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!

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.

The Nullarbor plan

First of all, sorry about the lack of pictures, but I'm using mobile internet and need to save as much as possible of my credit. Please check out my Facebook page for more pictures from my adventure.

---

So here we are again. I'm ready to head out onto the big highway. This time, it will be the toughest and hardest thing I've ever experienced so far. If you don't count other car (and truck...) drivers, I will most likely be by myself for at least 13 days. This is one of the most deserted parts of Highway 1. It has the longest straight stretch in Australia, “the 90 mile straight”, 146.6km of a single straight line. So from now until then, I'll be praying the wind gods for tailwind. Because cycling in a straight line, with headwind, is not something I'd prefer.

To save money I've bought enough groceries to last about 12-13 days. BUT to keep weight down, I've opted for the same food. So my meals for the next couple of weeks will be as follows:

Breakfast – Oats with dried fruit

Lunch – Pasta and spiced tuna

Dinner – Pasta, tuna and (dehydrated) peas

Supper – A few pieces of dark chocolate

Snacks throughout the day – apples and biscuits

I've also sent a head 3 kg of stuff and clothes I don't need for Nullarbor to the Port Augusta post office, to get a bit more space. So will have to pick this up when I finally get there.

During my research for this trip, I found an amazing bicycle touring guide for crossing the Nullarbor. “Cycling across Australias Nullarbor” by Mike Boles. You can find the guide HERE.

It has given me heaps of information on where to camp, have shower, fill my bottles with rainwater and more. This has been my base for the planning of leg two.

This is the (rough) plan:

• Day 1: Esperance to Norseman part 1 - Leave Esperance tomorrow (27/04/14) and do as close to 115 km as possible, as this is a rest stop.
• Day 2: Esperance to Norseman part 2 - Try and find a wild camp spot 10-20 km outside Norseman
• Day 3: Norseman day - Head into Norseman, fill up bottles, stock up if anything is needed and then head 20 km out of the town to camp. Short day
• Day 4: Norseman to Fraser Range – Fill up bottles and wild camp a bit further east.
• Day 5: Fraser Range to Balledonia: Fill up water and wild camp a bit further east
• Day 6: Balledonia to Caiguna – If the wind is in my favour, I'll hopefully make it to Caiguna. If not, there is a small gorge (north side of the road) 42 km west of Caiguna roadhouse. Might have to purchase water, but will try to avoid
• Day 7: Caiguna to Cocklebiddy: Will stop at Cocklebiddy for a shower, laundry and water. However, will not camp here. Will find a camping spot a bit further out.
• Day 8: Cocklebiddy to Madura (Modini Bluff) – Will stop at the roadhouse and fill up water, but plan on making it to Mondini Bluff rest stop to camp.
• Day 9: Madura (Modini Bluff) to Mundrabilla: Will consider paying for camping here, if shower is included in the price. If not, I will carry on a bit further east. However, if the rainwater tank 2 km before Mundrabilla is empty, I'll have to pay for camping as tap water is reserved for guests.
• Day 10: Mundrabilla to Eucla – 2 km before Eucla, there's a challenging hill. When at the roadhouse, I'll have a shower and fill up my bottles. Then carry on a bit further east to wild camp.
• Day 11: Eucla to Nullarbor part 1 – Will fill up water by available rainwater tanks. Then there is apparently a okay spot for wild camping between kilometre posts 80 and 85, by a grove of trees.
• Day 12: Eucla to Nullarbor part 2 – Making my way along the Great Australian Bight, I'll see some amazing views of the Bunda cliffs. Hopefully I'll make it to the Nullarbor roadhouse. Here I'll shower, wash my clothes and stay the night. Apprently there's few good wildcamping spots for at least 35 km.
• Day 13: Nullarbor to (Yalata) Nundroo – It's a 148 km cycle, however it's supposed to be fairly hilly. I'm hoping to make it, but if I don't I'll probably camp near the old (and closed down) Yalata roadhouse/station.
• Day 14: (Yalata) Nundroo to Penong – This is a short cycle, but can still be quite hilly I've been told. Will try and wild camp a few km past Penong roadhouse.
• Day 15: Penong to Ceduna – A short cycle to finish off Nullarbor. Here's I plan on heading to the tourist office to buy my Nullarbor-crossing certificate. Then buy the biggest meal known to man from somewhere. Then I might camp at Cabins & Caravan Park if a shower is included. If not, I'll probably wild camp.

