Surging Southward: Port Augusta to Laura

Rest Day Ramblings

As is the custom on rest days, apart from Jacquei and Kathy who went to the Australian Arid Lands Botanical Gardens and had lunch together, we all dispersed on different missions. Peter - for the second time - also visited the gardens as well as picking up a hefty leg of lamb for the communal dinner we had planned for the evening. Collis indulged his passion for the Gee-Gees at the Port Augusta Race Meeting. Di and I walked across the old bridge into town, stopping to admire the remains of the old "Number Four Barge" at rest in the mud ...

Numbered days for the old "Number Four Barge"

Details of Number Four Barge

We treated ourselves to lunch at the café/pub in town that Collis, Kathy and Jacquei had visited the day before and recommended. I think Jim largely chilled out in camp after getting in some vital supplies - beer! - to keep himself lubricated in the afternoon sun. 

Di and I had floated the suggestion that we have a communal dinner, to wit a lamb roast. Peter said he'd get the roast, and was very keen to be Head Chef. Di and he ended up collaborating on the preparation of the joint, liberally inserting cloves of garlic and pinches of rosemary. To accompany this magnificent hunk of meat we had roast vegetables: potatoes, carrot, pumpkin and shallots along with some steamed kale. The only one not to join in the feast was Jim who, when invited to share our repast, said "Roast lamb isn't my thing", which rather surprised us. Lamb shanks and mash has been Jim's go-to pub/roadhouse/café meal whenever that option has been available, and which he in fact did have that night at the pub. (When Di asked him the next morning how this worked, he explained that the texture and taste of the two cuts of meat is quite different, which I get.) Here's a photo I took of the rest of our group about to chow down ...

Collis, Peter, Jacquei, Di and Kathy

It was a great feed, washed down liberally with a couple of good bottles of red.

Maybe the highlight of our stay in Port Augusta was meeting some other cyclists. One fellow was travelling north to rendezvous with his son, who is on his way back to Adelaide from Munich. There was also a group of three young Koreans who were doing a massive charity ride, supported by two other Koreans living in Perth. 

Emerging From the Fog

As was the case for our rest day, the morning started with a blanket of fog - although perhaps not so dense as we'd woken up to the previous day. Di and I were keen to get an early start to escape as much traffic as possible on the A1 Highway and were on the road by 7:06. Di's light seems to have failed, so I put mine on my bike to increase our visibility for oncoming traffic. (We routinely have our rear flashers going for the first part of the day as well.) We started to emerge out of the fog after about five kilometres and I stopped to shoot a short video across a scrubby paddock because it was very interesting to see the number of small spiders webs at ground level. I'm not sure how well it will come across via the web, but here's a go ...

Just a little way down the road we did emerge from the fog and Di took off her light rain jacket ...

Sunshine! (lollypops ... and rainbows?!?)

... and then, just 22 kilometres after leaving the caravan park and, almost before we knew it, we were exiting the A1 and on Horrocks Highway on our way to Horrocks Pass and Wilmington ...

This is our turnoff!

Cycling Nirvana!

Suddenly, we were on a super quiet road, gradually, ever gradually rising towards the Flinders Ranges. I paused to take this photo of where the road wends its way into the hills ...

Looking towards Horrocks Pass

... and then a short video of the bigger picture. Listen for the birdsong and, if you're paying close enough attention, you might also notice a couple of parrots fly past ...

For a few kilometres the road ascended very gradually, at about 1 percent, then it went to 2 percent for another two or three kilometres. In this section I spotted something very unusual: a raven had been killed by a passing vehicle. These birds are so intelligent that they are very rarely killed in this manner. This one must have just been clipped, as it appeared its neck had been broken with very little other apparent damage ...

Raven's End

Seeing this raven having met its untimely end brought to mind a wonderfully descriptive, anthropomorphic novel called Raven's End. For anyone who loves detailed descriptions of nature, it provides a wonderfully close up view of natural history in the Canadian Rockies in the Banff area.

The road slowly started to steepen up until it was a steady 5 and 6 percent, then increased to sections of 7 and 8 percent. Peter uses a Garmin and he recorded a maximum gradient of 9.2 percent; Jim who also has a Garmin got a reading of 11 percent.

Horrocks Pass is named for John Ainsworth Horrocks, who died shortly after passing through this area. Collis had told me that Horrocks had been shot by an Aborigine, so on the way up the pass I was working up a spiel about his demise at the hands of Homeland Security forces, but when I stopped at the top to look at the plaque ...

