WHAT DID I BRING

The challenge with any holiday or trip, is what to bring. Do you bring that etra pair of jeans or your laptop? If you haven't travelled that much, you'll most likely pack a lot of stuff you don't really need. It takes practice and experience to slim down your bags. After enough trips you'll have it down to an art.

Though I've travelled a fair bit and can fit all I need for a week away in a small backpack, I'd never done any bike touring prior to my Oz adventure. I read countless blogs and talked to several bikers via email and in person, trying to decide what to bring and what not to bring. However, at the end of the day you just have to go for it and get rid of as you go. So here it is, my complete packing list. This is everything I started out with in Perth. What I finished with on the east coast is a lot less.

What's best? Trailer vs. panniers

Panniers or trailer? That's the question many potential bike tourers will ask themselves. There are many a few options and they've all got advantages and disadvantages. As part of your planning you need to make a decision on what you would like to use. I can't tell you what to choose, only what my experiences are.

Namaste

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” 

― Albert Einstein

This gapyear has been, and still is, all about trying new things and challenging myself both mentally and physically. It's about trying and doing things I haven't done before. It's about enjoying life.

Busride

Australia you win. I quit, sort of. I've had it with poor quality roads, trucks rushing past and narrow «highways». Today I was almost run over by a truck. Luckily for me I suppose, it was roadworks there so he was probably going around 60-70 km/h. I don't know how, but he only managed to hit my right rear pannier. I managed to pull over to the side, get my legs out and find my balance. And after a few deep breaths and a nice selection of swear words, I carried on. What choice did I have? Luckily it was only about 4 km to the exit. I got to Kempsey and went straight to the tourist information. I asked «Is the road going to be like this all the way up to Byron Bay?» «Yes». She told me it's windy, hilly, hardly any shoulder and roadworks the entire way up to Byron Bay (about 350 km from where I am now). She herself apparently almost had an accident the other week.

Then I texted the people I was supposed to stay with a bit further up (who are bikers) and they said she was right. They also had a biker staying with them yesterday who experienced a similar almost-accident as me.

So here I am, standing in my lycra tights in an tourist office, asking myself: Is that record of becoming the first Norwegian to cycle from Perth to Brisbane worth my life?» After a couple of seconds I came to the obvious conclusion; no. So the tourist office helped me book a bus ticket onboard the night bus. I've had it.

Am I disappointed? To be honest, not really. Yes it would have been cool to say I cycled all the way up, I'll admit that. But in my mind I've already made it. I made it across Nullarbor and into Sydney. I'm proud of myself for having done that. Also I've met some amazing people on the way, who shown me their life and giving me heaps of advice (and support). So thanks to them!

Now that I've calmed down, had a shower and food; do I regret booking a bus ticket? ABSOLUTELY NOT. This trip lost its fun factor a few hundred kilometers ago. Today was just that one drop to fill the bucket. And you know what? I might not be the first Norwegian to cross Australia Perth to Brisbane, but I made it to Sydney so I'm damn proud of that. Besides, I've managed to raise almost $3000 for children s charities. That's worth it.

Plan now is to take the bus from Kempsy to Byron Bay (349 km), then bike 18 km up to Mullumbimby where my mate Peter lives. So plan to stay there for a few days. Then bike up to the Gold Coast, stay there for a bit, and head up towards Brisbane. So I'll be biking from Byron Bay and up, but there I'll be able to stay off the highway the majority of the way.

I hope people understand that I'm not making this decision lightly and that I haven't let all of you down.

So now I intend to enjoy the last part of my trip, regardless of todays event. I'm getting to Brisbane, one way or another.

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Australia du vinner. Jeg slutter, nesten. Jeg har fått nok av elendige veier, lastebiler susende forbi og smale "hovedveier". Idag blei jeg nesten påkjørt av en lastebil. Heldigvis for me, var det veiarbeid der so han kjørte i rundt 60-70 km/t. Jeg veit ikke hvordan, men han traff bare bakerste bagen min. Jeg klarte å styre inn til sida, få ut beina og finne balansen. Og etter et par pust og et godt utvalg av banneord, fortsatte jeg. Hva annet kunne jeg gjøre? Heldigvis var det bare 4 km til avkjøringa. Jeg kom fram til Kempsey og dro rett til turistinformasjonen. Jeg spurte «Kommer veien til å være slik hele veien opp til Byron Bay?» «Ja». Hu fortalte meg at det er svingete, bakker, nesten ikke no veskulder og veiarbeid hele veien opp til Byron Bay (ca. 350 km fra hvor jeg er nå). Hun hadde visstnok en nesten-ulykke selv på den veien for litt siden.

Så sendte jeg melding til et par jeg hadde planlagt å være hos litt lengre opp (som er sykklister) og de sa hu hadde rett. De hadde også en annen syklist som var hos dem igår og han hadde hatt en lignende nesten-ulykke som meg.

Så her står jeg, i lycra tights i et turist kontor, og spør meg selv: Er dette rekordforsøket om å bli den første nordmannen til å sykle fra Perth til Brisbane verdt livet mitt?» Etter et par sekunder kom jeg frem til den åpenbare konklusjonen: nei. Så de hjalp meg med å kjøpe en bussbillett ombord nattbussen. Jeg har fått nok.

