The West Coast Way, Port Lincoln to Ceduna

9/5/16

PORT LINCOLN TO REST DAY

With seven days straight in the saddle it was appreciated by us both to have a rest day. How lucky were we to have arrived in Port Lincoln one day earlier than planned and to be able to rest in comfort with the most crazy weather hitting all of South Australia. Port Lincoln along with other coastal areas had howling gales, rain and the most incredible King Tide. We have been very spoiled as we were able to stay with one of Lauren’s good friends who offered to take us in for a couple of nights. We are so grateful to Ashleigh for helping us and inviting us into her home. She lives on the marina with her house mate Paul and has the most stunning view of the water with a dolphin and seal that often swims by. With the king tide, the water in the marina came right to the top of the stone walls that edge the banks.

Our day started with a very good friend Tim picking us up at 8.30 and driving us around town all morning. The first stop was to Rogue and Rascal for a coffee or two and breakfast which was just such a delightful treat. Dave then had a doctor’s appointment as he had to have one lot of stitches out. Next stop was the supermarket to top up our slowly depleting food bag. We then headed up to Tim’s to catch up on his photos from his recent trip to China with some amazing stories to go with them. Back to town for lunch at Glo and then headed back to Ashleigh's to catch up on some computer work. Big thank you to Tim for driving us around so patiently just about all day.

Dinner time came around really quick and tonight Ashleigh cooked up the most beautiful pesto pasta dish. A couple of bottles of red wine (and ginger beer for me) consumed, lots of stories and discussions shared it was off to bed for an early rise and start the next day.   

Thank you to Ashleigh for having us stay we really enjoyed our couple of nights in your beautiful home, you looked after us so well and we are very appreciative of your warm and generous welcome and hospitality. We had some really great conversations with you and Paul and thoroughly enjoyed are stay.

10/5/16

PORT LINCOLN TO MOUNT DUTTON BAY
 50.3 km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580801205

We were up before dawn and slowly packed and reloaded the bikes, had our first breakfast and were back on our faithful bikes just before 8am. The weather had improved immensely with lighter winds and the outlook of no threatening rain clouds. We headed out of town, back on the bitumen and started pedaling our way towards Mount Dutton Bay. The climb out of Port Lincoln on the Flinders Highway was a doozy, long gradual climb varying between 4.5-6% in gradient and about 4km’s long. Slowly and painfully we finally reached the top and from then on it was lovely rolling hills. We were at around the 20km mark when Tim came up behind us on his motorbike. We pulled over into a farmer’s driveway and to our surprise Tim had organised hot coffee and bananas. Such a great treat having smoko delivered. Thanks heaps Tim for coming out and visiting us out on the road.

The rest of the ride in was really enjoyable with light winds and a little sun trying really hard to break through the clouds. It stayed dry the whole way into camp.

Mount Dutton Bay is a small village with just a few shacks spread around, a lovely little jetty, and a very casual caravan park in behind the old Woolshed that has been restored into dormitory accommodation. It is really a beautiful spot. It doesn’t have a shop but the Woolshed does have a café that opens on Wednesdays through to Sundays. As it was Tuesday we unfortunately missed out on amazing coffee and what I have heard to die for cakes and treats. When we arrived we set up camp and this sweet dog just appeared from nowhere and decided to hang around us all afternoon. She was really attracted to Dave and just didn’t leave his side. We went for a good long walk out and around the bay and this girl came with us running excitedly ahead showing us the way. In and out of the bushes she would run chasing rabbits and jumping fences clearing them just like a deer. We were off walking with our friendly dog for well over an hour with her chasing the rabbits the whole time. Her tongue was hanging out and the rabbits were all starting to look really slow and tired. She never caught any so I think it was all just for fun.

Before our early dinner and just before dark we went for a stroll out onto the jetty where a couple of guys were trying to catch squid. Our girl came with us and walked all the way out to the end of the jetty very interested in something she could see in the water. This girl is really really clever. It wasn’t until well after dinner that we heard her owner calling her…she had a name…Laska!!! Laska ran home for dinner and hopefully gets to sleep soundly tonight in a nice warm bed.  We were just settling down in our tent ready for bed when it started to rain, our timing was just perfect.