Memorial at Horrocks Pass

... I realised that I wouldn't be able to use that line. Horrocks's demise actually was a result of, in effect, being shot by his camel. As he was preparing to shoot some game his camel moved, causing Horrock's firearm to discharge. Horrocks was shot in the jaw and suffered for over three weeks before he actually passed away. Before expiring he ordered that his camel be shot.

Soon after I reached the summit Di arrived ...

... and we started the descent down the other side. It was a lovely, swift, swooping ride but after only about 100 metres of elevation loss the road levelled out again toward Wilmington, a lovely small town full of old buildings.

Out the other side we were into rich farming land and saw this acknowledgment of faithful service from an old farm truck, in the form of being placed on a pedestal, perpetually facing north towards the sun ...

Truck Valhalla

The farmland was so rich here, and such a contrast to what we'd been through immediately over the hills that I decided to record it with another short video showing a young crop of wheat ...

I thought we were at about 250 metres above sea level at this point but a belated glance at my computer showed we were actually 100 metres higher than that. On we rode, travelling on generally level terrain past canola and wheat crops in abundance. There was little or no wind at this stage with temperatures in the low teens, and clear eggshell blue skies, so ideal conditions for cycling.

Just before reaching Melrose we passed by the interesting historical spot of the "Cheese Tree" ...

The Cheese Tree

The Cheese Tree too

Adjacent to the Cheese Tree is this memorial plaque marking Goyder's Line which delineated the northern margin where it was thought that growing crops was viable here in outback South Australia ...

Goyder's Line

I would have to say that the ride from the junction of Highway A1 and the Horrocks Highway through to Melrose would have to be amongst the three top bits of riding we've done since leaving Perth - if not the very best. A big call I know, but that's how it is.

Arriving in Melrose

Into Melrose we rode. It's the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges, established in 1853. There is a wonderful bike shop here, which has become the centrepiece of the town and, in effect, its life blood.
As we had decided to make an early start out of Port Augusta, Di and I had told Collis that we'd ride through to here rather than stopping earlier for morning tea (the others paused at the top of Horrocks Pass). The bike shop also did coffee and cakes, so we both had a cup of coffee and a Chocolate Raspberry Brownie and a piece of Lumberjack Cake ... each! Here's a picture of Di sitting in the sun outside the bike shop refuelling ...

Over the Edge in Melrose, South Australia

I also had the bike mechanic take a look at my transmission. He confirmed my suspicion that the derailleur hanger had become a bit "soft" and misaligned, and tweaked it up slightly for me. I'll need to replace it when I get home but it should get me through the rest of the trip.

The focus here is wholly mountain biking. There is a network of trails centred on Mount Remarkable which was developed with funds provided by the South Australian government, and they have a Fat Tire Festival here each year in the winter.  (There is now also an extensive rail trail for cyclists who are not so comfortable on the road.) The shop has a range of high end mountain bikes for sale and rent. They also had a beautiful Ibis cyclocross demo bike which was priced to go: luckily it was at least a size too big for me!

We spent about an hour hanging about in Melrose. Before we left Collis and Kathy arrived and we were able to offload some clothing that had become superfluous as the sun had come out. On the southern side of town, welcoming riders and hikers coming from Adelaide and further afield, is this lovely sculpture ...

Melrose sculpture

On to Laura

The rest of the ride was pleasant, if not at the same level as the previous section. There was a bit of a headwind which, combined with a gradual ascent back up to 425 metres for the first five kilometres or so, made the work a little harder and the going a little slower. After that we started to gradually descend again and picked up the pace. Laura is only at about 250 metres, so we had a nice run into town over the last 40 or so kilometres, despite riding into a bit of a breeze. Upon arrival we made straight for the De Café Laura and had yet another feed - this time with a bit more substance. Here's a photo of Di enjoying her steak and mushroom pie (homemade of course) ...

Di in pie heaven

And here's an image showing where we've come today ...

Port Augusta to Laura

It doesn't look like much, does it? Never mind, we're getting there. Tomorrow will be a big day: we will pass the 3500 kilometre mark since leaving Perth on the 11th of July. We've now had dinner and Di and are are going to meander over to the pub with Peter for a glass of port before going to bed. Ah, the simple pleasures of life!