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Day's 1 to 6 12/8/2014 to 17/8/2014
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- Day 1 - Wangaratta to Renmark
- Day 2 - Renmark to 30km's out of Port Augusta
- Day 3 - 37kms North of Port Augusta to Mabel Creek
- Day 4 - Mabel Creek- 60kms in to Anne B to Anne Beadell 25kms short of Emu 15-8-2014
- Day 5 -Anne Beadell near Emu to The Unamed Conservation Park 16-8-2014
- Day 6 - UCP to 25kms south of Vokes Corner 17-8-2014
- Day's 7 to 12 - 18/8/2014 to 23/8/2014 >
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Day 12 - TTT Red Rock on SA-NT border to Alice Springs - Fri 23 Oct 2015
Early morning expedition.
Pre-dawn several of us went up to the top of the TTT Red Rock to watch the sun come up on the horizon. It was a fantastic event to view, and if possible we could have sold a lot of tickets. Making it special too was Hector presenting us with a stanza of tunes on the bagpipes, piping the sun up to meet the day. After this show we cooked up some breakfast, presented Carl with the Anything But Average Award and then headed out to the Mulga Park Road for the first leg of our journey of the day to Alice Springs.
Breaking Bad.
We passed by Victory Downs Station early in our miles today. Victory Downs was the spot where Len Beadell started the Gunbarrel Highway that we had been following. We nodded to the memory of Len and thanked him for what he had created for us to enjoy. With this acknowledgement we also looked forward to other adventures in days to come. We didn’t look too far for too long though as we were brought back to the reality of what we were doing and the inherent dangers. Just past Victory Downs Joc had a sudden loss of brake components that meant he had a sudden loss of breaks. With great skill he was able to pull the bike up safely by washing off speed and using the foot brake as it was the front ones that were compromised. There was much concern about his ability to continue on but a thorough inspection and some temporary work meant that he could keep pedalling, albeit on the rear brake only. He and Brad and Rob kept going up the road to the Kulgera Roadhouse to settle the nerve and review options for more comprehensive repairs.
Centre of Australia.
The Johnston Geodetic Centre is one of many different calculated centres of Australia. Big Scotty put us on to the fact that we were going to drive right past this location so we thought we would call in. It is on Mt Cavanaugh Station; we drove in and spoke to the young lady of the house who was more than happy for us to go and have a look. The centre is on top of a small monolith with associated piles of rocks around it. Nearby the spot is earthquake or tremor sensing equipment. We parked up and then climbed up the hill to stand in the centre of Australia, a nice touch considering that our trip is going from west to east.
Kulgera Roadhouse
We were all up at Kulgera around lunch time so we stopped in for lunch. It was nice to be joined there by Dawn, The Queen of the Desert and Leah, princess of the camels. Dawn was known to a couple of the team as she had appeared on the television quiz show ‘Hot Seat’, and she had won $250,000. She was quite a character and very intent on having fun. Dawn was also happy to donate to the Flying Doctors, particularly when Hector pulled the pipes out for the second day to serenade the gathered lunch crowd. The publican also kicked in with a few bob which we also gratefully accepted.
A Town Called Alice.
We got to Alice a day early which was appreciated by all as we are all very fatigued from our first 12 days on the road. The trek has been hot, it has had challenges and we have covered a lot of country, much of it being some of the hardest roads in the country. On arrival we sipped a quite beer or two, enjoyed a shower and then popped out to the god old RSL for tea and a few more beers. It was a great start to the weekend of recovery, rehabilitation, repair and readiness to start again on Monday when we head towards the Simpson Desert.
Early morning expedition.
Pre-dawn several of us went up to the top of the TTT Red Rock to watch the sun come up on the horizon. It was a fantastic event to view, and if possible we could have sold a lot of tickets. Making it special too was Hector presenting us with a stanza of tunes on the bagpipes, piping the sun up to meet the day. After this show we cooked up some breakfast, presented Carl with the Anything But Average Award and then headed out to the Mulga Park Road for the first leg of our journey of the day to Alice Springs.
Breaking Bad.
We passed by Victory Downs Station early in our miles today. Victory Downs was the spot where Len Beadell started the Gunbarrel Highway that we had been following. We nodded to the memory of Len and thanked him for what he had created for us to enjoy. With this acknowledgement we also looked forward to other adventures in days to come. We didn’t look too far for too long though as we were brought back to the reality of what we were doing and the inherent dangers. Just past Victory Downs Joc had a sudden loss of brake components that meant he had a sudden loss of breaks. With great skill he was able to pull the bike up safely by washing off speed and using the foot brake as it was the front ones that were compromised. There was much concern about his ability to continue on but a thorough inspection and some temporary work meant that he could keep pedalling, albeit on the rear brake only. He and Brad and Rob kept going up the road to the Kulgera Roadhouse to settle the nerve and review options for more comprehensive repairs.
Centre of Australia.
The Johnston Geodetic Centre is one of many different calculated centres of Australia. Big Scotty put us on to the fact that we were going to drive right past this location so we thought we would call in. It is on Mt Cavanaugh Station; we drove in and spoke to the young lady of the house who was more than happy for us to go and have a look. The centre is on top of a small monolith with associated piles of rocks around it. Nearby the spot is earthquake or tremor sensing equipment. We parked up and then climbed up the hill to stand in the centre of Australia, a nice touch considering that our trip is going from west to east.
Kulgera Roadhouse
We were all up at Kulgera around lunch time so we stopped in for lunch. It was nice to be joined there by Dawn, The Queen of the Desert and Leah, princess of the camels. Dawn was known to a couple of the team as she had appeared on the television quiz show ‘Hot Seat’, and she had won $250,000. She was quite a character and very intent on having fun. Dawn was also happy to donate to the Flying Doctors, particularly when Hector pulled the pipes out for the second day to serenade the gathered lunch crowd. The publican also kicked in with a few bob which we also gratefully accepted.
A Town Called Alice.
We got to Alice a day early which was appreciated by all as we are all very fatigued from our first 12 days on the road. The trek has been hot, it has had challenges and we have covered a lot of country, much of it being some of the hardest roads in the country. On arrival we sipped a quite beer or two, enjoyed a shower and then popped out to the god old RSL for tea and a few more beers. It was a great start to the weekend of recovery, rehabilitation, repair and readiness to start again on Monday when we head towards the Simpson Desert.