Er jeg skuffa? For å være helt ærlig, ikke egentlig. Ja det hadde vært kult å kunne si at jeg sykla hele veien opp, det kan jeg innrømme. Men oppi mitt hodet har jeg allerede klart det. Jeg klarte å komme meg over Nullarbor og inn til Sydney. Jeg er stolt over meg selv for å ha klart det. I tillegg har jeg møtt mange utrolig mennesker på veien, som har vist meg deres liv og gitt meg haugevis med råd (og støtte). Så takk til dem!

Nå som jeg har fått roa meg ned, tatt en dusj og fått mat: angrer jeg på at jeg kjøpte en bussbillett? ABSOLUTT IKKE. Denna turen mista «artig-delen» for noen hundere kilometer sia. Idag var bare den siste dråpen i glasset. Og vit du hva? Jeg blir kanskje ikke den første nordmannen til å krysse Australia, Perth til Brisbane, men jeg kom meg til Sydney og det er jeg fanden meg stolt over. Uavhengig av det, så har jeg klart å samle inn over 14 000 kr / $3000 til barn. Det er gjør det verdt det.

Planen nå er å ta bussen fra Kempsy til Byron Bay (349 km), så sykle 18 km opp til Mullumbimby hvor kompissen min Peter bor. Planen er så å være her noen dagen. Etter det bærer det opp til Gold Coast, bli der en stund, og så opp til Brisbane. Så jeg skal sykle fra Byron Bay og opp, men kan da holde meg unna hoveveien mesteparten av tida.

Jeg håper folk forstår at jeg ikke har tatt lett på denne avgjørelsen og at dere ikke føler jeg har svikta dere.

Så nå har jeg tenkt til å nyte resten av turen min, uavhengig av dagens hendelse. Jeg skal til Brisbane på en eller annen måte.

UPDATE - EASTCOAST

Sorry about lack of updates lately, just been relaxing and taking some time off inside my own head. Yes I know how that sounds, but you know what I mean. I can really feel the trip really beginning to take its toll on me. Though this area of Australia is really nice and interesting, the beaches are really nice, I'm beginning to feel pure hate towards that bike (almost). I think it's because my mind is realising that it isn't much left now. Only 732 km left until I'm in Brisbane and this journey is over. I cannot wait. Every bone in my bone wants me to push hard and get it over with. To do long days and just get north and cover the distance. But at the same time I need to explore Australia as well. So the plan is to do no more than 100 km a day, get up to Brisbane and then see if I can find some WWOOFing work on a farm up in that area. That will enable me to sell my bike, see the area and have no food expenses. Then when I'm getting closer to my return flights from Sydney I'll head down a couple of days before on the train or flying.

Anyhoodle, I had a great time in Newcastle with my new friend Marty. She was an amazing host and showed me all of the city. I even got to see a koala bear! So nice!

Because the wind still had a kick in it, biking wasn't too pleasant today. So decided to take my short day today and a longer day tomorrow. Need to get to a place about 5 km north of Nabiac, which means about 95 km in total. Fortunately the forecast said hardly any wind and sunny. Plus I've spoken to the couple I'm staying with tomorrow; the Highway have a emergency stopping lane all the way up which I can ride on. Which means I get heaps of space which is nice.

Also bought a new high-vis vest, cause the old one (which cost $3 on eBay) is falling apart. So now I'm visible and safe on the road. My phone keeps acting up, so had to manually track my progress today. Will try and restart it tonight. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Almost there... Almost there.

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Sorry for mangel på oppdatering i det siste, har slappa av og tatt en time-out oppi toppen. Jada jada, veit hvordan det høres ut, men du skjønner hva jeg mener. Jeg kan virkelig kjenne at turen har sliti meg greit ut. Selvom denne delen av Australia er utrolig fin og interessant, strendene er utrolig, har jeg begynt å føle rent hat for sykkelen (nesten). Jeg trur det er fordi hjernen min veit at det ikke er langt igjen. Bare 732 km til jeg er i Brisbane og denna reisa er over. Jeg gleder meg! Hele kroppen bønnfaller meg om å gi jernet og bli ferdig med det hele. Å gjøre lange dager, komme meg nordover og fullføre distansen. Samtidlig så må jeg se Australia. Så trur planen er å ikke gjøre mer enn 100 km om dagen, komma meg opp til Brisbane og se om jeg kan finne meg no WWOOFing arbeid på en gård i det området. Det vil la meg selge sykkelen, se området og ikke ha noen utgifter o forhold til mat. Så når det da nærmer seg avreise datoen fra Sydney, drar jeg ned et par dager før.

Uansett, jeg hadde det utrolig hyggelig i Newcastle med min nye venn Marty. Hu var en utrolig vert og viste meg hele byen. Jeg fikk til og med se en koala bjørn! So fett!

Fordi det var godt med vind idag, var det ikke spesielt digg å sykle. Så bestemte meg for å stoppe tidlig og heller ha en lang dag imorra. Må komma meg til en sted 5 km nord for Nabiac, som betyr at morgendagens total blir 95 km. Heldigvvis sier værmeldinga at det blir lite vind og godt med sol. Pluss, jeg har snakka med det paret jeg skal sove hos imorra; hovedveien har en «nød-skulder» hele veien opp som jeg kan sykle på. Noe som betyr at jeg får nok av plass.

