IF IT'S THURSDAY, THIS MUST BE CAIGUNA ...

It's a bit like a moveable feast at the moment, with us now five days into a twelve day stretch of continuous riding. After the two days between Esperance and Norsemen we have now completed three days of the ten day trek across the Nullarbor. So far conditions have been pretty favourable, without too much headwind to battle. Here are some brief details ...

Norseman to Newman Rocks

This shaped up to be an exacting day. We had 140 kilometres scheduled to ride, some climbing and a bit of headwind to contend with. Happily, Peter was keen to work together to knock of this first stage across the Nullarbor so we set off together. Conditions were cool when we set off so we were pretty well rugged up. Surprisingly we rode through a lot of forest for most of the day, but we did come to the occasional stretch where there was just low scrub alongside the road, and even the odd salt pan ...

Things went well and we arrived at the morning tea stop before Collis and Kathy. It was a very pretty spot, which had been rubbished quite badly by people stopping. But Peter found a picnic table away from the toilet block that was actually quite clear of rubbish, which was good ...

Enjoying a spot of morning tea

I took a few photos of the vegetation because it was such a pretty little place ...

Beautiful colour featured in some of the gums

An old grizzled tree stood on its own ...

Endurance

The base of another tree revealed lovely detail where tendrils of bark remained where it had come loose from the trunk above ...

Tree base

It was difficult to really capture the layers in the stands of trees, but perhaps you can get a sense of it from this photo ...

A peaceful spot

Peter has been doing his research along the way and says that the common name for these trees is "Gimlet", but in this case I prefer the botanical name which is Eucalyptus Salubrious.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly and we were pleased to arrive at Newman Rock for our bush camp. Di and I got a fire going at the first camping spot off the road ...

Fire number one under way

... while Peter pottered off down to have a look at the rock pool. The others duly arrived and we had a great camp, with Kathy presenting us with a fortifying feed of Spaghetti Bolognese and a delicious desert of Peach Pudding. All good!

Newman Rock to Bush Camp

Day two promised to be an easy day, with a tail wind, a slight descent overall and only 110 kilometres to ride. Di and I set off first, and Di was keen to be on the front for a while after looking at various back wheels - but mostly mine - for the better part of 1500 kilometres. 

Dead things on the side of the road

We weren't on the road long before we came across the gob-smacking sight of a dead camel on the side of the road ...

Di! What have you done!?!

It was incredible that the camel was largely intact. It looked like it had just been clipped on the head by a passing vehicle as it showed no sign of damage anywhere else.

Shortly after we passed the camel there was another dead thing by the side of the road in the form of a car that had been stripped and graffitied ...

Desert canvas?

Conditions were so favourable that she led me the whole 50 kilometres to our first rest of the day at the Belladonia Roadhouse ...

Belladonia: the first roadhouse on the Nullarbor

A nice hot snack seemed the order of the day. I had a toasted sandwich and a cup of coffee and Di had some pumpkin and ginger soup. As breakfast had been a fairly light affair I decided to have a steak and mushroom pie as well! The others arrived in sequence shortly after Di and I and also had snacks, with toasted sandwiches proving the most popular. I don't know what Fran had, but I think a pie was part of proceedings ...

Fran refuelling

Belladonia is a neat little place to stop in if you're crossing the Nullarbor. There is a little museum contained within the roadhouse and included therein is a significant-sized part of Skylab that crashed in the desert nearby ...

Spacelab's airlock section

The museum also contains a lot of memorabilia of early life in the region, including this piece of machinery used for sluicing gold industry back in the day ...

The Warrego

A little further on we passed this sign ...

Royal Flying Doctors at your service

Punters outside Australia may not be familiar with the iconic Royal Flying Doctor Service but it is a fabled institution in this country operating throughout remote Australia, providing emergency transport for injured patients who need to go to a major centre for treatment. The airstrip just past the sign was on both sides of the road, which makes sense if you think about it. On one side a truckie had parked, which didn't seem quite right somehow. (I did take a little video of the airstrip as I cycled past but it was so pathetic I've junked it. Does anyone want to buy me a GoPro???)

The Longest Straight Road in Australia

Our designated lunch stop for the day was at the beginning of the Ninety Mile Straight, the longest straight road in Australia. Jacquei arrived just after Di and I pulled over to wait for the others and took this photo of the two of us in front of the sign ...

Ninety Miles to Caiguna Roadhouse

Fran arrived and had a feed ...

Half-time: bring out the oranges

... and then we all posed for the obligatory group photo ...

Fran, Peter, Di, Doug, Jim & Jacquei

... before heading off once more down the road. We were enjoying a wonderfully steady tailwind so Collis decided that we'd stretch out the day's ride from the designated 110 kilometres to about 135 kilometres, meaning we still had another 55 k's to go. 

The Burning Big Toe Blues

The last stretch went by relatively smoothly except for the fact that I had to stop and take my right sock off with about 15 kilometres to ride. For the past few days I've been getting a very sore big toe on my right foot once we've been riding for more than about three hours. It had finally got so painful I just had to stop. Once I took my sock off the pain disappeared. I've developed a pressure or heat blister on the bottom of that toe and I think it's a result of wearing wool socks. 

