Le Grande National Park

A day off from the road - time to find a beach to relax... and maybe to go for a swim. It didnt happen at Hellfire Bay, but in Lucky Bay! Guess it was easy to decide the right place to get the toes wet and salty :) There was even a wedding in the Hellfire bay a little later, so the place was crowded. Actually all the camping grounds on that National Park were full. No place left even for a small tent. I wonder if I can find a place tomorrow at Cape Arid National Park?

Norseman

Yksi reissun tavoitteista on nyt täyttynyt: Kävin Pohjanmiehessä! Kullankaivajien mecca vielä nykyäänkin (1100 asukasta), mutta ei erityisen turistilähtöinen mesta. Perinnepolun maastossa näkyi siellä täällä mukavasti kellertävää santaa ja hippujakin ;) Täytyy edelleen mainostaa Fraser Rangea ja heidän keittiötäänkin: kuka sanoi ettei voi telttailla mukavasti!

Nullabor

Here's nothing! And lot's of it!!
This really is the place where I got an idea of the size of Australia. Most of the day went on riding through plains with just bushes and sometimes trees livening up the scene. It's as well the place where the Skylab crashed down in the eighties. And the 90 miles straight is here too, as an attraction. I do must admit that the warning sign for the first curve after 140km of straight road was a jolly good idea. My brain just couldn't believe that there's a bend coming up...

Fraser Range caravan and camping is without a doubt the best overnight stay so far, I even could see the Milky Way clearly from here, first time in my life. Fraser is a sheep farm that also provides travellers a place to rest, in the middle of nothing. Good service and they offer cold beer too at an affordable price.

During the day I was pondering about many UDOs that are squished onto the road (unidentified dead objects). So far I've identified foxes, rabbits, snakes, wombats, kenguroos, camels, magpies and dogs. But still there's a lot of things that I've have no idea what they have been. Nighttime driving isn't recommendable for motorcyclists as most of the animals start moving about after dark, but stay still during the day. Only the roadkills stay after dawn at sight.

Another pretty impressive sight are the roadtrains, they can be 34m long and they drive a bit over hundred. And do overtake anything that moves slower than them.

Creepycrawlies have been finally spotted too, but i have had common sense of not going closer or stopping for photos. This includes some over the road slithering snakes, snakes coiled over a bush, spider coming out of a water tap and a 10cm long locust/cricket. Locust was a very impressive imitation of a crumbled leaf, nice light brown color and unless it hadmoved, I would have taken it as an old leaf fallen out of tree.

But there was some Australian wildlife that I was brave enough to photograph!

Three travellers

When theres less travellers and not much to see, travellers start to talk to each other. I cant explain in any other way, why I met today so different personas during few hours.

There's the guy who is bicycling around Aussieland, started from Darwin. He's guzzling water 1 l per 10km, about ten times as much as I.

Then I met Dan the Canadian who quit his software job, and started a new career as a touring entertainer. Juggling chainsaws and pitchforks is the current act. Hes actually driving all around the globe, but after riding through three blizzards in Canada, prefers now warmer climates ;)

A bit later on cliffs I swapped war-stories with a 90-year-old Italian, who had joined partisans at Italuan/Yugoslavian border. Actually I just listened while he recalled how he won his medals. Ciao! Forgot to rake a pic of this vigorous old man.

Getting hot

Now it's finally getting as hot as expected 40C at Ceduna, with strong and hot wind from inland. It's a good day to rest, as I reached Ceduna at midday, just before the heat is really on! On the way there was a historical water hole, a little walk away from the highway. In this weather I dont take unnecessary steps in full riding gear though ;)

Before Cedena there was some dust clouds on the air, first I thought about bushfire, then of sandstorm, but it was just a bit of dust. Air humidity is at 4%, so I guess these clouds are normal.

Come to think of it, the Street Guard II suit that I am wearing does cope with heat pretty well. Ventilation slits at armpits work better than what you would expect and the textile has been coated with some heat reflective coating. Some of the Rukka suits are made in similar fashion, and do work equally well. My suit is now over five years old and after this journey it might be ready for retirement. The arms have some microholes in them, so in long rain water starts to seep in. Also the original black color starts to be faded into reddish-brown in places.

If I choose to try a Rukka garment next, the only problem is that extra long arm-version has to be a custom order from factory. BMW does offer special sizes off the rack. Both of them would be really good, but which one would suit me better?

Riding day, pt. 4

Eyre peninsula doesn't have too much attractions on it, except some really nice coastal line! I wondered down one road that had the scenic sign on it, but it ended into a quarry... as the road was a mixture of sharp rocks and loose sand, making an u-turn was an easy decision. Specially when bike went on reserve! Another road then again provided magnificient views from a coastal cliff. Met also a local metalhead sheepfarmer with 16000acres of land. He had problems in believing about the usual size of farms in Finland :-)

Australian Aviation Museum

In Port Adelaide resides a small museum that specialises in aeroplanes with an Australian connection-worth visiting for cultures' sake! Maybe the most interesting part was their backyard, where's their restoration workshop. It was nice chatting there about old aeroengines and their current projects. Amazing, from what sorts of remains they can restore showpieces, given that the work is done on voluntary basis!

Some lovers had written their initials "forever" at oneof the rest areas, and now they're in the Internet. And what gets to 'net, also stays there...

More kakadus at the camping site. I guess they're common :)