What was Mt. Gambier like? Well its a very pretty town built near a few volcanic craters one of which provides the town with its water and its main tourist attraction. On the edge of the town is a crater lake which turns a vivid shade of bue over the period of a few days every summer. Its incredibly beautiful. Also around the town are a series of sinkholes which have ben turned into mini parks. I’d liked to have spent a little more time here but travelling like I am, being on a short 12 month visa and having a ticket for the GP I need to keep going.

After that it was nice, lots of sharp but short climbs and the trees sheltered me from the worst of the winds so it was pleasant riding. It’s a good place the ride a bike, there are loads of hills, quite roads and it’s very pretty. I wouldn’t mind spending a few days exploring up here, however the F1 GP in Melbourne is calling out to me so onwards I go.

I got the Murray Bridge in the late afternoon. I had a quick ride around the town, there isn’t really much here apart from the first bridge across the Murray-Darling River. I camped out under the stars beside the highway outside of town. All the land here is used by farmers and is fenced so it’s not too easy to find nice places to camp but I somehow get lucky every night. Summer is starting to fade here, it’s not as hot during the days, not even into the thirties now and I’m definitely needing my sleeping bag every night too. It’s a nice pleasure snuggling up into the bag in the evening before sleep.

I arrived at the weekend so I chilled for a few days. I made some calls about harvest work but there was nothing locally so I packed up Monday morning to go south for a job picking apples. Just before I checked out I called again and was put through to a grape picking job south of the city. Promised work I booked another week at the hostel delighted to be able to stay for the Clipsal V8 supercars. Things did not quite work out though and I didn’t work at all, just had a week off.

It was great though, there was a real good bunch of people at the hostel and with the V8′s coming up that weekend I had a blast. Went for bike rides around the parks and along the river, played soccer in the dark – even scored the winning goal in extra-time and just hung out have fun. The V8 festival was great. There was an awesome line-up for entertainment after the racing action finished. Over the four days Eskimo Joe, Spiderbait, Thirsty Merc, Rouge Traders, You am I, Evermore and others played. Even going to see these acts made the whole event worth the money!

My frustrations bubbled the surface in Adelaide. As I was riding to the hostel a bus driver bore the full brunt of it. The guy in question overtook me then promptly tried to stop exactly where I was riding forcing me into the kerb and almost off the bike. Just about the dumbest thing any driver can do to a cyclist! Ordinarily I’d just have gave him a ‘friendly’ single finger salute and carried on. I probably would have done exactly that this time too but this guy stuck his head out the window and had the audacity to call me an bloody idiot for getting in his way. Bear in mind I was riding in the cycle lane and he was overtaking. Well the floodgates opened, I let him have it for what felt like an eternity. It wasn’t an obscene mindless rant, I was positively poetic as I calmly humiliated him and anyone who knows me will tell you I’m anything but poetic. I doubt in my lifetime I’ll ever be so eloquent again! After a few futile attempts to get a word in himself, he shut up as I tore him up one side and down the other. By the time I cycled on leaving a very red faced man behind the wheel I’d attracted quite a few bewildered onlookers. Even though I felt he deserved it, I didn’t feel any better afterwards. Damn Irish Catholic conscience!

I’ve been having a good time generally. No, make that a great time. That doesn’t mean it’s not difficult. It’s hard, really really hard and incredibly frustrating at times. But then again it was never going to be ‘easy’ was it

Port Augusta marks the end of the Eyre Peninsula and the long Outback for this trip. What do you think of my accomodation in Port Augusta? I stayed in the water tower overlooking the town. I’m starting to realise just how close to completing the loop I am. Today I just came across a sign showing Sydney to be only 1513km away! Thats not all that far at all, about two weeks going at a steady pace. I’m going to have to stretch this out.

I got into Port Augusta and scouted for a place to stay. There were two caravan parks and neither was cheap. The only hostel in town was closed too so I was going to rough it in town. I sat along the esplanade near Woolies enjoying some food and the fact that I could use my mobile phone again. I asked a few kids riding their bikes and they suggested the water tower which is how I ended up there. I was surprised that it wasn’t locked up at night.

