Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Day 7, Wednesday 20th Feb. Policemans Point - Adelaide

Day 7

Wednesday 20th Feb

Policemans Point – Adelaide

203kms

 

We really really wanted a day off in Adelaide. Harv had already had an injury, my right knee was quite painful now, and also my through felt infected. Harv’s mum helped us out and booked a physio and massage appointment in Adelaide for 1pm on Thursday, so we had to get there.

We woke earlyish, to a bit of a chill, and some wide. Meningie was about 40kms away so we aimed to head there first stop. The landscape of the Coorong was now in full effect. Sand flats and Pelicans we plentiful. We stopped for a bite to eat at some sort of look out and decided to get a photo of us both, with the landscape in the background. Harv sat his camera on a picnic bench, set the timer, and ran back to make the photo in time. His jaw dropped, and he paused with anger to see his camera blow off the table, lens first into the concrete. Not a happy Harv. I said “nah it’ll be all right mate.” But no good. He lens was jammed an the camera had to e sent back to the company to be fixed. Poor ol’ Harv wasn’t happy.

We kept on riding and made it to Meningie for Lunch. Harv opted for chicken and chips, and I hit the bakery. On we went with the wind.

After crossing the Murray River on a ferry by surprise, we thought it might be an idea to have an arvo beer at the Wellington Hotel. And what a hotel it turned out to be. The beer garden is awesome there. Right over the water, with some ripper locals to talk to, and happy hour between 5 – 6pm. Just in time!

We had a coupla beers and chatted to a couple who were driving round Aus. They had sold their house, bought a caravan, and we’re living’ the dream. Good on em. In Meningie we bought some food for dinner, but the menu at the Wellington looked so good we just had to have a pub meal each before hitting the road. It was set to be another long night!

Back on the road by around 7:30pm we saw the most amazing sunset leaving Wellington. By this stage in the trip Harv and I had become quite good at communicating with Cattle and Sheep as they were the only other species to talk to most of the time. Harv let off a ripper moo, and had the cattle in a stir, running along with us as we cruised down an empty road, into the sunset.

Someone had told us that you cant ride on the freeway via Bordertown to Adelaide so we had to turn west about 10kms before Tailem Bend. Sleep deprivation was well set in now, and most of the ride to Strathalbyn seemed quite a long one. I really needed to go to the toilet so we had to stop in Strathalbyn to use a toilet.

We were both almost keen to stay the night in Strathalbyn but there were no options really. So we kept cycling towards Adelaide, knowing little of the effort to come. My knee was really, really sore at this stage.

Eventually we realised that we were riding through the Adelaide Hills in order to get to the city. It was 1am, and we’d already ridden 150kms off little sleep. Motivation was lacking terribly. Once the hills started, they didn’t let up for at least 20kms of climbing.

I think my anger at the time with the situation, helped to motivate me through each hill as they came one after another. We stopped here and there, cursing, and laughing at our stupidity, but also quite proud of what we were doing. The temperature was really cold, we were both fully clothed, and every time another hill climb came it would get so hot  and sweaty inside our jackets. Then when a downhill came, the chill of the wind, combined with the sweatiness of our clothing created freezing body temperatures. It was a long hall but eventually we hit a town called Sterling. About 12kms from Adelaide.

From Stirling we discovered there were two options, turn back towards the hills and find another route into the city, possibly via more hills, or take the freeway into town. On the freeway entrance it was clearly stated they bicycles are not allowed on the freeway, but there was no way I was going to turn back into the hills. We took the rist and headed onto the freeway.

And what a road it turned out to be. From Sterling to Adelaide city, the Freeway is pretty much a 12km downhill the whole way into the city. It was a bad idea to take the road but we took the risk, and what an adventure it turned out to be. I don’t think I’ve sat on 50 – 60kms/ph on a bike for so long.

The downhill into the city was awesome, but the chill from the wind on the way down made us freezing cold. Even though I didn’t have to pedal, the ride down seemed to drag on, as I wanted to sleep so bad.

We got to town and started searching for some accommodation. There was nothing. It was now 4am, and anywhere that was actually open, was all booked out because of the Clipsal V8 races in Adelaide.

Our moods really dropped. All we wanted was sleep. And once again, to compromise sleep, we decided to eat some food. And what could be a worse way to end a hard night than eat McDonalds. It made us both feel sick. Bad move. But dropping into Maccas was a good idea because the security guard there was a legend. It was 6am and we told him all about our mission. The local police went through the drive thru, and the security guard told them we’re looking for somewhere to sleep. They said we could go camp behind the local footy oval hall. So off we went, so excited to get some sleep. We found the spot, pulled out all the gear, started setting up tents, and then splash. The sprinklers went on. Very funny now, but not funny at the time. I reckon the local coppers we’re off giggling to themselves about it somewhere.

We moved over away from the sprinklers and 6:30am went to bed. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hi friends.. i like to share that In Melbourne, while cleaning my bike, the rear gear cable snapped. This was a pity, since it hasn't snapped in the whole life of the bike, 26 years.Bikes Adelaide