30/08/2016 – Tennant Creek
Dist. : 57.91km
Time: 3h18
Tot. Dist : 6645km
Today was a short cycling day. I reached Tenant creek after 30km cycling. Started early. First things to do, charging my computer and posting my next article for adventure magazine. As I was cycling yesterday I got inspired by my cold New Zealand adventures. I stopped by the road in the shade of a tree and started writing the article on my phone. 25 minutes later it was done. the fastest written article so far. It’s funny how the brain works. Sometime I’m stuck and doesn’t know where to start a story and sometimes it just flows.
I started at the library where there was no free wifi. Then as it closed for lunch i headed to the information center. Free wifi for 30 minutes. I have a hack to make it unlimited! By changing my physical mac address I can access to an unlimited very very fast wifi. It’s a very easy trick that works for every time limited internet. Just open Terminal on your apple computer in order to modify your mac address and paste this line to know your mac adress:
ifconfig en0 | grep ether
Then paste this one and modify on number, it’s hexadecimal (0-f):
sudo ifconfig en0 ether aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
and boom! it’s working!! I used it to download a huge amount of podcasts around 3Go at almost 2Mo/sec from the website podcastcharts. I’m thinking to create a post soon listing my favourite podcast I’m listening while cycling.
There I met Anika and Noga two backpackers travelling to Alice Springs to find a job. We met again at the pebbles, a free campsite few km out of Tennant Creek. We had dinner together. It was really healthy vegetables it felt so good. I should buy more often vegetables. I say that every time and never do it. Then we tried to watch stars through their second hand telescope. It didn’t work at all because it was cloudy and we didn’t knew how to make it work anyway. That’s funny because Anika’s sister just cycled from Germany to India with her boyfriend. I’m looking forward to check out their website!
31/08/2016 – Tracy a wandering woman
Dist. : 99.66km
Time: 5h47
Tot. Dist : 6745km
This morning the sunrise was amazing! all the time it is when it’s cloudy! Then I had breakfast with Anika and Noga and started pedalling to make the most of this cloudy day.
Sunrise at The Pebbles
Time to leave Noga and Anika!
They gave me a dose of a green tea x50. After a few km and as the headwind started to getting stronger, I decided to give it a try. Well at 1pm I cycled 70km and had lunch already even with the head wind. I don’t know if it’s related but I’m feeling full of energy. If it’s because of this, I’m not sure it’s very good for the body to become used to this.
Tonight I plan to stay at Banka Banka station. It’s where Klauss’s camels are. For 10 bucks I’ll be able to get a shower, a laundry and spend the night there. I’m sweating so much all my clothes are full of salt.
On my way today, I saw a funny thing by the road far away. As I approached it I realised it was a huge trolley. I met Tracy. She is walking from Byron Bay to Byron Bay all around Australia. Check out her Facebook page One Woman Wandering
With Tracy one woman wandering and Dexter her dog!
Dexter sleeping in the trolley
The reason she is walking is because her son tried to commit sucide a few years ago and the Australian Government cut the funds to black dog association which is helping young people through bad times. She aims to raise what the government was giving to the foundation ($50000) Her trolley weights 300kg and she has an electric bicycle motor to help her going over hills or when the head wind is too bad. She travels with her dog Dexter and listening to podcasts along the way. Her son is now living in Airlie beach in an authentic didgeridoo business.
Ended up in Banka banka where I met Chris and Marissa from Tasie. They were travelling around the Kimberley. They invited me for nibbles and dinner. Vegetables and kangaroo. Sooo good! As we were speaking together we realised that we were in Birdsville exactly at the same time. And when the mechanic told me he had to weld the chassis of a 4wd when I got there to remove the broken screw in the fork. It was Chris and Marissa’s car. They actually have photographs of me.
I saw Klauss’s Camels, known as well as the Camel man:
Klauss camels!
Hello you!
They have been travelling quite a bit and recommended me to hike daentes neverino track on an island located at the extreme south of South America.
01/09/2016 – Éric and Charlotte from plus loin qu’ailleurs
Dist. : 123.45km
Time: 7h51
Tot. Dist : 6869km
To avoid the sun, this morning I started to cycle at 5:30am. It was still dark but already warm. I’m just wearing a singlet and short shorts.
When I left I spotted two bike touring bikes at the banka banka campground. I was maybe already sleeping when they arrived. I won’t have the chance to meet them. It’s now the 7th day with head wind. And it is getting stronger everyday. I’m patient but I start to be tired of this wind.
