Day 17 Coober Pedy to Poortnoura bush camp

I awoke at 4.30am... anxious to get on the road. I laid in bed until just before 6am and then got up and packed up. I was out the door at 7am just as the sky was lighting up, picked up some riding snacks at the servo (service station) and then with great enthusiasm and gusto promptly rode off in the wrong direction!! I realized my error and turned around by Nathan's shop... I ran into Jeff, one of the artists I'd met yesterday. He was shooting photos for a travel brochure, and took mine as well. We wished each other well, and I was off... in the right direction this time.

Coober Pedy is a very odd little town... basically people live in a gravel pit. And of course it takes a special breed of person to embrace this lifestyle.

Riding went well, as the road seems to have leveled off a little. Of course a couple days rest didn't hurt either, and I pushed on stopping only once in 47 miles when Andrew caught up with me around 10am. As I pulled into the Poortnoura rest area there were two girls washing their hair with water from the rain-catch tank. I couldn't help but think of what a waste that was to use water that might save someone's life for bathing.

I was in desperate need of a cup of coffee, but with Dave several hours behind us today there was no stove or cooking pot. So instead I built a small twig fire and used a very small spaghetti can to boil water. It took three cans to make a single cup of coffee, but it was an excellent cup if I do say so myself!

Somewhere during this coffee-making frenzy two caravans pulled in. Andrew walked over for a chat and I followed in a few minutes with my coffee. They were very nice people, older and retired and offered us some treats. However, their 3-legged dog "Handsome" was very protective of his owner, Graham, and promptly bit me on leg when I reached in to accept a cookie! It hurt like hell and broke the skin, but I was gracious about it not wanting to offend the caravaners... and of course not wanting to look like a psychopath, I had to suppress my instinctual reactions!

Dave arrived about 4.30, and so with the mess kit present we made a quick supper and then had a nice chat with a couple from Queensland and a man that had emigrated from Prague in the former Soviet Union. He was hoot, being a conspiracy nut... it was all about government spying on its people, Jewish global banking conspiracy, etc. Quite amusing especially given the setting!

We broke out our new star chart after dinner and had a go at picking out the constellations until bed time at 8pm.

Day 16 Coober Pedy

I woke up at 6am as usual today, but I went back to sleep until 7.30, what vulgar luxury!! I bought supplies for the next leg of the trip at shops and markets that have seen better days, and fuller shelves. After a strong coffee I did some requisite "touristing" that included a very noisy and dusty mining old time mining demonstration, and a tour of the old timers mine.

I was then able to spent several hours at the Fuji Camera/opal shop run by Nathan Aretas- he is truly an inspirational guy! At age 16 he was playing around with his brothers in the opal fields and fell 85ft into an open opal mine shaft... his list of injuries is huge, and the effects have plagued him ever since. In addition to this, he is also currently suffering from bone cancer and, inspite of being in almost constant pain, he is an upbeat, patient, and compassionate man with an excellent sense of humor!

His shop is a center of social and artistic activity, and is an experience not to be missed... everyone seems to come through his door. The rogues gallery includes leathery opal miners, outback artists, aboriginal artists and locals, family and friends, tourists, and of course some scruffy-looking bicyclists! Nathan is a scrupulously honest man who literally would rather give away a piece of jewelry that he's crafted rather than have someone feel cheated... his character stands out in a town where honesty is surely at premium!

Day 15 Coober Pedy

I slept like a dead man last night... And when I woke up at 6am, I had the luxury of going back to sleep until 7.30!! I really ran wild by having TWO cups of coffee with my leisurely breakfast. We walked around town checking out the tourist attractions, most notably Faye's underground house.
Faye's story is remarkable, as she moved up to Coober Pedy when there were very few women around. She tried her hand at several jobs including being a cook, a job from which she was fired for refusing to cook rancid meat! Over time she bought the piece of property in which her home is now located, and she started digging... when she needed a bit of technical know-how she'd cook a meal and invite several miners over and pick their brains while they ate. She began giving tours of her home almost immediately, and is credited with starting the Coober Pedy tourist industry more or less.

Faye has since moved to Brisbane for her retirement, but the current owners still give tours of the house, and it was fascinating experience. I was most impressed with the wine cellar and the pool which is heated by solar coils on the roof...where Colin took us for a unique tour that was generally not on the itinerary.

Coober Pedy is a strange place, it is essentially a gravel pit with some hearty individuals living in it trying to eek out a living. The more grim aspect of life here is found in the Aboriginal community that seem to be regarded almost as ghosts and live both within the community yet distinctly seperate from it. The surreptitious photo I took is typical of what you see; groups of Aboriginals sitting around basically where ever. And of course the problem of alcoholism is huge and ever-present... both day and night in the streets.

Day 14 Bush camp to Coober Pedy

Up at 6am, fed packed and on the road by 7.30. The first 30 miles seemed effortless... almost too good to be true ("My wife and I rejoiced at our good fortune..." as Herb Heintz would say). I took a short nap, and when I got up a strong headwind had developed... Most of the day was hills, but they became more pronounced towards Coober Pedy ("...and then all manner of misfortune befell us"). The combined hills and headwind took a nice three-hour ride and turned it into a gruel"ing five-hour ride. By the time I rolled into to town I was just repeating "Don't stop, don't stop..." as a cadence in my head.

