Day 19 Route Map Once I’d somehow or other organically made that decision (to “head east, young man”!) my mood picked up considerably – funny creatures, aren’t we? – and in the crisp morning air I didn’t even mind the hard uphill slog for the first 50km, and then the long downhill run into the…
Category: eBiking Australia
eBiking Australia covers my blogs about touring around Australia on an electric-assist bicycle. Find out how I am able to cover long distances in a country where power outlets might be 3 or 4 days apart. Share in the highs and lows of the road and marvel at the diverse landscapes from the beaches to the mountains and the arid interior.
Walleroo to Carnarvon Gorge – 85 km
Route Map 7 August Rain threatened early but did not eventuate, and I had a dream run – a beautiful ride with no wind – for the first 45km to the gorge turnoff. I exchanged photographer duties with a passing German tourist in a hire car. Result as shown. OK, a bit stilted, but he…
Roma to Walleroo truck stop – 163 km
Route Map 6 August [Hot as hell, narrow bitumen and crumbling edge. Not for the faint-hearted!] Well, that’s another new daily distance record – though it went pretty much unheralded at the time. Easy kilometers, I guess, except for the last 25, which I had to negotiate in complete darkness on a narrow crumbling tarred…
Basin Creek to Roma – 119 km
< There was a magical swirling mist rising off the unseen Basin Creek this morning (OK, call it a fog then, killjoy) when I poked my head out the tent at 06.00, all eager to pack up and get going, but I had to wait until 8.45 for the mist to clear before it was…
St George to Basin Creek – 82 km
[Though not far in distance, this was the hardest day yet, both physically and psychologically] Well, I got more than I bargained for – and not in a particularly nice way, either. It was the damned wind – a constant buffeting northerly gale gusting directly into my face at 30 km/h at 8 o’clock when…
Narran River to St. George – 135 km
[The longest single day’s ride I’ve done, so far. Narrow tar section, poor shoulder with drop-offs in places, and plenty of big trucks to keep me on my toes. Coming into St George well after dark felt especially dangerous. And OK, so the featured image, above, has nothing whatsoever to do with my bike ride,…
Lightning Ridge to Narran River – 102 km
[Hot and exhausting, but the road was safe enough and there was not much traffic anyway] Hebel wasn’t exactly the blooming oasis I’d been eagerly anticipating for the previous 50km, but at least I got a cold beer and a nice steak sandwich in the pub. I moved on after a pleasant hour or so,…
#25 Grawin · Carnarvon Gorge |754 km|
For my ongoing journey north, I considered heading further west to Cunnamulla via Goodooga and on then north via the Mitchell Highway, but the locals dissuaded me – miles of “wash-board” dirt, and too many grey nomads out and about to make riding safe, they said. Well, they could be right – it’s not called…
#24 The easy life at Grawin opal field |36 km|
I quickly settle in to a lackadaisical kind of existence at Grawin, staying all the while in the hovel that is John’s spare caravan. But I find I am falling into a life of unhealthy complacency, and after 3 weeks I decide to move on.
#23 Central NSW |816 km|
After a 1,700km shake-down cruise around southern NSW, with the constant hassle and anxiety about where I’d be able to charge the bike batteries next, I make the difficult decision to lug a small petrol-powered generator around with me. I achieve total power liberation and ride north through inland NSW to escape the southern winter,…