Day 59-60: Port Augusta, SA
Distance cycled: 98km
Last night in Orroroo was one of the scariest moments being in a tent. While lying restlessly in our tent (which was located under a tree and next to a stretch of metal fence), we could see (even with our eyes shut) the lightning lit up the surrounding darkness and hear the thunder roar through the silence of the night around 1am. The next morning, Orroroo and neighbouring town, Peterborough still suffered blackout.
Looking at the clouds (that are definitely rain clouds!) in the morning, we had slight hesitations but were still determined to move on. The lady at the caravan park was very familiar with the road towards Port Augusta and her description of the terrain was exactly what it was: as envisioned by Lukas, there will be a ‘donut’ of a hill (don’t ask why a ‘donut’) immediately leaving Orroroo, then it will be flat until Wilmington where the climb of Horrocks Pass begins. So we know what’s ahead of us and we decided to pack and go while the clouds held in. Graham and Carmel waved us goodbye in the morning!
It was actually more than 50% downhill on the way out of the Pass as we rolled for 10km into the National (No. 1) Highway. It began with a winding rollercoaster of a ride with fairly steep ups and downs that went on for less than 5km. We both were prepared for another experience similar to Macquarie Pass and walk up the steep hills if necessary. It turned out to be nothing like that and we (still with some huffs and puffs) conquered the ‘uphill’ bit. In the meantime, the wind seemed to have picked up. As we were descending the Horrocks Pass, we were almost swept off the road a couple of times and the wind decelerated us by up to 4km/h!
We were forewarned about the traffic into Port Augusta along the National Highway, especially during this Easter holiday period. That was the main reason we avoided going to Port Broughton and Port Pirie in the hope to get round the Flinder Ranges from the south initially. Our alternative route now (via inland instead of along the coast) still entailed us to ride along the main highway for 22km to get to Port Augusta.
We fought headwind with speed of at least 30km/h most of the 20km! Since there is little (or none) shoulder, we also pulled over when road trains (large trucks with at least 2 carriages) or simply large trucks approached us on our side or when we think traffic will meet on both sides of the road. Nonetheless, Sue still thinks the wind was the toughest challenge!
Km by km, we made it to Port Augusta. The tourist park we arrived at was full for the night with 3 buses-load of school kids camping but the nice lady at the reception managed to squeeze us in. Thank you! We wasted no time to set up and clean up before heading out to shop for food. A simple question of “What’s for dinner?” got Lukas another free hot meal complimentary of the chef for one of the schoolies groups. Sue wondered what shall be her reward for staying loyal to vegetarianism that will come to a 10-year anniversary by the end of this year. A hot meal would be good! ;p
We decided to take a day off to run some errands and replenish some supplies (including new thorn resistant bike tubes) at this last large town (or city?) in SA of population about 15,000. The bikeshop (that also used to sell firearms prior to the changes in the gun ownership laws in Australia) owner took time to share some interesting stories and showed us what types of thorns on the road to watch out for before letting us sign his guestbook of travellers from around the world riding push-bikes across Australia.
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