However, as I turned in to the city proper, I spoke with a lone hitchhiker named Jonathon. He had been standing in the same spot for over 7 hours waiting to catch a ride south... I guess my day wasn't the only tough one to be had in the area.

A shower, a pizza, and 2 beers and all is right with the world. Its 7pm and our big night out is over and we're going to bed. I'm sore, tired, and happy!

Day 13 Bushcamp to Bushcamp

As luck would have it we did manage to stay up until the probe re-entered last night, and it was spectacular!! Talk about being in the right place at the right time... that thing literally came directly over the top of us!! I was moving fast and low, and dropping burning debris the entire 30-40 seconds. It lit up the entire area- Wow!!

Since we'd had a big ride yesterday and also stayed up so late, we all agreed that a shorter day was in order and so rode on to Ingomar. Thank god it was a short day because it turned out to be all uphill and had several big hills to finish... AND we enjoyed a constant 12-15mph headwind the entire way!

At one point a guy in a Ford corporate van pulled off ahead of Dave and I and gave us each a couple bottles of water- free water is the BEST - you didn't have to carry it and it was even cold!1 Thank you to Mr. Bruin Beasley of Minda Motorsport for your kind and well-timed gift of water!!!

It took us nearly 4 hours to travel the 24-odd miles today... not an easy ride for sure. We've pitched our tents on a ledge overlooking a scenic desert valley. My supper/late lunch consisted of: Tuna on a tortilla with 3 mini-wedges of processed cheese covered in honey; a cup of powdered milk with Nestle "Milo"; and 1/2 a twix candy bar for dessert.
This place is really barren and i spent a good hour and a half collecting the tinniest of twigs so that we could have a small fire before going to bed.

With luck and a tailwind we should make Coober Pedy tomorrow where we hope to catch up with the caravaners for a drink and some familiar faces! I'm really looking forward to a couple days off in a row...

Day 12 Glendambo to bushcamp

We were greeted this morning at 6am by the sound of what in Minnesota would be called "screaming", but in Glendambo is just "talking". This conversation came from the room next door where a group of motorcyclists and their support vehicle driver were staying. Even with adjustments made for cross-cultural speaking volume, there seemed to be a lot of commotion. As we were about to leave I discovered the cause: apparently someone had stolen the biker's tent off their car roof rack during the night. The support driver asked us if we'd seen anyone lurking about during the night... but as we'd gone to bed around 8pm we hadn't seen a thing.

Riding was good today. I stopped to have lunch under a gnarled tree (the only tree for some distance), and as I stood up I hit my head on an overhanging branch and managed to drive a sharp, coarse piece of bark deep into my scalp! After expressing my displeasure in a manor that would have made Richy Thompson blush, I set myself to the tasks of removing the large chunk of bark, cleaning the wound (with Dave's help)... and finally having some lunch and a nice little nap. I found a very interesting little stone somewhere during this process, and it seemed to have a nice calming effect of me... odd.

After that I made good time the Bon Bon rest area where we to bush camp. However, I had no sooner set up my tent than an official -looking guy pulled up in a white SUV and tells us that we cannot camp at Bon Bon tonight due to the fact that there is a rocket probe re-entering into the area tonight. He said that we needed to move out of the restricted area about 25km away, and that there was a sign indicating where the safe zone was. I was not at all in a diplomatic mood, and so I said as little as possible... However, I did find out that if we didn't move the police would be arresting us right around 10pm.

So with the sun low in the sky, having already started to "unwind", and after riding 53 miles already today, we had to pack up our things and move on down the road. Now in all fairness the guy did offer to give us a ride, but we told him "We came to ride this road..." And ride we did, because the "25 km" turned out to be 41 km instead!!! We arrived at the safe zone almost at dark, and there were several caravans waiting there as well. So we got our tents set up and received a nice invitation to join a few travellers around their campfire and wait til 11.21pm to see the probe re-enter in the NW part of the sky.

We are half way to Coober Pedy and I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow, but another 80 mile day would suck. But that's tomorrow.... I'm going back to the fire for a little camaraderie!

Day 11 Lake Hart to Glendambo

I set my alarm to sleep in til 7 am, and of course woke up at 5am. I managed another pants-less toilet performance in the pre-dawn like on the salt flat. We leisurely packed up and had breakfast (powdered milk, cereal, tortilla with peanut butter and honey). We hit the road and cranked out 20+ miles before 10am. I took a brief catnap with my helmet cover over my face as the flies were really really "friendly" as Mary Taylor would say! I cranked out another 20 miles and took a second catnap, after which I called ahead to Glendambo to the roadhouse to reserve a room. Much to my surprise the attendant asked if this was John Leopold calling... Andrew was already there and had secured us a room.
The tap water is now undrinkable, and signs warn you to definitely NOT drink it. So instead I had to buy a 3-day supply from the BP station... I love the irony of having to buy clean water from BP! They also had a headnet!! I didn't pass it up this time.
9.45pm and Dave is checking on the bus schedule to possibly catch a ride ahead to Coober Pedy or Alice. His rear rim is beginning to split and spokes are pulling through. He ultimately opted to limp it along to Coober Pedy, but its definitely going to be "iffy" making it.