Har også kjøpt meg en ny refleksvest, fordi den gamle (som kosta $3 på eBay) faller fra hverandre. Så nå er jeg godt synlig og trygg i traffikken. Telefonen min driver av å oppfører rart, så måtte manuelt legge inn dagens økt. Skal prøve å restarte den ikveld, så håper det vil fikse problemet.

Snart framme.... Snart framme.

A LITTLE PIECE OF NORWAY

Sjømannskirken in Sydney is like a little piece of Norway. You come in and the first thing you see is childrens bunad (Norwegian national costume), followed by a nice selection of Norwegian food and snacks. Nothing says Norway like Toro risengrynsgrøt (rice porridge) and Melkesjokolade (milk chocolate). And of course, the portrait of King Harald and Queen Sonja is well positioned above the fireplace.

Up the mountain we go

What a climb.... Today I basically hit the top of the mountain, 1193 meters above sea level. Up until now, I've never been scared on the road. Worried yes. Nervous yes. But never scared. Today I was incredibly scared. Why? Because of people's lack of ability to actually give me space when they can and the inconsistency of a road shoulder to ride on (and all the pieces of glass that was in it). A truck didn't give me any space, even though the overtaking lane on his right side was empty. So I ended up in the ''rainwater gutter''... Luckily I managed to get my feet out and avoid tipping over.

But all this disappeared when I got see and hold a baby kangaroo. The lovely couple I'm staying with takes in baby kangaroos that have lost their mothers in traffic accidents. It was so cute and truly amazing.

Tomorrow I'll be in Sydney in the afternoon most likely. Then I'll stay there for about three days, resting and sightseeing. Also going to the Norwegian church on Saturday for waffles, Norwegian porridge and more. I can't wait!

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Litt av en klatretur.... Idag nådde jeg toppen av fjellet, 1193 moh. Fram til nå har jeg aldri vært redd på veien. Engstelig ja. Bekymra ja. Men aldri redd. Idag var jeg veldig redd. Hvorfor? Pga folks manglende evne til å gi meg litt plass og mangel på vei skulder (som som regel hadde godt med glasskår). En lastebil ga meg ikke nok plass og jeg endte opp i grøfta. Heldigvis klarte jeg å få ut beina og unngå å tippe overende.

Men alt detta forsvant når jeg så baby kengeruen. Hællandussen å nydelig. Det utrolig hyggelige parret jeg er hos, tar imot kengeru unger som har mista moren sin i trafikk ulykker. Så søt atte!

Imorra er jeg endelig i Sydney. Her skal jeg være over helga. På lørdag skal jeg innom Sjømann kirken for vafler, grøt og mer. Blir så digg atte!

INSPIRATIONAL BREAK

Decided to have my day off early, because my body and mind were tired. It's getting really cold now and it's taken a toll on me. Because what has been my routine now for 4000 km no longer applies. Up until about Renmark, I would be up and on the road by 07:30, 08:00 the latest. Now, I'm lucky if I'm on the road by 09:00. Why? It's not because I'm having a lie in. It's because winter has arrived. Last night it was -1 here. The problem is that it's such a huge difference from night to day, that it takes a while for everything to heat up. So around 9AM it will be around 8-10 degrees, which is warm enough to start out in. Then gradually it will climb to about 15-17 degrees in the day.

So the new routine is to get up around 7AM, have breakfast, pack etc. and then get ready to hit the road by 9AM latest. Then I also will finish a bit later as well. Oh well. All part of the adventure! At least it's not raining, haha!

Did some shopping today. Got myself a fleece hat and neck-thingy to go with my mittens. Ready for winter.

Also did a photoshoot by the river. Thanks to my mate Patrick for being a photographer.

Now, it's way past my bedtime. I have to do about 130 km tomorrow to Albury. After that I'm heading north towards Bathurst, a few days off and then across the Blue Mountains into Sydney. I cannot wait! But for the next five days I need to focus on getting up to Bathurst, which is about 550 km away.

You just have to get into the zone.

Anyway, night! Sorry to tired to write in Norwegian today.

Echuca to Cobram 102km

Easy enough day today. Hardly any wind and pretty flat. Managed to get a good average speed. Was about 4-5 degrees when I woke up this morning, so a bit nippy, but warmed up.

Staying with a Warm Showers host. Really nice! Went to the pub for a couple of pints. Decided to have my day off now instead of in Albury.

Also stopped by the supermarket for a shop. Even after living in NZ I still can't get used to having pet food in the fridge section. It's literally two meters away from the meat we humans eat. Weird Aussies...

Anyhoodle, really tired and it's late, so only a very short post tonight.

Kerang to Echuca 97 km

I've decided to start writing my posts in both English and Norwegian. Why you might think. Though most Norwegians can understand and speak English fairly well, there are some that aren't too steady with it. Besides, I'm aiming to become the first Norwegian to cross Australia, so should maybe write in Norwegian as well.

Rull ned for norsk.

--

 YES! I've done over 4000km (2485 miles)! Only about 1900 km to go. Yay, haha! Well at least I'm way past halfway. Best way to look at it. My only focus now is to get to Sydney before winter really kicks in and there's ice and frost.

You can find all my workouts by clicking on the Endomondo logo on the right hand side.