11/5/16

MOUNT DUTTON BAY TO MOUNT HOPE
 51.2km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580801226

We woke early and started packing up when our little friend appeared again. She was so excited to see that we were still at camp and was prancing around everywhere. I gave her a little treat as we cooked breakfast but she didn’t eat it she just took it gently in her mouth and went and buried it for later. As we started to ride out she came bounding up with a freshly dug up bone. We passed the Woolshed and headed up to the office where Laska lived as we hadn’t as yet caught up with the owners to pay our camp fee. We met Jackie who is the most loveliest of ladies you would ever meet. We had a chat with her discussing what we were up to and heard her most amazing story of planning to fly a plane around the world. Such a huge dream, an inspiring dream and a dream that she will turn into reality one day soon. Jackie was really kind and opened up the Woolshed so we could fill all our water bottles up with fresh rain water. We said our goodbyes to Jackie and Laska and headed off down the road with Jackie holding onto the sweet girl so she wouldn’t follow us.

We stuck to the dirt road for about 13km’s riding past Mount Dutton and enjoying the relaxing but hilly dirt road to the bitumen. We were about 5km’s on the bitumen when we pulled over as a lovely friendly farmer wanted to say hi and have a chat. As we were chatting with him Tim rocked up in his Landrover, ‘Andy the Landy’ with coffee, cake, bananas and lolly snakes. So it was a good time for some morning smoko and rest before hitting the rest of the bitumen heading into camp. Once we were back on the road we pulled into a rest park about 2 hours after leaving Tim and a caravan pulled in around the same time. We got talking with Catherine and Greg as they love to ride too. Catherine was so kind and asked us if we would like a cup of tea. Wow that just sounded like a wonderful idea. She brought out a cup of tea each and fruit cake for us all. This was the most amazing fruit cake ever. A friend of theirs made them a couple of fruit cakes to take on their journey. How nice was it sitting in the rest area sharing a cuppa and cake with these lovely people from Bunbury. As we were about to leave Catherine wrapped up a couple extra pieces of cake for us to take on the road.

We got into camp at Mount Hope and set up our tent out the back of the old hall just on the edge of the oval under some pine trees that gave us great protection from the wind. There were toilet facilities there but only the men’s side was open and there were rain water tanks with fresh rain water. With all bases covered we cooked an early tea and headed straight to the tent as the mozzies were plentiful.

12/5/16

MOUNT HOPE TO SHERINGA BEACH
42.4km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580801249

The sun was slow coming up this morning due to a heavy blanket of cloud. It was hard to finally pull the plug on the air mattress, what we call every morning ‘The point of no return’. We hit the road for another day mostly on the bitumen and after only a few kilometres moved out of the protection of the wooded roadside and into the wind. It was one of those stop start kind of days. We needed regular rests from pushing into the wind. We thought we would have a break at the entrance to the Monument lookout but decided to go up for a look instead. This turned out to be a punishing climb up to the top of the cliffs but was well worth the effort with stunning views from the cliffs, including an osprey eagle nesting on a rock pillar towering out of the ocean. Back on the bikes heading to Sheringa we met up with our first touring cyclists heading in the opposite direction. They were from Melbourne and had ridden from Perth heading to Adelaide and then back home to Melbourne.

We kicked on and what seemed to be a strengthening north westerly aka ‘Head Wind’ and realised we just had to grind it out. So today ended up being our first 40km Head Wind Training Ride preparing us for the Great Nullarbor and Head Winds to come. See nothing ever goes to waste.!!! About 2km’s before Sheringa we met another couple on a tandem towing a trailer heading the other way. We stopped and chatted for quite a while and shared some valuable information for both of our trips. Then into the infamous Sheringa Roadhouse. What can I say, a very strange place with a very strange reputation, you really have to go there to understand. But I must say I had a great burger and Mary really enjoyed her veggie burger which gave us the energy to finish off the last 8km’s out to Sheringa Beach and our amazing camp site for the night.

We set up our tent perched in a tiny flat spot off a little cliff overlooking one of the most amazing beaches we have ever been to.  Way Cool!!!!