Bush Camp Bliss

Last night's bush camp was fantastic. Collis and Kathy found a spot just short of the notional 135 kilometres that:

• was beautiful and level
• had abundant open spaces for camping
• was well back from the road
• had plenty of dry wood for fire building

The meal was a fantastic tuna casserole from Kathy followed by a lovely damper prepared by Jacquei. As usual, Firemaster Jim managed the combustion department superbly, providing the ladies with timely stocks of red hot coals for the cooking.

Bush Camp to Caiguna

Our longer than planned for day yesterday meant that today was just on 100 kilometres. Very pleasing prospect. Once we were underway we were even more thankful, as a headwind gradually built during the course of the ride. I had left Di at about the 16.5 kilometre mark to have a bit of a hit-out before realising the wind had started to get up. The designated stop for morning tea was at the halfway mark, so I took a photo of the sign while waiting for the others to arrive ...

Halfway through the day

I was feeling a bit bad about Di battling the headwind alone while I was waiting but was heartened to see her arrive in good spirits just before Peter, who had set out a little later than us. We waited for some time before Collis and Kathy arrived with morning tea, and then the three of us set out together to share the burden of leading the way into the wind. Di was feeling so good that she insisted on swinging turns at the front with Peter and me. It seems that she is finally over the stomach upset that has been plaguing her for the past week or so. 

Along the way two trucks transporting huge tyres went past going in the opposite directions. The turbulence they created was amazing. Luckily, Di had stopped to take a photo of a third truck that had stopped by the side of the road, so you can see the size of the truck and the tyres it is transporting ...

Now that's a load of tyres!

Things went really well until we got to about the 80 kilometre mark and right big toe started to play up again. It is so irritated that even the regular cycling socks I had on today started to give me grief. I tried to put up with it but had to stop just past the 85 kilometre and take off my sock again. The pleasing thing is that once I did the pain went away. I think it'll have to be socks off tomorrow and every day thereafter until the blister heals.

About 5 kilometres before Caiguna is a blowhole from one of the limestone caves that riddle the Nullarbor Plain. We stopped to read the signage ...

Caves on the Nullarbor

Blowholes on the Nullarbor

Peter, ever seeing higher knowledge, discovered in the museum at Belladonia that in fact more recently since this sign was erected that air movement at one blowhole has in fact been recorded at a whopping 124 km/hr. Amazing!

Di took this photo of me looking down into the blowhole, which looks pretty inconsequential really ...

Caiguna blowhole

... but there was a strong steady flow of much cooler air coming out of it.

At Caiguna Roadhouse

We put up the tent as soon as we arrived - well, after having a feed, actually, as Di had got her appetite back and was extremely hungry - and got a load of washing on as we both need fresh clothes for tomorrow. A bit of hanging around, and then it was off the the roadhouse for a meal. On the way in I noticed a bunch of trucks transporting heavy equipment had arrived so I made a little video to show some of the things that are passing us by day after day ...

Once inside we all placed our orders. Once again, Fran featured in the feeding stakes. Here's the meal he ordered for himself ...

Fran's last supper

Farewelling Fran the Scotsman

Fran the (Scots)Man

Fran's bike

I've taken the piss out of Fran in this post with the photos of him eating, but it's been an interesting and highly entertaining experience having him share the first third or so of our journey across the continent. He's here in Australia on holiday with his family, who he left in Perth with relatives while he joined us for just under three weeks. Before leaving Scotland Fran decided he wanted to undertake a big, self-propelled journey on this visit to Oz. He thought about doing a walk but soon realised that, in the time he had, a walk would look somewhat inconsequential on the map of Australia. He hit on the idea of a bike ride, contacted Cycle Across Oz and the rest is history.

The great thing about Fran's trip is he is raising money for a children's cancer charity back home in Scotland. That, and the fact that he didn't have a lot of time to prepare for this trip, as well as leaving his wife and three young kids in Perth while he put himself through purgatory is mighty impressive. There was only one - quite long and hilly - day that Fran had to resort to the sag wagon. The rest of the days he has stoically battled on, including a number of tough days when most of us thought he'd call for a lift. 

A proud Scots nationalist, Fran left no one in doubt about what he thinks went on the referendum, or on pretty much any topic for that matter. I stirred him up about riding a Boardman bike, suggesting he should be riding a bike made by the legendary, highly quirky Scot cyclist Graeme Obree, maybe something like this ...

Another Accomplished Scots Cyclist

(Actually I'm not sure Graeme Obree ever produced bikes for sale, but he was a very innovative and imaginative bike designer.)

So, farewell Fran. It's been fun having you along for part of the ride.

A Glance Back and a Glimpse of what Lies Ahead

Here's a Google image of the ground we've covered in the past three days ...

Norseman to Caiguna

Spare a thought for us tomorrow. We've got the longest day of the trip ahead of us and a thunderstorm is forecast. We'll be making as early a start as we can so we can get as far down the road as possible before getting drenched. And that's about it for now ...