I scouted about for work but nothing for a backpacker. The few place I did call were looking for locals only, so next morning I was back on the raod headed for Adelaide. There are lots of wineries in the region and hopefully some one of them will be looking for pickers when I’m passing.

I had some wheel trouble again. I’m not all that surprised that after the pounding it took along the road and especially since the rim failure that some spokes are on their last legs. I’ve been checking all the spokes in the morning before I set off and this morning I found a broken one. So I set up my mobile workshop in the town park.

This time I’d no trouble removing the cassette and in no time I had the new spoke in and the wheel back to true. There was a little drama unfolding in the town though. Some random guy was headed for Coober Pedy from here, it’s 500km on dirt roads with no services. First he was trying to get fuel, and directions. Then a little while later he appear again needing beer for the trip. So he banged on the door of the hotel until they gave him what he wanted. Then his car wouldn’t start so he had to push it. To make sure it was going he revved it almost to death whilst driving around town attracting the attention of the cops. Eventually he took off but without his dog so he had to come back again. Just as I was getting ready to leave the cops were escorting him back into town. Some words were being spoken but he wasn’t driving anywhere after that. He was making a Mr. Bean style drama out of getting from this town

Over the next few days it was pretty much similar every day. They all just blended into one long tough ride. The wind was being very unkind and this road lacked any sort of charm at all. I had planned on following the coastal route around the peninsula but time and more importantly money are concerns now. My drama with my wheel cost me both time and tons more money than I wanted to spend. So I won’t be going north to Alice Springs when I get to Port Augusta. I can’t really afford it at this stage but I no longer have enough time to get up and back for the Grand Prix in Melbourne.

I had the interesting experience of riding through a dust storm today. The temperature was in the mid 40′s and the wind was whipping up dust so thick visibility was down to 300m. Ceduna was just down the road but by the time I made it into town at 11am I was so dirty I looked like I’d had a mud bath!

I was getting plenty of strange looks but I didn’t care, I picked up some delicious mixed berry organic yoghurt in town on special, and some bread. To describe the yoghurt as devine wouldn’t be exaggerating, by far the tastiest I’d ever tried. After breakfast I hit the road again. It was really windy and progress was slow. I was grinding along barely making 18km/h. Between the heat, wind and dust I had a slow day. I was going slower than yesterday but kept grinding on until I hit the town of Wirrulla.

The big ‘secret’

There was a sign on the edge of town claiming Wirrulla was a town ‘with a secret’. I’m wasn’t sure what to expect but in my hypoxic state I was imagining that they were bloodthirsty serial tourist butchers. Turns out it was nothing so sinister. The secret? the town has a jetty despity being 60km from the coast. I think its global warming gone mad! They are so convinced of the rising sea-levels that they built a jetty just in-case.

After the long haul across the Nullarbor the road leads into Ceduna, the first town in almost 1300km. It has been pretty windy the last few days but today it was crazy. The temperature was higher than it has been in a few days too so progress was slow.

My map and guide book indicated that there was a roadhouse about 70km down the road. When I got there, longing for a drink I found that it was closed, abandoned to the March flies! Thanks to our helpful ex-pig I was low on water now so I had to delve into my emergency bottle stashed away in my bag. Emergency because the water in it tastes vile. But it got me to some water tanks along the road where I was able to fill up again.

Thanks to the wind I wrecked after only six or so hours of riding and I pitched up in the middle of nowhere. I tried cooking but couldn’t get my stove to stay alight. Even though it’s a stormproof Trangia it’s alcohol fueled so if you can’t get the flame going long enough to establish itself, it’s fallible. Even in the tent the wind was howling through the mesh, I had to put all my bag in the tent to anchor is and stop the pegs being pulled out! Eventually I gave up on rice and had tuna sandwhiches instead.