13/5/16

SHERINGA BEACH TO ELLISTON
49.2km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580802345

We awoke at dawn to the most beautiful sight of nature at its best. A colourful sky coming up over the sand dunes with the blue ocean below and white caps crashing over the ocean. Perched on the cliff top was an amazing experience at night listening to the bellowing waves hitting the headlands out in the distance and the echo of the waves hitting the shore below.  The camp was very wet when we got up and it wasn’t from a rogue wave hitting us at night but a very heavy dew. After packing up camp we headed out on the road back to Sheringa and stopped at the roadhouse for breakfast. Then the pain began. Pushing north towards Elliston into a strong north wind. There seemed to be a lot of hills today and big ones at that. We certainly got no joy from the descents due to the head winds. By the time we approached Elliston our legs felt shattered.

We found a lovely spot in the Elliston Foreshore Caravan Park to set up camp and then both of us ran to the showers. Amazing how good a shower feels after 4 days on the bikes. All our clothes were washed and we felt like new. Off to the pub for a feast and then crashed into bed early.

14/5/16

ELLISTON REST DAY

Today was declared a Rest Day. Tim was coming up from Lincoln to spend the night camping with us and would arrive around lunch time. So after breaky we decided to go for a lovely stroll on the beach. The sun was warm and breeze nice and cool. As we walked along the beach we picked up lots of bits of plastic. Plastic that had come in from the King Tide, from the actual ocean. This was not plastic that had been left on the beach. Lots of small broken up pieces of plastic. It’s really sad to see that our beautiful oceans are just filling up with garbage. Rubbish that doesn’t ever go away. Slowly over time it breaks up into small pieces, then smaller pieces again until it breaks up into microscopic pieces. It will always be there as it will never actually disappear. Wildlife eat all of this plastic, fish eat it, birds eat it, dolphins and whales ingest it. To see how much was on this small piece of beach, to see it actually wash onto the shore was truly very upsetting. We didn’t have a bag so I took off my shoes and filled them with this plastic from the ocean. It felt good doing this small deed while enjoying our walk in nature surrounded by beautiful views, fresh sea air and amazing sunshine.

We had a quick lunch when Tim arrived and got a few jobs done preparing the bikes for tomorrows ride and then showers and walked to the pub early. The bakery wasn’t open today, the café closed down last year, the local footy wasn’t on as it was their association day and the supermarket closed at 12pm so today Elliston really seemed a bit of a ghost town. A few drinks in the front bar and we then proceeded to the dining room for dinner. All set for tomorrows ride we hit the sack and had a good nights sleep.

15/5/16

ELLISTON TO VENUS BAY
63.7km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580801277

Finally a reprieve from the relentless north wind. We woke up to clear skies and not a breath of wind, important, considering we had a pretty big day (64ks) ahead of us. We said see ya to Tim and headed out of the park, our legs were feeling pretty good thanks to the rest day. We got over the first small climb of the day and then just seemed to get into a great rhythm where we just began to sail along, no wind and that moment when you just seem to be able to find the right gear all the time. We had beautiful clear skies, and if we stopped, we could still hear the massive swell breaking on the shore up to 8 ks away. We stopped for a quick lunch, thanks to the millions of tiny black ants around out here at the moment. We don’t seem to be able to sit down properly anywhere, so standing lunch it was. We noticed that we are starting to get some unusual wear on our rear tyres, quite severe in fact. We think it is caused by the amount of bitumen we are riding. We will try some higher tyre pressures to see if that helps, but I am getting quite concerned that we won’t have the life in these tyres to get across the Nullarbor without trouble. We need to come up with a solution PDQ. 

We really enjoyed the ride today and are glad we made the side trip into Venus Bay. Very, Very beautiful spot, though perhaps just that little bit busy for our liking. But the caravan park kiosk makes awesome hot chips. We met up with a familiar face at the caravan park, Di and Geoff Bowden and their sweet little dog Wilma, who have been staying here for a few weeks. By the sounds of it we are pretty sure we will see them again somewhere on the road over the next few months.

A light dinner tonight as the hot chips we consumed this afternoon pretty much filled us up. We were just finishing our dinner when we noticed a fire burning in the bush near the edge of the caravan park, actually not that far away from our tent. Dave grabbed the phone to call the CFS while I went to check it out. It was just a couple of local guys burning a big pile of dead bushes. “Oh so sorry” they said. “We have a fire unit on the back of the ute and we have graded a strip out the back just in case, but we will stay here until it’s completely out if you like”. Oh great thanks guys!!!!! Dave was still on the line to the CFS so the call out was stopped. The fire is now out but our tent seems to be filling up with smoke, oh great.