Felt a lot better today after a good night sleep complete with ibuprofen for my wisdom teeth (did wonders). The wind was also less today, which did help. AND I found a "bypass" which took me of the highway half the day. Quite nice to be honest, getting away from all the trucks. The wind had its gusts here and there, but still less than yesterday. Checked the stats, it was an average of 18 km/h winds (with gusts around 20 km/h) between 12 and 2PM. No wonder I had a hard time battling that headwind!

I'm back into New South Wales for a few hours now. Will cross back into Victoria after about 30 km.

This is my route tomorrow; Echuca (West) to Cobram (East). I've managed to find a (sealed) route which don't go on the highway, well hardly anyway. So I'll start off by going past the national parks and then into diary country. So many cows today. All you could smell was cow shit.

Then tomorrow I'm staying one night (possibly two) with a Warm Showers host. Tonight I'm staying at a caravan park. A bit pricey today, $28, but that's because it's a Steam Engine festival (yes) on in Echuca. The forecast said possible showers in the afternoon/early evening and sure enough, the heavens just opened up a bit. Hopefully that means the clouds will stay a bit longer, making it a bit warmer at night and in the morning.

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Da tek med det på norsk au! Vurderte et halvt sekund om jeg skulle skrive på nynorsk for moro skyld, men så kom jeg på hvor bra det gikk på ungdomsskolen og VGS. Som sagt, skal jeg prøve å bruke mere norsk på bloggen (og Facebook) slik at de som ikke er så stødig i engelsk alikevel kan få med seg oppdatering. Dere får unnkylde eventuelle skrivefeil eller rare ordvalg i starten. Merker at norsken sitter litt dypt inne etter å ha bodd i det store utland såppass lenge. Oh shit it's på norsk som de sa i The Julekalender på TV2. Ord jeg slter med blir innimellom merka med (?). Rett i vei.

JADDA!! Da har jeg sykla over 4000km! Bare rundt 1900 km igjen. Haha! Vel jeg er ihvertfall over halvveis. Beste måten å tenke på. Mitt eneste fokus nå er å komma meg til Sydney før vinteren virkelig setter inn og det er is og frost.

Du kan finne alle med treningsøkter (?) ved å klikke på Endomondo logoen på høyre side.

Ting føltes mye bedre idag etter en god natts søvn og en ibux for visdomstanna. Var mindre vind idag i forhold til igår, men fortsatt godt med trekk rundt øra. Og jeg fant en slik en sidevei som tok meg av highway'n halvparten av dagen. Digg med litt fri fra alle de lastebilene og campingvognene for å værra ærlig. Var et par kraftige vindpust her og der, men ikke på langt nær så ille som igår. Sjekka statestikken fra gårdsdagen; det var et snitt på 18 km/t vind med et par vindkast rundt en 20 km/t mellom klokka 12 og 14. Æ'kke rart jeg sleit litt da.

Tatt en liten snipptur inn til New South Wales, men tilbake i Victoria imorra etter en 30 km. (For de som ikke veit det; Australia er delt inn i stater og terretorier, som omtrent er sine egne land. Western Australia, South Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria og Tasmania. Alle har sin egen interne regjering, utdanningssystem, helse osv. osv. I tillegg så har bare enkelte stater sommertid, resten vil ikke. På mange måter veldig likt USA, men istedenfor 50 stater, har de bare 8. Håpløst og tullete organisering av et land spør du meg. Enten burde de være fullstendig uavhengig eller så burde de være et land, med like systemer.)

Detta er ruta mit imorra; Echuca (vest) til Cobram (øst). Jeg har klart å finne en (asfaltert) rute som ikke går via hovedveien (det var det norske ordet for highway ja! Den satt godt inne). Så starter med å sykle mellom to national parker og ut på landet blant kyra. Så mange kuer idag. Lukta kudritt hele veien.

Imorra skal jeg sove en natt (kanskje to) med en vert (?) fra Warm Showers sida. I natt tilbringes i en camping park. Litt dyrt idag, $28/155kr, men det er grunnet den årlige Steam Engine festival (kødder ikke) her i Echuca. Værmeldinga sa også at vi kunne vente en liten skur seint på ettermidagen/tidlig kveld og sant nok, i skrivende stund kom det er par droper. Forhåpentligvis betyr det at skydekke blir litt lenger og varmer holder seg her. For det er bikkjekaldt om morran nå!

Mildura to Boundry Bend 133 km

Morning fog... I kid you not, you couldn't see further than 150-200 meters at most. Luckily it cleared around 10AM. It was FREEZING today though! Hopefully I'll get to warmer places soon.

True true! Stop revive survive. I normally try to stop and have some food/snack every 25 km. Feels heaps better that way. Then if I have a long day I stop for a while around lunchtime.

My two least favourite words... They're everywhere in Australia. To save some money they might as well just put up one sign at each international airport "Australia is under construction. Expect roadwork". Also one thing I noticed when I crossed into New South Wales for a short while today; Victoria spends more money on their country roads!

Staying in Boundry Bend for the night, which means I only have a short 89 km to do tomorrow.

Check out the view of Murray river. Aww!

Decided to buy a meal tonight. Chicken burger with "the lot" (cheese, salad, beetroot, egg and salad) + a pile of chips = $6.95 (£3.50/32kr) BARGAIN!

