The sunrise in the outback is very spectacular. I’ll will a photo or two a day from our current location to this gallery, if I am lucky enough to catch is with my camera …
A short and fast day into Katherine for another rest day. Same conditions as last two days …
Now that we know that the gusty south-east wind is freshen up at around 10am when the temperatures raise above 30°C, everyone wants to make as much of the days distance in the early morning, to avoid going into the wind and heat for too long. Since there is almost no change in landscape and country site and no Coke Stops, there are almost no time lost stopping too often. Katherine is a little town, in the middle of nowhere, and the birthplace of Cadel Evans, an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Not much to do in town, but some opportunities in the closer surroundings, like a canyon or the Kakadu National Park. Camp is on the Ibis Hotel, however little to no shade, so most of the riders booked a room. I am camping, however there is again little privacy as later arriving cyclists tend to setup their tents right in the space left between 2 others, although there is space available in the size of a large soccer field. Hope this is going to change soon and the craziness of camping like fish in a tin ends. There are certain things happening during such trips, I‘ll never understand. Humans are sometimes a strange species.
All day increasing head or crosswind making the second part of the day a real tough one in the increasing heat. Roads perfect, traffic considerably respectful on Stuart HWY.
The 50th cycling day! You know you are in Australia when a less than 100m ‘climb’ is mentioned as the days ‘challenge’ on the whiteboard!
We took a scenic route out of camp, which extended the ride by an extra 20km. However it was really worth it. The red morning sun turned the landscape into a colorful painting; changing with every minute and the rising sun. Some of the creeks were actually running water and created occasional oases with palm trees and small lakes. No chance for a swim, as signs posted the message of crocs in the rivers and lakes. At one point there were bush fires next to the road, with birds flying low and diving onto the road to catch the fleeing insects. The morning was astonishingly cool, just 19°C and the still low sun and trees produced enough shade on the roads for a while. The full heat was on after lunch. And with the heat the wind sets in, getting stronger with every minute and always from SE. As we are heading east, southeast and finally south we will probably never have a supporting tailwind, on the whole section down to Adelaide. Road-Trains were passing us, most of them with a respectful distance. Some of the 55m length, weighting 168t on 27 axels driving 104 wheels. Even if the pass you in a controlled manner, their impact on the wind requires you to be very cautious at any time. The Lazy Lizard camp is in town, therefore no hike into the wilderness today.
Today a car stopped next to me on the Stuart Highway. It was Craig a TdA2008 fellow from Australia, who was on his way home from Darwin and made it a quick reunion before he headed away in his car to find Chris, leaving me alone in the heat and headwind.
Warm to hot. Wind chilled a bit. Roads perfect. Not too much traffic on Stuart HWY.
What a change to Indonesia. It can’t be much more. All day flat. No humas on the road, except in ‘tins-on-wheels’ (trucks, cars and road-trains) and Stirling on a rented motorcycle. Once out of Darwin traffic reduced but speed of the vehicles increased. Heat was on in the late morning. Lunch was soooo good. What a difference to the Indonesian variations. I am missing coke stops and cheap beverages. Australia is going to blow my budget. 600ml Coke = 4.30$, mineral water 1.5l = 5.00$ (Darwin). It was too hot to see wildlife during the day, just cattle and an Emu. However in camp the wallabies were all around in the late afternoon. Now they are grassing in our camp around my tent.
Chris, Ursula, Rae and I met with Gwen and Hans, who are traveling NT by car for 3 weeks and stayed in our camp in Darwin. We shared stories and beer and went out for dinner.
The road in Timor-Leste was for a long time under repair, mostly compact gravel or worse. It was a very dry day and the bad road sections very dusty. Downhill in the morning to the
The final stage before flying out to Australia.
My morning started with a slow leak. When I left Atambua I found my rear tire to be softer than usual. I pumped it up and continued the 25km to the border, to not delay the border crossing. Luckily the border was still closed, with about 1 hour time before it opened. Time to check the tube. At first I couldn’t find anything, thus I suspected my French friends to play a joke on my and released some air, when I was at breakfast. However when I checked the tire, I found a piece of wire which slightly went into the tube. I patched, got a spare from Gerald and was ready by the time the border opened. Process on both sides was easy. I didn’t expect it that easy after the slow process of the initial application 5 months ago. 30 US$ paid, bags scanned, reloaded to the vans and off we were into ‘new land’. I was probably the first German to enter into Timor-Leste via the land border – ‘history written’. The ride was fantastic. 3 short, but steep climbs in the morning, thereafter rolling along the shore all day. Strong, but cooling headwind made it a tough ride, but the peloton we founded after lunch helped a lot to finish the final 50 km in a comparable short time. However the 90 minute waiting time at the border and the 1 hour time loss, because Timor-Leste is 1 hour ahead, made it a long day. The landscape was beautiful and the people as friendly as on the other part of the separated island. It was a very scenic ride along the north coast. Azure sea and white beaches invited for a quick swim. Pigs, goats and cows were often crossing our ways and kept us alerted, not run into them. We got a lot of dust from passing cars, trucks and motor-cycles on the dirt roads. In camp I needed a steam wash together with my bike. Tomorrow is flying day. A short flight at 11:15am will bring us to Australia. In Darwin I have some important things to do, before I can actually get rest and work on photo selections and blog updates …