16/5/16

VENUS BAY TO BUSH CAMP AT CALCA
66.9km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580801295
https://www.strava.com/activities/580802352

As we packed up our camp site and left the caravan park the sky was looking just a little gloomy and light rain started to fall, so a quick decision to dash to the local café for coffee and breakfast was made. We ended up leaving Venus Bay at about 9am. Heading out on the Venus Bay Road to the Highway all feeling good until we turned left and the head wind was there to meet us once again. With a quick stop to call a couple of vets due to Barbie at home being really lame and not weight baring on her left front a message to Andrew to come rescue Evan and treat her probable foot abscess was made. Then a call to the dog vet to give the heads up that little Jimmy will be visiting in the next day or two with a possible ear infection. Ok animals sorted time to get serious about this ride to Port Kenny and beyond.

We made Port Kenny in pretty good time despite the head wind and once out of this little town up and over the hills we went. We took the scenic route, the back way, the dirt road, the most difficult approach to Sceale Bay that we could find. The hills were huge, they were steep and the head wind well that just hit us in the face the whole way. What else can we say but F*ck that sucked!!!!

Once we climbed as high as we could possibly climb we turned right and had the most amazing fun and fast 3km of speedy riding. We were finally clocking some speed of over 40kmph instead of 4kmph. By this stage it was getting on in the afternoon so we decided to make camp in the bush around Calca and found an awesome spot in the Capabanna Water Hole Conservation Park. It was easy to ride in there as the gate was open. Lots of small bush out the back and flat ground made for a perfect private camp site. We had little critters come and visit us during the night as there were little poops left right by our tent. During the night we got lots of different sounds like a lamb who had lost its mum, then a mum who had lost its baby, then a fox, then oh no I hope the fox hasn’t eaten the baby. Then we had the tractor running till about 9pm and then start up at about 4am. Busy time out here for the grain growers. A couple of vehicles drove up the road heading to Sceale’s at around 3.30am probably going for a very early morning fish. There were times that it was dead silent not even the sound of a breeze, here you could hear the sound of the waves crashing on the headland even though it was a good 20km away. Ok I have to admit I am still a little scared when we bush camp out in the tent all alone without a dog but time will fix that little niggle I’m sure.

17/5/16

BUSH CAMP AT CALCA TO STREAKY BAY
46.4km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580802383

A beautiful sunrise over Capabanna Water Hole Conservation Park, cool and clear and not a hint of yesterday’s punishing wind. We started off on the trail to Sceale Bay and flew along the gently undulating dirt road with beautiful views as we crossed the top of Baird Bay and rolled into Sceale Bay in very good time for breakfast. We sat at a very nice shelter overlooking the beach. We had hoped for the opportunity to ride the beach all around Sceale Bay but the tide was high and the bay was quite foggy. We couldn’t see very far up the beach but could hear the heavy swirl that has been smashing the coast for the last few days, pounding the beach at the northern end. We decided that it was unlikely that we would make it around so we took the road option instead. This was fairly uneventful except for the last 10ks we had the head wind that Mary had ordered with the adventure gods earlier that day.

It was beautiful rolling into Streaky Bay, we had been craving a nice fresh sandwich for lunch but as we rode through we realised that one of our favourite cafes on the west coast ‘Mocean’ was right before our eyes. How could we forget this most important fact!! Coffees were ordered and a long lazy lunch was enjoyed before setting up camp at the caravan park.

Four legged family member Update:

Barbie has a foot abscess and thanks to Andrew for treating her. Big thanks to Evan for looking after her.

Jimmy has an ear infection and had to be sedated to have it treated, thanks Bernie from Family Vet for taking care of that and big thanks to Kirsty for looking after little Jimmy while Lauren and Ash are away in London.                    

Hopefully all four legged and furry loved ones back home stay well from now on.

18/5/16

STREAKY BAY TO HASLAM
56.1km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580801322

In the early hours of this morning we were awoken by the sounds of splashing and blowing. It was really calm out on the bay and the water was absolutely still. The moon was shining on the surface but was just not clear enough to show the dolphin that was in close to shore swimming and splashing as it chased a school of fish. The sound was exciting and to lie in our little tent just listening to the movements of this dolphin was more than enough to put a smile on our faces.