So tomorrow I've only got 89km to do to Swan Hill, where I'll be staying with another Couch Surfer. So plan to sleep at bit extra tomorrow. One because I can and two because it's really cold in the mornings now.

Anyhoodle, going good!

Watervale to Cadell - 127 km

After having spent two lovely days in Watervale, experiencing great wine and meeting some great people, it was time to head on. I followed the Riesling Trail down to Auburn, before going back onto the road. Such a great bike trail!
So back on the road I had a few hills between Auburn and Eudanda, but still LOADS of slight downhill and flats. Then from Eudanda to Morgan, it was more or less flat. So managed to get a really good average speed.

Tip! If you want see more specific data about my route and the stats (speed, distance, elevation, ascent, descent etc.), click on the Endomondo logo on the right hand side. That will take you to my workout profile. From here you can access all my workouts.)

Morgan = Murray river
The Murray River ( River Murray in South Australia ) is Australia's longest river. At 2,508 kilometres (1,558 mi) in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps,draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows to the northwest, before turning south for its final 500 kilometres (310 mi) or so into South Australia, reaching the ocean at Lake Alexandrina. - source Wikipedia

Had to take a ferry across which was so cool. I felt like a little child, waiting by the docks. I say ferry, more like a floating piece of tarmac being pulled along two wires. The crossing was maybe 100 meters long, if that. But still pretty cool.
So from here, I'm more or less following the Murray river down to Albury. So hopefully it will be green, lush and very interesting scenery.
Also saw a lot of colourful flowers today, really nice!

Tonight I'm staying in Cadell, in the local community caravan park. Was only $10, so quite good. Plus the caretakers are a lovely couple in their early 70s. After I'd had my dinner, they invited me over for a second one. So nice of them. Afterwards we talked about everything from Europe and travel to Australias (lack of) green policies and the annual budget.

Tomorrow I've got about 100 km riding to do to Renmark. Here I'll be staying for a week, working on a farm. Also think I timed it good, cause there's a cold front coming in on Tuesday. Woop woop.

A day in Watervale, paradise

Decided to stay an extra night in Watervale, with this amazing couple, because this is a beautiful area. There are over 20 wineries within a 30 km radius. There are so many. So if you can imagine that, driving down through the stunning valley and at every turn-off you see a sign for another winery.

The Riesling Trail runs from just north of Clare down to Auburn. It used to be where the old railway line passed through the valley, but all that is left now are the black and white station signs at each towns. Now it is a very well maintained (fine) gravel road, offering cyclists a break from the cars, trucks and all other sorts vehicles.

Today was also the first day I've noticed the change of seasons. Autumn is coming. The leaves are changing colour and the trees are going bare, ready for winter. It reminds me so much of Europe, this area of South Australia close to the border (of the eastern states). So much trees, greenery, farm and above all, life. Western Australia had some, but the majority of Australia’s population lives on this side of the country and I can understand why, it's beautiful here.

Anyhoodle, like I mentioned, staying with a lovely couple. One of them is a nurse in a local hospital and the other works at one of the wineries. So this morning when I asked if I could stay another night, she gave me a map of the area and suggested a few wineries I should check out.

So off I went on my bike. Had no luggage on, which felt incredibly weird! I was really unstable for the first couple of kilometres (and more so after the first couple of wineries).

So you turn up at the winery and head into the cellar. Here you can learn more about the particular wine they produce and get to taste some of them.

I am by no means an wine expert, far from it, but I do appreciate a good red wine. Because I'm riding at least 120 km tomorrow, I had to limit myself in how much I actually tried. I haven't done enough wine tasting to get into the culture of spitting it out again after having touch you tounge for five seconds. So when you've been to four wineries and tried over seven different types at each place, you do notice the effect when get back on that bike again.

So first stop were two award-winning wineries, the Kilikanoon Winery and the Penna Lane Wines. Both had very friendly staff, that were passionate about their products and were able to provide you with detailed information about the entire process from grape to bottle. Penna Lane Wines also serve lunch on the weekends. We're not talking cheese and crackers here, but lovely and rich flavoured country style meals, made by the winemakers mother. Lovely woman. Makes a killer broccoli and bacon soup with fresh bread. YUM! So after having tasted the wine and also their homemade chutney and jams, I was on my merry way down the road.

Next stop was the Mitchell Winery. Though it was quite an interesting place, seeing as they produce everything there and I could see the entire process, the wines weren't AS GOOD as the others. Later I was told they mainly produce wine for other wineries, which is used to mix in with their own wines.

Last stop for the day was the Skollogalee Wines. Their Shiraz was quite good, fruity and rich on flavour. The Riesling however (which is what this area is known for) was exquisite! I'm not a big white wine drinker and Riesling just brings back bad memories from high school of pre-drinks before going to some godforsaken house party. But this was totally different to the standard German Riesling we're accustomed to in Europe. It had a much more of a citrus flavour and a lot more refreshing (yes I know I'm not using the “proper” wine terminology here, but sue me...).

After this I decided to call it a day and headed up to Clare to do a bit of food shopping, before taking the Riesling (bike) trail back down to Watervale (15km south of Clare).

It was the feeling of pure joy seeing the valley, riding on the trail and passing through vineyard after vineyard. The changing colours, autumn coming in. The sweeping hills with rows of vines neatly lined up next to each other. This to me is like my own personal Disneyland. It's magical, colourful and ever-changing.

