Betten On Bike: DAY 83 - 1ST JULY 2013 - BALLADONIA ROADHOUSE TO CAIGUNA ROADHOUSE

Day 83 – 1st July 2013 - Balladonia to Caiguna Roadhouse

Cycling Stats: 182 kms

Cycling Average: 30 kms per hour

Very cold once again this morning. I spoke to a lady in the shower block and she told me that it had been -1degrees here yesterday morning and I think it must have been very similar today. The great thing though is that it was a lovely clear blue sky and no rain and no fog and so this is all great !!!

Walter left at 7.20 and I around a half an hour later – we were to meet up at the famous sign (see photo) which we believed was around 35 km past Balladonia. So this was a significant moment – the beginning of our journey along ‘Australia’s Longest Straight Road’. Walter took off on the bike and wanted to keep going for another 40kms or so before our first coffee stop.

So today I thought about how and when I decide upon on a suitable spot to pull over for our food & drink stops. In The Northern Territory and North Western Australia it was all about searching out shade – ANY shade at all. But today I am searching for the sunniest spot with no shade !!

What a difference a state makes in this huge continent of Australia !!

Saw a young person who I though was a young woman but later learnt it was in fact a young man called Jimmy walking along the Eyre Highway all on his own with a bright yellow sleeveless overshirt which read ‘walking for cancer’. I gave him a wave and he gave me a wave and a huge smile back. This long stretch of road attracts many to do amazing things and I felt myself become a little emotional when I thought of the vastness of the Nullarbor and his long quest to walk it and to do it for such a worthy cause as the fight against cancer.

Later I came across a runner and I stopped this time to hear his story and a remarkable one it was too. Tom Denniss (www.tomsnextstep.com) is raising money for Oxfam not just here in Australia but he has spent the last 1and a half years running in every continent for a ‘world record attempt for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe on foot’. We had a great chat – this is the last leg of his trip and he finishes his journey in Sydney. A lovely guy and so willing to take the time to talk. Earlier I had also passed another cyclist who I learnt later is Geoff, a friend who is accompanying him on this part of his run. Walter also stopped and had a big chat with Tom and later cycled with Geoff for a few kms.

Walter tells me he had a good day on the bike – some cross winds – an interesting observation that he discussed with me is that because as one travels along this straight long stretch one would imagine you can see forever. This is not so because everything is flat and the road actually dips at the horizon so you don’t actually see more than about 5 kms ahead.

Five kms before Caiguna I stopped to have a look at the Caiguna Blowhole. (See photos and information below).

Arrived at the roadhouse at around 2.30ish and topped up the fuel. As expected fuel is expensive (yesterday $2.02 per litre and today $2.01) but these roadhouses have huge cartage costs and power and water expenses so its understandable.

Thank you Caiguna Roadhouse for the free powered site. I loved the sign on the laundry door. There was another in the ladies shower block requesting that if any hairdressers were staying in the park the girls in the servo needed haircuts. All to do with the isolated location no doubt !!