We had a late start and once packed up we headed into town to the supermarket to stock up on a few supplies. Then it was time for breakfast at Mocean. Once again this café was a very welcome treat. Breakfast was very happily consumed with awesome coffee and we then set out on our way. Taking the road called ‘Little Island Road’ that on my Wiki Camp App showed going all the way through for about 16km’s and connecting with the highway. Wrong. This road turns into a ‘No Through Road’ at about the 8km mark. Even though we couldn’t get through it was actually a really lovely ride with the bay on our left and 2-3 acre house blocks on our right. So back track we went, hopped back onto the highway and it really was just clear sailing all the way into Haslam. Gentle undulating hills, nice smooth road, gentle cool breeze and beautiful sunshine all the way. About 20km out from the turnoff to Haslam a car pulled over and the guy got out wanting a chat. He was an older gentleman named Geoff who has in previous years walked around Australia twice, once solo and the second time supported. This time he was driving his electric car all around Australia raising awareness for ‘NETS’ - Neonatal Emergency Transfer Service, a very important service that is provided Australia wide.

The campground was pretty full of caravans and vans but we were lucky enough to find a beaut spot under a group of small eucalypts and set up our camp there. Just a short walk down to the bay where a beautiful old jetty was situated that was busy with people trying to catch a fish or two. The sunset offered a brilliant brightly coloured vision this evening and we had our dinner and were in the tent just on dark evading those pesky little mozzies once again.

19/5/16

HASLAM TO SMOKEY BAY
40.8km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/580801348

A great day’s riding today, out of camp early and a short dirt road out to the highway. We had to do about 10 ks on the bitumen until the turn off to Acraman Creek Conservation Park.  Ok, we thought we’d had some corrugations on dirt roads before, but these took the cake.

But we enjoyed it immensely, corrugations and sandy sections, the bikes bounced a bit at times, but we kept moving forward regardless. About 7k's in we found the left turn to the camp ground and took the 2k side trip in to check it out. We wished we weren’t so early into our day as we would have loved to camp there. A very short walk from the sandy camp ground, we came out above a small rocky ledge that looked out over a massive tidal swamp that was just beautiful. I know, you can’t use the word swamp and beautiful in the same sentence, but it just was. We decided to grab our camp stove and make a coffee sitting on the rock ledge and enjoy the serenity of being the only people there.

Ultimately we had to leave, so we bounced our way back onto the Acraman Creek Road and headed for Smoky Bay, to hot chips on the beach and a shower at the caravan park.

We look forward now to our last day of stage 2, a 42k stage into Ceduna. As we look back at what we have achieved and learned along our last three weeks, we feel confident about the challenge of the Nullarbor Plain lying just ahead.

20/5/16

SMOKY BAY TO CEDUNA
45km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/583046229

Leaving Smoky Bay with full bellies of toasted English muffins with good old vegemite and a cup of packet coffee was a good start to the morning. We travelled on the highway for about 25km’s before turning onto the dirt that led to Laura Bay. It was a beaut dirt road that was well maintained. We got glimmses of Laura Bay as we rode by. Our road turned off to the entrance to the bay and followed the boundary of a conversation park. We saw a little track heading in so we hopped right on and followed it as far as it took us. Unfortunately, it didn’t take us all the way into the bay. Instead it took us into swap lands which had a bit of water all over it. We followed another track out and found some mud, amazing to find mud where everywhere else was sand. Back on the dirt road we had a lovely hill to climb and stopped up the top to have a standing breakfast which over looked Laura Bay. Picturesque once again. As we were eating our breaky a guy drove past us very slowly. Dave and I both said “that’s a bit weird” and then didn’t really think any more about it. Soon after we were finished our breaky and back on the bikes and about 2km’s up the road we could see flashing lights. As we approached we could see that the weird slow car had been pulled over by the police. One cop was thoroughly searching the guy’s car and had everything out on the road side. The other cop looked like she was guarding the guy so he didn’t do a runner. As we rode past we said “Hi”, well we weren’t really sure what to say as we rode past, like you couldn’t really say “nice day today” or “how’s it going”!! We rode off thinking maybe we should have yelled out “RUN” hahaha that would have given us a speedy trip into Ceduna and probably a free warm bed for the night. As we continued making up all sorts of stories about what this guy must have been up to a Paddy wagon drove past. ‘Busted’ yep the guy has definitely been busted. No more than another km or so down the road another Paddy wagon came speeding down the road and around the corner, not slowing down past us but he did wave. Then the stories started again, he has probably done a runner, yep definitely done a runner and they needed back up. So much time to engage our imagination when we are out on the roads with nothing to really worry about except for when are we going to have a good coffee again.