And as I was riding down from Swan Hill into Watervale, faced with the spectacular scenery, I could not help but to think of Europe. About how much travelling New Zealand and Australia has made me love Europe even more. It might seem odd to some, but I'm more determined than ever to settle down in a European country after having seen all this. It reminded me of Pembrokeshire and Brecon National park in Wales (UK) and about the fjords on the west coast in Norway. Even the forests close to where I grew up and the variety of rivers.

So to family and friends; relax, I'm coming home to Europe, not settling down in Australia. Though I still don't know which European country, but at least you'll have me within reasonable flying distance.

A huge thanks to Louise and Kerstine for having me. They have a beautiful home and a lovely (and friendly) greyhound. Both do something they're are passionate about and I greatly admire that. I wish them both the very best of luck and hopefully I'll meet them again some time in the future, maybe on a bike trip in Europe. Who knows.

Tomorrow I'm heading off again. Leaving the Clare Valley. I hope to do just over 120 km tomorrow and then do about 110 km the day after into Renmark.

Gladstone to Watervale - 91.7 km

Finally the scenery improves. I'm now entering the wine region of Australia, where some of the best wine in the world is produced. I've travelled past many vineyards, both big and small, all day. It's something about that Mediterranean feeling it gives me. I suppose you can say it soothes my soul. I don't even mind the fact I'm doing some of the biggest hills since Western Australia.

There's also towns every 20-30km, which breaks up your journey a bit more. Also allows you to easily stock up on food and water on a more regular basis. Fun fact: the reason why these small towns are so close, is because that was the length the bulls (who pulled the carts or similar) could travel before they needed to rest. At least that is what I was told by the lady in the tourist office. Quite cool I must admit.

Stopped in Clare for a long three hour lunch break at the Wild Saffron cafe. Amazing food AND free WiFi, a combination in Australia which is very hard to come by.

Heading further south towards my final destination, Watervale, I see even more vineyards. So nice.

I found a lovely couple to stay with through Warm Showers (cylist equivalent of Couch Surfing). I was greeted by two cupcakes left in the kitchen for me and a lovely greyhound. Louise works as a nurse and Kerstin works for a winery nearby. Unfortunately Louise had to work, but will hopefully meet her in the morning. Kerstin spoiled me with an absolutely amazing Thai chicken dish and some local Clare Valley red wine. Oh the flavours, yum!! She also told me a bit about the regional wines and that if I see an Australian red wine from 2011, I am to steer clear of it. Apparently that was an awrful year for Australian wine. There you have it people. Next time you buy a red wine, make sure it's not Oz 2011.

Showed her my route and she said I'm coming into some areas with beautiful scenery along the Murray river. I cannot wait. Really starting to enjoy Australia now.

Anyhoodle, it's getting late and I need to sleep before getting up for riding in the morning.

Night!

Quorn to Gladstone - 120 km

I don't know why, but the Blogger app automatically places my photo at the end... So scroll down first, look at them and come back up here again. Might make more sense.

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Felt a bit like Donald today. As I was setting off from Quorn, my mate Paul pointed out that my back tire seemed a bit flat. So he brought out his bike pump with a pressure gauge. Guess what? Turns out the pressure in my tire was 40psi. The ideal pressure is 60psi. That's a shortfall of 20psi... Have you seen the Donald Duck episode Clown of the jungle? Donald tries to take a photo of the beautiful birds, but another bird messes with him. When he finally manages to get the shot and is going to take out the film for developing, it turns out he never put film in it in the first place. He goes loopy. That is how I felt this morning, haha.

Anyhoodle, set off. Heading; south. Immediately I noticed the amazing scenery. After Port Augusta it has improved ten thousand times. The ONLY interesting thing between Esperance and Ceduna was the Bunda cliffs. So seeing sweeping hills, trees and wildlife every day, all day is a most welcome thing. All the locals I've spoken to have all said it will only get better from here. Excited!

Small towns all over the place. Today I passed through six towns, all quite nice. Finally staying within civilisation. Less water and food to carry. Also breaks up the day a lot more and motivates. As I was causally peddling through Melrose, I passed a well equipped bike shop. A BIKE SHOP, in a town with less than 200 people. Got talking to one of the staff and he told me there's a lot of mountain bikers coming through here because of many good tracks in the area. Staying there for a good 30 minutes. So if you're passing through this way, make sure you stop by. They also have a cafe and free WiFi!

Along the way I passed these big hollow trees all over. Reaching probably 20-30 meters into the sky, they all have partly or fully hollowed out bases. So cool to see.

My new setup is working great. I'm still carrying 45ish kg, but all on the bike. It took some getting used to, but so much easier to build up speed. I mean, I was flying today. Reached a maximum speed of over 45km/h and a good average of 22.1km/h (according to my speedometer).

Because I'm now only doing 100-120 km a day, I can take my time and stop at places I like. Not having to rush like I had to on the Nullarbor. Also stopped in a town called Laura and ended up talking for ages with the lovely ladies in the information centre.

