Halfway across Australia
Added on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Halfway across Australia
Hi Guys
I’m tired, it’s getting to me a bit but I’m fine. Trying to keep abreast of all the work that has to be done. Got a 304 page book on the go as we speak and I will post examples of the revised work most days until the end of the project. Mandi my editor in London is revising the words, Dave my picture editor is cleaning up the photos and Louise in Cornwall is starting work on the design. We also have Jamie in Bristol doing the graphics and as you know, Caroline in South London, holding things together.
Click here to see all the latest images.
Diary
Sometimes cities marked on maps give no idea of scale and size until you get there. Only then can you see how big or how small it is. In India, small dots are cities of Brobdignagian proportions. Australia it’s the opposite. What looks large on the map is just a hamlet of wooden buildings. It’s as if the cartographers pen hasn’t a nib fine enough to indicate smallness in such a large space.
Perth was restful. As the bike went through the customary entry procedure I went to Cinema Paradiso to watch films. When the customs and registration process was eventually completed I took the bike to Yamaha Causeway where Grant gave the bike a service. The next day I headed out of town.
That night I made it to Southern Cross and the next day passed through Norseman. The sound of a train swept across the small short main street and at the bottom of Princep where three small cafes and a newsagency made up most of the town. It was a peaceful looking place – Railway Hotel at the top end and the Memorial Garden at the other. Small African villages had more happening than this sorry dump. I felt harsh because as the journey progresses, there is more history from which to compare the present. At the beginning everything is fantastic whereas now, places like Norseman had to compete with the rest of the world.
That night I made it to Madura Oasis Roadhouse and a sweeter nicer set of lodgings you would not find. Deep velvet red table clothes dressed small tables in the cute restaurant. The blond waitress was an annoying cow but I worked well in my room and watched two episodes of The Bill and an Irish police drama called Murder Prevention. Slept at 2am woke at dawn. I got dressed, jumped on my bike and went to work. The sun was out, the wind was blowing and the trees on the edge of the Nullorbor were getting shorter and fewer. A bluff appeared on my left and before Eucla the road climbed and swept to the right before settling flat and straight along the 90 mile straight to Border Village and the crossing into South Australia.
After an overnight in the East West Motel in Ceduna I completed the ride across the Nullarbor and had tea and cakes in a confectioners in Wudinna. I am making slow progress. In all honesty I am struggling to keep to any schedule because of other comitments. I wish that all I had to do was ride my bike, but it’s not as simple as that. There are cakes to eat, a business to run, a book that has to be written and podcasts and blogs have also to be posted.
It’s been a long time away from home and even though I’m surrounded by people I am alone. Always being on the edge of other peoples lives makes you feel like an ‘outsider’. Am I allowed to be fed up? Well I am! The essential nature of bike riding is solitary so maybe it takes a biker to really understand what this means.
I am now in Port Augusta about to head north-west and then north towards Darwin on the Stuart Highway. It’s midnight and I need to sleep.