We reached Ceduna and unfortunately the good coffee was not found at lunch time. Great salad rolls at the bakery but that was all. We headed for the Foreshore Caravan Park and got a tent site for the night. We are staying here until Monday morning and was lucky enough to be able to grab a luxurious cabin for Saturday and Sunday nights. After a shower and the laundry done we started to head for the pub for dinner. As we were walking out of the park the sky lit up to the most amazing colours of red, orange and yellow. The sunset was just spectacular it would have had to have been the most beautiful sunset I have ever witnessed. How lucky are we to have such beauty right there in front of us. We enjoyed a lovely meal at the pub and headed back to our little tent and hit the sack early once again.

21/5/16

CEDUNA REST DAY

Up early but today not in any great rush to do anything really at all. We took our time and had a cooked breakfast in the large, comfortable camp kitchen. Today an event called ‘Fight for the Bight’ is being held here in Australia and all other parts of the world. Events have been organised in South Australia including Ceduna, Adelaide, Kangarioo Island and Port Lincoln. We have been looking forward to attending this event as we both feel the importance to help protect the little untouched environment that we have left. 

The Great Australian Bight is an amazing part of this world, full of sacred sites, pristine coastlines and a huge Southern Right Whale Nursery. It is a very precious part of Australia and this planet that is far too important to allow it to be put at risk by BP and its money hungry attitude towards the environment. Here in Ceduna a gathering of around 30 people came together in a very peaceful and caring way. Young children through to elders attended today's gathering. A pancake breakfast for a gold coin donation was organised and also a few activities for the children. Such a great group of passionate and dedicated people standing up strongly here today to protect one of the most important marine environments that is right in their backyard.  
Dave and I were really fortunate to have been able to spend some time this morning talking with Sue Haseldine an elder from the local Kokatha Community. Sue is an amazing strong women with a strong determined voice to protect the environment, her land, her home and her people. She is one person on this earth that will “never be silent, never give up”. Today Sue had four generations stand with her, her young rainbow children all growing up as future ‘greenies’. These kids are the future, kids that join in on days like today, kids that know what is right, kids that feel nature, live nature and breathe nature. Without people like Sue and her family and all who stood here today what have we got. Without all of these caring, devoted people we will lose everything that nature has given us. This all goes beyond just a few words it really does, we all need to stand up, stand up like everyone that attended today’s fight as we need to be heard loud and clear.

We are really looking forward to our Nullarbor Stage so we can see firsthand the beauty of the Great Australian Bight. We will definitely be sharing lots of this beauty with photographs and videos over the next few weeks.

The rest of our day we spent washing and airing clothes and sleeping gear, repacking gear, washing bikes and getting everything ready for the commencement of Stage 3 on Friday 27^th May. Tomorrow we will chill out and explore Ceduna before flying home for a few days on Monday. We are really looking forward to seeing family again for a few days, cuddling the puppies before heading back to our bikes on Thursday afternoon and riding off again on Friday. 

Port Augusta to Port Lincoln

2/5/16

STIRLING NORTH TO BUSH CAMP

22.7km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/567943680

We got dropped off at Stirling North by a truck. Ash so kindly picked us up from Kangarilla at 9am and gave us a lift with our bikes. Lots of chatting, laughter and fun was had all the way to our drop off point including the near miss of running out of fuel. Ash helped us unload the bikes and waved us goodbye. As the truck drove away and we started pedaling and shaking with nerves and wobbles from a fully loaded bike we looked at each other and said “here we go let’s roll”.

The navigation across the causeway and into Port Augusta through the traffic on a weird feeling wobbly bike gave me nervous and I found myself shaking like a leaf. We pulled into McDonalds for a coffee, the only decent coffee you can find in Port Augusta and sat down for a bit allowing the nerves to settle.

Back on the bikes, a little more navigating through traffic we headed out of the town finding Coroona Road leaving the crazy highway and entering onto a quiet back road which was more our style. We traveled this road with smiles and excitement and found our first camp spot. Just past the El Alamein Army Base and up on a rise we found a large park with no other campers and the ground full of really nasty little prickle bushes. Eventually we cleared a small spot to place our tent, cooked up a quick noodle dinner just as the sun went down and hit the sack very early.

