2nd May 2025

Wandering around my tent something didn’t feel right. I inspected the soles of my shoes only to discover several three corner Jacks well embedded. These bloody things are everywhere. I inverted the bike and thoroughly inspected the tyres. Only one offensive prickle and thankfully it wasn’t well set. Needless to say, I placed a tarp on the ground giving the bike a bed for the night. Even then I panicked a bit and checked the air pressures every couple of hours until sleep came a calling.

Red hue becoming more prevalent

Up at dawn. Autumn is definitely here with the temperature dropping to around three degrees again. I carried the bike out onto the road and loaded it up there, then set off towards Laura. As the campsite caretaker had warned me, the first twelve kilometres were all up hill… great!

Georgetown General Store

By the time I got to Georgetown I was ready for a break. Nothing in Georgetown except a very traditional General Store. Stuff was all over the place. Even a Christmas tree and decorations in the display window. It had a nice feel about it. The lady there sold me a coffee and meat pie and told me she had been running it seven days a week for two years and had just decided to only open six days a week. Anyway, she seemed happy enough.

Gladstone Coffee Stop

On to Gladstone, where there was a nice pub that invited me in for a coffee. Sitting outside, I watched the Indian Pacific train pass through on its way to Sydney, and no doubt the passengers, comfortable in repose, spotted the old man and his bike and thought, how lucky are we…

Nice town Laura, and home to an ice cream factory. (Golden North) I had an ice cream for afternoon tea.

Not too much to say about Laura. All the towns in this area are old, and dry, and starting to look and feel the same. Next stop Melrose, though I will have a strong northerly to contend with for the next few days. Wind and heat.😒😒

30th April 2025

After a day of doing not much at all in Auburn I was forced to get out of bed due to the cold. Dropped down to 3 degrees and likely the same for the next few days… not nice😒

More Dry

Hit the Reisling trail at 7am. All up hill for the first 15km, which was okay for body warming, but not great mentally or physically… a bit of puffing and panting, then a lovely 10km glide down to Clare.

Having skipped breakfast, I was in need of sustenance, so treated myself to poached eggs on toast with a couple of coffees. The eggs were well presented with spinach, radishes, and some slices of unidentified green stuff, which I consumed greedily, thinking they had to be good for me, right?

On the Way to Yacka

Took a Google short cut from Clare, which was a mistake as it was all up hill, and the energy I gained from breakfast quickly evaporated.

Very dry country and not much to hold one’s interest, though the distant hills to the west are  covered in wind turbines. (I counted in excess of 100). I had a bit of a tail wind, and what with my descent from the Google shortcut, made good time to Yacka, arriving at midday.

Not Many Options for Tea in Yacka

What to say about Yacka? … absolutely nothing.

28th & 29th April 2025

Ten days in Adelaide was just the ticket.

So good to get off the bike and not think about cycling! Though I did explore the Torrens River Linear Park on Good Friday.

What can I say about Adelaide? A very pleasant city with a nice, relaxed vibe. Metro system was easy to use, plenty of places to eat and drink, wide, tree lined streets, and an ambience that said, ‘hey, come and relax. Enjoy the hedonistic lifestyle for a short period, after all, you’ve earnt it!’

Great to catch up with Sue and the family, though another round of farewells at the end of the sojourn was pretty tough!

Bike on Train to Gawler

Caught the first train out of Adelaide on the Sunday morning, along with the throng of ‘all night’ party revellers heading home. I heard one guy mutter, “loser”, as he walked past me and the bike😂😂 He was much bigger than me, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

Joined the Barossa wine trail from Gawler, some 35km meandering through vineyards. All very pretty, but the grapes have long been picked and having worked on vineyards in a previous life, all pretty ho-hum.

The rail trail was all bitumen and you would think it would have been busy, but along it’s length I passed one cyclist and half a dozen runners.

Jacobs Creek Winery Sculpture

 Approaching Tanunda, the trail traversed through the Jacobs Creek vineyards, a massive enterprise and pretty impressive, and I could imagine that if you lived near the area, a weekend’s wine tasting by bicycle would be a very pleasant experience.

I had a coffee in Tanunda, because I was feeling a bit down and a tad lonely. This long distance cycling is a tough gig, especially immediately following happy times in Adelaide. 😒

The Barossa Trail ended for me in Nurioopta, where I joined country roads towards Kapunda.

You may be wondering why I’m avoiding the Mawson Trail. The answer is Caltrope (Three cornered Jack). A vicious weed that has caused such frustration over the years that anyone attempting the trail now, travels with tubeless tyres (self-sealing). Unfortunately, I am travelling with tubes, as the extra strong wheels I installed (to better carry heavy loads) are not tubeless compatible. So, yes, I’m a coward, but who cares. With luck, and a good tail wind, I shall avoid the worst areas and look at joining the trail somewhere north of Laura.

DRY COUNTRY

29th April 2025

So much for careful planning…

Puncture Repair

The Culprit "Calthrope'

Woke up to be confronted by a flat tyre. I re-inflated but it went down immediately. I couldn’t find the cause initially, but removing the tube and finding the hole enabled me to pinpoint the location of the breach on the tyre, and yes, it was a three cornered jack.

Break at Tarlee

The journey to Tarlee seemed to be all up hill, which was confirmed with a long descent into Riverton. At some roadworks on the way, the traffic management worker at the traffic lights insisted I wait until all the vehicles had gone through with me bringing up the rear, which was nice of her as she was concerned for my safety. But the vehicles waiting at the other end of the 1km stretch gave me some nasty looks for holding them up 😂🤣😂. I had a coffee in Riverton to try and put a happy face on the day. 😊

The Rattler rail trail was a smooth, undulating, gravel track that, after 20kms, placed me in Auburn, the campsite for the night.

Kapunda Campsite

A small supermarket in Riverton provided the bread rolls and ham for tonight’s meal.

Thoughts… coffee no longer feels like a treat, and I am getting sick of bread based meals🤣🤣.