After setting up my tent (it needed to dry first) and making a lovely tuna & cous-cous dinner, I had to bring my sewing kit out. My tights have started to...shall we say open up to the world. These tights are amazing. I bought them in St. Maxine in southern France in 2008 when my grandparents took me to see one of my great aunties whos got a house down there. Beautiful place by the way. St. Tropez, Nice, Monaco... If you ever get the chance, go. It is absolument magnifique!! Sorry, back to the tights. We went shopping and bought a few gym clothes, including those tights. So I've had them for six years. Six years! Still going strong, but might have find another pair when I get to Sydney.

Like I said, I'm truly starting to enjoy Australia now. Finally getting interesting. Can't wait to see the rest. Tomorrow is a short day, only 80 km. Heading to Watervale, where I'll be staying with a nice couple I met through the cycling site Warm Showers (cylist version of Couch Surfing basically). Then from there I'll head towards Renmark, camp out and hopefully arrive on Sunday.

Nos da! (Welsh for 'good night')

Updated route

After careful consideration I've decided to change my route. I've spoken to locals and other cyclists and they all say the same thing; don't go to Adelaide and Melbourne, it's way too cold and wet this time of year. So instead I'm staying north and going through Mildura and between the Blue Mountains into Sydney. We're still talking at least 2500 km left until Brisbane, so heaps left.
So will have to come back in the future (in a van/on a motorbike) and see Melbourne then.

I've managed to get a week of work on a citrus farm in Renmark (just before Mildura). So plan to get there late Sunday/early Monday and then stay for a week. After that I plan on heading right to Sydney, only stopping to have a rest day every five days. If all goes to plan, I should be in Sydney by the 18-19th of June. Then I'll have a whole month to get to Brisbane. I can't wait.

Tomorrow I'm taking the bus back to where my bike broke down. Yes I know, I'm crazy. But if I don't, I won't be the first Norwegian to cross Australia. So won't let that happen. Plan:
Monday - Take the bus and arrive in the afternoon. Then bike 67 km to Wuddina.
Tuesday - Wuddina to middle of nowhere, 165 km
Wednesday - Middle of nowhere to Quorn (town outside Port Augusta) 136 km

To achieve this, I'm leaving everything at Pauls except the absolute essentials. Laptop, camera, spare clothes etc. That will shave tons of weight off and will let me fly over those hills. For those of you watch Gavin & Stacey, I'm going Nessa style; femme wipes, undies and TicTacs. So to save power, because I don't have my laptop, I will have probably turn my phones off in the day for the first two days. Then I'll turn them on for a bit in the evening to check messages etc. I'm bringing; spare jacket, one boxer, one pair socks, thermals, GoPro, bike parts, tent, sleeping bag, food and water. That's more or lesi.s it. The rest I'm leaving here.

So wish me luck!

"Norway Day" Aussie style

Happy National Independence Day or just "happy Norway Day" to you all!
A great day to be Norwegian, both in Norway and other countries. This year is also the 200 year anniversary of our constitution, which is still in use today.

So to celebrate it headed to Emily's Bistro for the mandatory ice cream. I also made my own flag with the use of my permanent markers. The cafe is a old general store and still has the old shelves and counter from back in the day. Another cool thing they had, was the money handling system; basically the men behind the counter would receive money from the customer, put it into a small bucket and pull on a rope which then would "fire" it off to a enclosed till room where the ladies would empty it, put in the right change and "fire" it back again via the rails. So cool! The owner filmed me doing it, so will show you that some time.

The Ghan railway used to run through up until the 1980s, but the station and much of the maintenance halls are still in use today as part of a tourist attraction. Every weekend they bring out the old train set, going Port Augusta - Quorn - Port Augusta.
You can just about see the white smoke rise up inbetween the hills. Then coming round a turn, you can see the locomotive. I felt like someone had given me a ticket for the Hogwarts Express, departing from platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter reference). The mere power of that black beast is astonishing. It was truly magical seeing it pull in.

After ice cream and locomotives, I headed back to the house to start test packing. Like I mentioned in previous posts, I now have front panniers instead of a trailer on the back. After going through everything I found a few things I don't need anymore. So gave my full body mosquito net, shotglasses, ducktape, deck of cards and trailer to my host and mate Paul. So now I just need to make sure the rest of the stuff from the trailer fits in bags. Will do that in the morning.

Fun thing happened today. There are over 6 billion people on earth, about 5 million Norwegians and 1300 people in Quorn, the town I'm staying in at the moment. I walk into this amazing bookshop which also looks like something from the world of Harry Potter. Anyhoodle, got talking to James (one of the staff. Guess what? He's currently learning Norwegian and hope to one day study and live in Norway! I mean, what are the odds of that happening? So ended up talking heaps about Norway and the language, with parts of the conversation in Norwegian. So surreal! Weird to speak Norwegian again, face to face I mean.

Tomorrow: pack and prepare to head back to where my bike broke down and cycle here.

Pimp my ride

Upgrade Viking style
My ride has now been transformed and I'm pretty sure I could hear my beautiful bike let out a great sigh of relief at the thought of never having to pull that trailer again.

So yeah, like I've mentioned previously; I intended to replace my trailer with panniers somehow when I got to Port Augusta. Well, universe came to my rescue and it all worked out perfectly fine. Paul, the great guy I'm staying with here in Quorn (a town just outside Port Augusta) had some old panniers he had used on his 10 000 km journey around Oz in the late 90s. So we did a clean swap; my trailer for his panniers. He even phoned up the guy he sold his bike to and asked if he could have the pannier rack back (Photo: silver rack and red bags). Sure enough, 20 minutes later, this nice chap rolls in on Pauls old mountain bike and warmly says You can have 'em if you, no use to me. So I start the process of unscrewing the rack from his bike.