At around 10pm we were awoken by a car driving up the track. ‘Oh shit’ was our first reaction. The car stopped and we heard voices which were in French so we calmly went back to sleep with the knowledge that they were just backpackers. Before we left home I had a conversation with a friend saying how much it would suck if we got murdered on our first night (just as a joke of course).....

Then at 12.30 another car rocks up. This time we were really shitting ourselves, this time the car drove past us, stopped, reversed, then pulled in next to us. No joke we thought this what it we’re going to be murdered. The 4 occupants turned off the engine and sat in their car with the lights on for about 10 minutes. With us too scared to get out of the tent we just laid low with Dave very bravely monitoring the situation!!! The 3 guys and 1 girl got out of their car and started talking in German, phew we will be fine just more backpackers. After lots of talking and organising they finally put their tent up and all was quiet once again. We had the feeling they had set up their tent very close to ours and when we got up at dawn there it was their tent no joke was not even a metre away from ours. We just started laughing as we think they were more scared camping in this spot than we were and used us security.

3/5/16
PORT AUGUSTA TO WHYALLA

63.2km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/567943698

We left our close neighbours just after 7am with no one stirring in the tent next door. One head popped up in the car as we left so I little wave hello/goodbye and off we went. We rode the continuation of Coroona Road which followed a pipeline. Coroona Road connected up with the Eyre Highway but we found that the pipeline had a dirt service road. This was fantastic as we now didn’t have to ride the bitumen and could follow this well maintained dirt road. We road for a good hour before stopping near a concrete pump station for the pipeline and had our breakfast. All fueled up we continued on this amazing dirt road. We knew Ash was coming through again somewhere along the way and he saw us from the road, stopped, did a U turn and came back to say hi. After quick hello’s we set back on our way and continued riding the track right into Whyalla. We hit the town  and found an organic café and had a great healthy lunch. A couple more km’s on the bikes and we were at the foreshore caravan park. We had amazing green grass to put our tent up on and awesome hot showers. Soon we felt refreshed and ready for dinner. The Caravan Park put on a BBQ, salad and beer night for $10 so we joined in and had a feast. Of course with me being vegetarian I saved my meat for Dave to eat the next day and yes he drank my beer too!! Bed felt really good and we both slept like babies.

4/5/16 
WHYALLA TO BUSH CAMP

69.1km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/567943700

https://www.strava.com/activities/567977247

Not quite the start to our day that we had planned. We were up early and all ready to leave when I sprung a little leak in my tyre after a small prickle was pulled out (I wonder where we got that from??) air was hissing out. This was sorted in no time with a couple of laps of the park to reseal the hole. Then panic Dave can’t find his cream for his ear and oh no he can’t find the second tube of cream for his ear. Ok we looked everywhere searching for the lost ear cream. This was important as he had just had a lesion removed just before we left and needed to apply this cream onto the site daily. Ok think straight lets go find a chemist and get a replacement…haha easy….found the address of the chemist on google and headed out of town and then just couldn’t find the shop. A lady stopped to help us and said they have just moved shops and it was back the way that we had just come from. We thanked
her kindly and headed off following her directions which just happened to be up bloody Mount Whyalla….I had no idea there were hills in Whyalla let alone this steep little bastard.  Haha and at the top of this hill is a look out!!! Soon enough we found the chemist and NO it doesn’t open until 9am. 20 more minutes to wait. Not being ones for standing around waiting we decided to recheck all the bags and there the lost tube of cream was found sitting in a bag that apparently had already been checked – pesky little tube of cream. The second tube was not found. So 2 hours later and 3km’s ridden with a mountain of a hill in there we were finally on our way.

The ride today was all on the bitumen, lots of hills that we didn’t really believe that were there and lots of friendly toots of encouragement from passing drivers as we were wondering what they were really saying in the privacy of their cabs. We stopped along the way and had a late breakfast, jumping a fence and sitting under a lovely little tree. The day was just km after km of bitumen and then we got excited as Ash was on his way back to Adelaide in his van with Jimmy and Sammy and rang us and said he had just driven through Cowell and had picked up lunch. We rode a couple more decent hills and just as we pulled over at a rest stop Ash and the boys pulled in with delicious salad sandwiches. This was the best lunch ever. It was really exciting to see the boys again and get puppy hugs and kisses from these two little guys. We fareweled them all as they head off on their own adventures with Ash heading to London to be with Lauren and the boys heading to their foster families until Lauren and Ash return in November.

