Mount Ebenezer and Curtin Springs are really nice places. The one of Mount Ebenezer belongs to a community of Yolngu (Aborigines) and invites you to spend some time there having a look at the gallery of works of art. Curtin Springs is just a place with a nice atmosphere and a wonderful spartanic camping site: Unpowered sites are free, but the soil is comparable to desert soil. Well, we were used to that...

The next day we reached Yulara, the village near Uluru. The campground there was certainly very comfortable and extremely green, but also quite expensive. We preferred the red sand of the desert and chose our camp site just outside the border of the national park. I liked this place, which became our home for the next three days. Therefore I like to mention first the culinary part and then write about the monolith. The supermarket gave us the possibility to buy some potatoes and meat (the supermarket and the post office are useful things and are therefore revalorising the town). We planned to cook some fried potatoes with fricassee. But in the end we had a sort of indefinable mass, having put everything together, including a lot of cheese. The Yulara-Pampe was born (©  by Aldi + Wilu). Excellent! 

After all I have to mention that the so called Red Centre was very green, as a result of the abundant rain some time ago. And the temperatures didn't invite you to take off your clothes - in my opinion it was just cold like a freezer. 

Ayers Rock / Uluru and Olgas / Kata Tjuta

Now to the "must" of our journey. We took part in a guided tour to the Olgas / Kata Tjuta and Ayers Rock / Uluru. First we visited Kata Tjuta. Aldi and I were enjoying the scenery with its impressing hills. Suddenly the guide appeared and told us to hurry up, otherwise we wouldn't be in time to see the sunset on Uluru. Fortunately we made it just in time and were watching the spectacle together with hundreds of people. As soon as the glowing red disappeared, the people did so too. They didn't seem to realize that the opalescence continued in the sky. Our group also was sitting in the bus - ready to go back to the tourist resort. Mass tourism for ever!

The following day we wanted to visit Uluru by bike. Unfortunately the rear derailleur of Aldi's recumbent tore out of the thread. That's why he turned back to the tent by hitchhiking, after we had a little view on Uluru. I remained at Uluru and walked around it profiting by the possibility to take some nice photographs. When I arrived at our tent in the late afternoon, Aldi had fixed the derailleur more or less. But he obviously had to let it repair properly. So the next day we went to a garage in the genuine, "dirty" and nicer part of Yulara. Since the mechanic had no turning lathe at his disposal he did the repair with a saw and a lot of improvisation. Although Aldi couldn't use the biggest and the smallest pinion any more, his bike worked again and we were able to continue our trip.

Kings Canyon / Watarrka

Since we liked the picture postcards of Kings Canyon / Watarrka, we spontaneously decided to go there and have a look at it. So we took the Luritja Road. When I thought I had found a good spot to eat our lunch, I decided to have a closer look at it. That wasn't a very good idea: I got a puncture in the front wheel of my recumbent... When Aldi arrived I told him that we were forced to eat our meal right here. After listening to my story he told me his bike's frame was about to break! Have a look yourself. He left his bicycle at a nearby homestead and hoped that someone gave him a lift to the crossing where I was cycling to. Fortunately a guy named Jack drove 40km back to prevent Aldi from passing the night outdoor. They arrived at the crossing only a few minutes after me. The next morning, Jack helped Aldi again and gave him a lift to Alice Springs where the bike got fixed. In the meantime I continued my trip by pushbike and was lucky about the tail wind. 

The following day I visited Kings Canyon. It was breathtaking! I spent the whole day by walking around the canyon and enjoying its beauty. What a pity that Aldi couldn't see this. We communicated by a combox. That's the way I knew he arrived in Alice Springs and had already fixed his recumbent. One day later he arrived and we visited Kings Canyon together. 

Back on the Track

The Stuart HWY led us further to the south. After one day we reached the Northern Territory - South Australia border. The road was getting larger, the pales along the highway were different and the side-strip was now made of loose gravel. Fortunately there was another thing that changed: it was finally getting warmer again. 

The underground town Coober Pedy

Then we approached Coober Pedy. About half of the inhabitants of this opal digging town live in apartments dug in the ground. That’s how they escape the heat of the summer sun and the frosty nights of the winter. 

Although there were several underground accommodations we pitched our tent above the soil surface – as usual. We both liked the town; it is grown, not planned like Yulara. The pavements consist in loose material and because of the strong wind there is dust all over. The first time we became aware of this was at the shopping in the supermarket. And the dust really was not only due to the fact that the merchandise often waited for years for a consumer (we purchased reduced “Milka” chocolate that was out of date since one year. Of course we noticed that too late). 

Woomera and Lake Hart

Then we faced the longest part without any town and therefore without the possibility to buy any edibles. There are 252km between Coober Pedy and Glendambo (30 inhabitants, see the picture). About 230km lead through the Woomera Prohibited Area. Here, where there were no people at all, the desert finally looked the way I expected it. Far and wide you see nothing, nothing, nothing.

Lake Hart is another noteworthy place. We reached it at night. The next morning we saw the lake and went to the lakeside. We spent about one hour there and were lucky to see some emus doing a little promenade in the morning.   

Will we make it to PA?

Three days before our supposed arrival in Port Augusta Aldi had some difficulties with the front wheel of his bicycle. It turned out to be a defective rim. It still worked but needed to be replaced as soon as possible. To relieve it, Aldi reduced the air pressure of the tyre. In consequence, for him cycling became more fatigable. We made it to Port Augusta nevertheless. Although it was hard work, Aldi found a new rim for his recumbent and even a new bulb for mine.

Port Augusta to Adelaide: cultural shock

Civilisation had us back. And we had it on our back... There was a lot of traffic and I was mostly busy with trying not to get knocked over. In addition to the rude motorists (especially truck drivers) the weather was cold, windy and it was raining each day. Cycling was not always a pleasure but after a few  days we arrived at Adelaide. We missed the easy way of life of the people living in remote areas as we checked in the campground. But at least we were right next to the green belt along the River Torrens. I made a nice little trip to the beach of Glenelg and I think my recumbent didn’t appreciate it as much as I did...

We made it: Melbourne!

Despite some adversities we reached Melbourne safe and sound. We stayed at someone Aldi knew via the internet. I liked the city very much. Maybe not only because of the city itself, but also because we got there in time. Among other things we visited Rialto Tower which is said to be the highest building of the southern hemisphere. There we sat in the restaurant, wrote some postcards and looked back at the adventures of the last two months. And there were quite a lot of them!