After 50km I saw some weird slow moving silouhettes on the other line. It was Eric and Charlotte from the website plus Loin Quailleurs. A french couple cycling from France. We stopped to have a chat and you might meet them in a podcast soon!
Charlotte et Eric from Plus Loin Qu’ailleurs
With their long vehicle sign
I had a big break for lunch under the shade of a roadhouse. I felt asleep on the bench of a picnic table. Then met Ronnie. A Friend of Daniele and Simona that I already met once in Alice Springs. He is travelling in a huge bus reorganised as a RV.
There is peacock everywhere in NT
A bit further I Met Paul from Switzerland bike tourer in love with Australia. He was coming from the Kimberley and with tail wind was already at 170km for the day while he usually do 80km daily. I am not too bad with my 123km head wind but I hope to have tail wind some days…
02/09/2016 – today is my day!
Dist. : 184.56km
Time: 8h15
Tot. Dist : 7053km
After 7 days of head wind I finally got my day of tail wind! I had a wet night. Installed the hammock with the tarp on top. Just when I laid down the wind blew the tarp off. I decided to pack it up and open the tent instead. In the middle of the night it started to rain a lot. I was wet even in the tent so i woke up 30 mins before my alarm at 4:30am and started to cycle.
I met Tom on the way. He is an Australian heading back to home in Melbourne on his very lightweight bike. Just two very small bags in the back. He started at 4:30am as well. We had a good chat. He can’t believe I’ve been on the plenty highway. Well he did some really awesome trips all around the world. USA, Japan, South Korea, Iran…
Tom cycling back home to Melbourne
It’s impossible to keep cycling after noon as the sun is too strong so I now start very early before sunrise have a break from 12pm or 1pm till 3 to 4pm then keep going until dark.
At lunch time I already made 140km I’m heading to Daly Waters 45km further.
From the inside of a crashed plane in Daly Waters
03/09/2016 – flyng again.
Dist. : 136.24km
Time: 6h11
Tot. Dist : 7189km
Started late around 8am the sky went cloudy pretty quickly after sunrise which was perfect for me. But it is still hot and humid here. I drunk 4.5liters of water already by lunch break i might go through another few liters this afternoon. I don’t remember that I’ve been drinking that much water in half a day before in my life.
Here, instead of snow mans, it is Termites mans
The wind is great and I’m now hoping to make another 70km in the afternoon. If I do it I’ll be at 165km for the day. Pretty good.
As i stopped at a rest area i met Jo, Anika and Elija then Oceane and Clement. I decided to stay and we shared a dinner all together. It was great! Good decision to stay as here there is a shelter and it rained a lot like crazy.
Then I taught the basics of photography to Oceane which has sony a6000 the one I was hesitating with the Fuji XT1. I now love my Fuji but the sony is really smaller and the ergonomic is maybe a bit better. Way cheaper as well… so I’m still a bit confused on what for the future…because with Sony I could then move to full frame and keep my lenses… anyway this is another subject.
04/09/2016 – bitter springs
Dist. : 155.49km
Time: 7h13
Tot. Dist : 7345km
This morning I cycled to the Bitter springs in Mataranka. It was awesome! A wonderful place! I met again Clement and Oceane and we started to take some underwater photographs! The gopro is perfect for this! Even if the water is 32°C it is still refreshing.
There is a few shots.
floating under the water
Great place for meditation 🙂
I love the Gopro for this kind of shots!!
Clement Swimming in the big blue!
Then I had lunch and started pedalling again. After a few hundred meters I herd a bell behind me it was Yuuki, the Japanese cyclist I’ve heard about already! We stopped for a second then started to cycle together. He is going fast, very fast! I’m way behind all the time. I don’t know if it’s the size of its wheels, the lightweight of his carriage, or just because he just started to cycle… Anyway, I told him the best would be to meet in Katherine because I can’t follow his rhythm.
We met each other at the Coco Backpacker because there is a discount for cyclists. He finally arrived 30 minutes before me. Tomorrow I’ll get a day off as in the last 3 days I’ve been cycling 475km under a hard sun and humid air. I need a rest and my muscles as well.
Look what I found in a Roadhouse! 1 million Km on a bicycle!
I’m feeling that I’m coming back to big cities. From now I should have phone coverage almost everywhere and national prices shops. 375km to Darwin then I’ll start my hunt for a sailing boat!
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