After this I'm heading to Port Augusta as quickly as possible. Hopefully I'll be in Port Augusta by my birthday, the 13^th May. If all goes to plan, I'll find a Couch Surfer host to stay with for a few days in Port Augusta. Here I hope to stay for a few days recovering, then hitch hiking up to Uluru and back down again. Then head on to Adelaide.

This is going to be a crazy tiring, but so exciting journey. It will test me mentally, but I can't wait.

PS. Just to warn friends and family, it might be up to 48 hours between each update on Facebook. So if you don't see any updates from Endomondo (my sport tracker) in the evening, don't panic.

Leg one = 1046km (650 miles)

Made it to Esperance
As I was coming in to Esperance the feeling of pure joy came over me. The feeling of accomplishment. I think it's fair to say I felt a bit proud of myself (not to brag). But also, the knowledge that me cycling across Australia is really helping children in Norway and Australia is great. I checked my emails a couple of days a go and found an email from Sykehusklovnene (Hospital clowns) that said "You're doing great, you're over halfway towards your goal". Someone donated 5000kr (AU$ 810/£450)!

My choice of stallion

In a few days (next Tuesday) I'm leaving New Zealand and heading over the ditch and into Australia. I'll arrive in Sydney airport in the afternoon, spend the evening/night there, before heading over to the domestic terminal and catching my 07:20 flight to Perth.

Am I prepared? Is everything in order? Of course not EVERYTHING is order, that'd be boring. But I'd like to think I managed to cover a lot so far. Check it out.

Inspiration

It's no secret that we humans digest, observe and interact with everything we see. I believe that all we do, see, hear, touch etc. affects us in some way or another. It doesn't have to be a huge impact, it could something as small as deciding to wear a blue tie instead of a black tie to a dinner party. We base our lives on the impressions we're faced with.

Reasons why

Some people have asked me: Tom, why on Earth are you doing this? My answer is simply: Why aren't you?

I've boiled down my inspiration to do this trip to three points:

My Australia plans

Well, the time has come to reveal what I'll actually be doing in Australia. Over the last three months I've been putting together the specifics, looking at charts and graphs and reading countless blog posts and books about this. I've received help from people in several countries and gotten a great deal of advice. So here it goes: I'm going to cycle across Australia from Perth to Brisbane, over 5800 km, to raise money for kids in hospitals.

Top ten travel quotes

Books, films, music, people...EVERYTHING can inspire you. One can find a source of inspiration wherever one looks. I draw my inspiration from all that. From the Narnia Chronicles. From The Blind Side. From my mother. From the two old Canadian ladies I met last year who was backpacking through UK. From the colourful sunrise on the beach.

The life of a solo-traveller

Travelling by yourself brings on many challenges. It tests your patience, your courage and above all, yourself. There might be moments where you'll feel lonely and vulnerable, where you feel like a stranger.

But I wouldn't trade the memories I've gained from solo-travel for anything in the world. It has allowed me to experience things in a different way, my way. I've gotten to know myself in a whole new way and I'm still getting to know myself. There's no "social noise" around you, you get to make decisions by yourself.

Working Holiday scheme

(!) See disclaimer at the end of article (!)

Source: J. Aaron Farr CCA licence

Want to really experience a country and its culture? Want to see the local sights, hidden off the "tourist-track"? Then a Working Holiday visa might be just your thing. The visa allows you to travel a country for a longer period of time and finance your travels by working. It's a fantastic opportunity and one I would encourage any person, with access, to do at least once in their life.

Waiheke island - Paradise

Waiheke island is located just outside Auckland city centre and is the second largest island in this part of the world, Great Barrier island being the largest. The island has over 8700 permanent residents, so ferries are frequent and reasonably priced. Departing from the Britomart (bottom of Queens Street) every hour and only costing NZ$36 with return, it offers a great escape from the city.

Homesickness and how to battle it

In my opinion, travelling is one of the best things a person can do. To try something new. To experience something completely different. Trying out a new spicy dish in India, staying in a monistary in Thailand, pet a kangoroo in Australia, hiking in "Middle Earth", posing next to Big Ben and meeting new people from all over the world; that's living.

Weekend in Rotorua (mobile post)

Good morning (or evening, depending where you are in the world)!

Currently I'm on a holiday in Rotorua, with friends from my Auckland orientation. This weekend is absolutely packed with heaps/loads of adventure; skyline, zipline, zorbing/OGO balls, mud pools and more.

So far it's been a great weekend and I can't wait to show you all! Hopefully by the beginning of next week I'll be able to show you all the videos and pictures from the trip.

In the meantime, here's a picture from onboard the gondola (Rotorua Skyline).

Stay tuned and see you soon!