With more road we finally found our turnoff onto Plane Road. Yay dirt again, oh how we love the dirt roads. We followed this up about 4km’s and found an awesome spot in the bush for our camp. We shared out little camp with just a few little ants but they soon all disappeared as the sun went down. Peace and quiet and darkness and we had the whole bush to ourselves. We could hear the buzz of the motor vehicles from the highway in the distance as the sound just seems to carry for miles when there is no other noise around. Once again early to bed and we slept soundly this time,  I wasn’t quite as insecure and scared as I was at our first bush camp. I think each time I will gain a little confidence as we go.

5/5/16 
BUSH CAMP TO COWELL

60.1km's

https://www.strava.com/activities/567977392

An early start to pack up our Mallee Camp, our new early start breakfast was trialed, english muffins, pan fried with olive oil and then vegemite from a tube, yummo. I'm not talking about the coffee at the moment.

Onto the bikes and it's off the bitumen and on to some awesome back roads where the fat bikes really came into their own, long gradual descents for the first 20 ks, we got back all that climbing that we gained yesterday. When the loaded fat bike plows into a fine talcum powder like sand swale at 40+ k's per hour, it just eats it up, any other bike would make you pay dearly for daring to attempt that. We continued rolling on into open cropping land and views out to the Spencer Gulf with a warm tail breeze helping us along. 

Finally a right turn for the final 15k's into Cowell saw the wind shift into a nasty hot head wind, making it a real grind. 

We got a great sandwich at the bakery for lunch to refuel before heading to set up camp at the caravan park.

Bakery Good

Pub Meal Good

Caravan Park very poor for the price.

6/5/16 
COWELL TO ARNO BAY

https://www.strava.com/activities/567943738

From Cowell we headed down beach road continuing south along the coast. We had a lot of corrugations for the first 10ks around the Franklin Harbour section but it then turned into nice graded gravel allowing us to pick up the pace a bit. Mary had a little bird flutter past her so she stopped to see if he was ok. Poor little fella couldn't see as he must have been hit by a car and received a knock to the head. His eyes were stuck down closed so out came the first aid kit to see if we could help him. After a little gentle effort we were able to clean his eyes and soon enough he was able to open them and see once again. We had on hand some eye ointment so a little bit of antibiotic cream he felt much better, regained some strength and was able to be released.
We decided to have breakfast at the Northern end of the Port Gibbon Beach, WOW. Just Mary and I having a chilled brekky soaking up the sun. Then we decided it would be cool to ride the beach south and see how far we could get. What a beautiful beach to ride, it was warm, a dramatic sky as the weather was beginning to change, caves in the cliff faces big enough to swallow two fat bikes, just awesome. Then a pop out into the little shack community of Port Gibbon. A fairly uneventful ride the rest of the way into Arno Bay. The weather bureau was predicting armageddon at this stage so we decided to get a cabin at the very nice little caravan park there, rather than camp. We had a very nice meal at the pub. The bad weather didn't arrive.

7/5/16 
ARNO BAY TO PORT NEIL

https://www.strava.com/activities/567943749

With the weather forecast still quite bleak, we got an early start and decided to make a fast ride to Port Neil to try and get there before the approaching storm arrived. Really just a tarmac run today we arrived at Port Neil with the change of wind and the darkening skies following close behind all the way. By this time we knew that it was not going to be the sort of night you want to stay in a tent. Lovely little town but I must admit that we stayed hunkered down in our cabin as the wind and rain blew in, so we didn't see much of it.

8/5/16 
PORT NEIL TO PORT LINCOLN 

94 kms

https://www.strava.com/activities/570239859

By dawn the rain had cleared but the wind remained, a strong Northerly, so we were on the bikes soon after sun rise and began the dash to Tumby Bay in hope of a decent coffee. We did the forty ks there in quick time with a brilliant tail wind, so we were having late brunch at the beach side cafe (and good coffee). The forecast was for the Northerly to continue for the rest of the day, but tomorrow a change to the south, so we decided to dig deep and put a big effort in to make it to Port Lincoln. Legs and Butts hurting we rolled into town