After some tweeking and headscratching, I manage to mount the rack on my bike. Perfect fit.

The issue of water is something that is always on my mind. When I crossed hell, I mean the Nullarbor, I always tried to have a minimum of 9 litres of water when starting out each morning. Now, with the trailer I simply whacked them in there and off I went. Now I had to think of something new. Pauls old bike hade this great front rack above the panniers which he had used for water (Photo: black rack which holds the blue water cintainer). I asked his mate if I could buy it off him, but alas he was using it himself.

Did some research online and found the exact same one on eBay for $5.99 plus shipping. However, seeing as it was in China it could take up to a month to get here. And I don't have a month. So after a few frantic Google searches, we found a bikeshop in Wyalla (a city 100 km south of Port Augusta) that might stock it. Phoned them up and they did. Asked if it was anyway I could have it brought up to PA. She put on the next Premiere Stateliner bus which was headed for PA. Price? $29 for the rack and $10 in shipping. So taking into account I could have what I needed with hours of enquiring, I'm quite happy with that. Then after picking up it from the bus stop, we headed to a department store, which has got everything from undies and onsies to fishing rods and shampoo, to see about finding that perfect water container.
There it was, on the shelf, in bright blue; a 5 litre water can which would fit perfectly on my new front rack. Only $9! Bargain.

So now I've solved the issue of the trailer (in theory). Tomorrow I plan on spending a couple of hours trying to repack everything and see what to put where and see if it will work in real life. At least now I'm in a part of Australia with more towns, people, supplies and shade. So don't need to carry an stupid amount of food and water.

Rule? If it doesn't fit in the trailer, I can't bring it. Pure and simple.

It's funny isn't it? How the universe works. If you really want something, the universe will help you get there one way or the other.

Tomorrow: Go through stuff, test-pack, test-ride and plan future route.

Quorn - Break from biking

Universe works in mysterious ways

If I hadn't had the troubles with the bike, I would never have experienced this. See? Things happen for å reason.

Woke up this morning in the Big4 caravan park in Port Augusta, after having arrived late last night. After my bike breaking down in Poochera I was lucky enough for a truckie to pull in at the exact moment I needed it. Turned out he was an engineer that designs products and develops methods of securing cargo on truck. As more of an intrest, he would take on the occasional job. Funny enough, he had past me on the Nullarbor a few days before (heading west) and was now on his way home. So he offered to give me a lift all the way to Port Augusta.

Anyhoodle, woke up in PA, had breakfast, grabbed my rear wheel and walked across town to the bike. Here I was greeted by a lovely chap who started hammering and working away on my wheel seconds after I'd gone G'Day mate. Turned out he'd been to Norway about 40 years ago and had loved it. He very much reminded me of that stereotypical grandad type, with his white beard, glasses on the tip of the nose with eyes frowning at you Dumbledore style (the first actor who played Dumbledore, but sadly passed away). Anyhoodle, he put in two new spokes and straightened my wheel out. Only $32.50, plus I got two new spare spokes. Bargain!

Then my host, Paul, was kind enough to come down to Port Augusta to pick me up. After we'd done a Mary Poppins style packing of all my stuff, we drove up to Quorn where he lives. This is by far, the most beautiful, peaceful and postcard-perfect town I've seen in Australia. Instead of rundown buildings and a blank characterless town, I was met by old, beautifully maintained old buildings. All complete with quirky old details all over them. All the shops had signs in the historically correct font. And it was so peaceful. No major traffic noise. No drunken people roaming the streets. It was as if time had stood still for years.

Paul himself does tours (kayak, motorbike, camping, vintage cars WTC.) in this region of South Australia. He showed me his motorbikes earlier... Wow, amazing. Will try and get a photo some time this week.

The house I'm staying in is a beautiful (listed) building, built in 1881. Which, in Australia, in considered very old. Nice wooden flooring and majestic fireplaces and rooms that are big and great.

So I plan on staying here for a few days, relaxing and truly enjoying life.

Tomorrow I'm working on my bike rack, on how I can get everything with me. Will keep you posted. Plus going to have a walk around town, taking more pictures.

Like this? Now that I've actually have got signal I plan on trying to post more regular updates like this. Stay tuned!

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Posted from my Android phone, so please excuse any minor spelling mistakes.

How to follow me

At the moment I'm doing the Nullarbor crossing (Norseman to Ceduna) and it is VERY limited signal, so I opted for an offline diary. When I get to Ceduna, or in 'worst case' Port Augusta, I'll upload all my photos and diary entries. Right now I'm using Telstra pay-as-go sim, which hasn't got the best rates to put it mildly, but only operator with signal out here. After Port Augusta I can start doing daily updates here on the blog as well, as I'll get full signal then.

In the meantime you follow my progress via my Facebook page or my Endomondo training profile (link on the right side).

If you want/need to get in touch with me within the next four days, please use the FB page and my friend Dian or my mum Nina should be able to answer any questions.

If all goes to plan, I should be in Ceduna and back to civilisation by the 12th of May (the latest).

Tom-Daniel