death on the road
Day 4 – 4/03/2015
Start – Jake and Jess’s house at Cunnamulla Finish – In the bushes 30km south of Ivanhoe Distance travelled – 724km Words by - Johnny Bang |
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Another big day of banking Km’s on the way to Adelaide for air-freight. Another gravel ‘shortcut’. Another case of ‘the road taketh’, some road kill, and a few bike problems. Standard fare really.
We saw a lot of wildlife today, Foxes, Emus, Eagles, Owls, Kangaroos, Sheep, Goats and Locusts. Some of it was even alive. The picture below isn’t the best photo of a Kangaroo you’re ever going to see, but I like it - because it was a lot harder to get you a shot of a live Kangaroo then a dead one.
I am getting used to how different animals behave when they see a bike coming. I like goats and sheep because they run away. I don’t like Kangaroos because not even they know what they are doing. A moment today lingers in my mind where a big fella no less than 10m away (me doing 100km/hr) looked me in the eye and considered whether he should kill us both. Luckily he bounced left.
We took another gravel shortcut, and despite Shaun’s protests we managed to persuade (peer pressure/ bully) him onto more gravel. We, and the trip are all better for it - as his gravel skill have markedly improved since yesterday.
We hope to be in Adelaide tomorrow afternoon so we can spend Friday packing our bikes into containers for freight. The change of plans allows loved ones to fly to Adelaide for the weekend which we are all looking forward to.
My bike jettisoned some more essential parts onto the road today, and started chucking chains. We have it sorted until I can source some new parts in the city. Tonight is our first ‘real’ bush camp, and tomorrow should be interesting - as by all estimates I will run-out of petrol 40km before the next town.
More to come as we creep on Adelaide…
We saw a lot of wildlife today, Foxes, Emus, Eagles, Owls, Kangaroos, Sheep, Goats and Locusts. Some of it was even alive. The picture below isn’t the best photo of a Kangaroo you’re ever going to see, but I like it - because it was a lot harder to get you a shot of a live Kangaroo then a dead one.
I am getting used to how different animals behave when they see a bike coming. I like goats and sheep because they run away. I don’t like Kangaroos because not even they know what they are doing. A moment today lingers in my mind where a big fella no less than 10m away (me doing 100km/hr) looked me in the eye and considered whether he should kill us both. Luckily he bounced left.
We took another gravel shortcut, and despite Shaun’s protests we managed to persuade (peer pressure/ bully) him onto more gravel. We, and the trip are all better for it - as his gravel skill have markedly improved since yesterday.
We hope to be in Adelaide tomorrow afternoon so we can spend Friday packing our bikes into containers for freight. The change of plans allows loved ones to fly to Adelaide for the weekend which we are all looking forward to.
My bike jettisoned some more essential parts onto the road today, and started chucking chains. We have it sorted until I can source some new parts in the city. Tonight is our first ‘real’ bush camp, and tomorrow should be interesting - as by all estimates I will run-out of petrol 40km before the next town.
More to come as we creep on Adelaide…
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