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After 5 days of waiting, Cyclone Monica in Northern Australia dissipated down to a rating 1, having dumped a heavy load of rain on the Northern Territory. A lot of minor roads were flooded but the main highway we would cycle down south on was open. We could finally fly across from Bali to Darwin, on the north coast of Australia.
Leaving Bali at 3am in the morning was extremely hassle-free with Garuda (Indonesian) airlines… Just deflated the tyres, no boxing, pedal inverting, disassembly etc required – and no excess luggage to pay either, despite being at least 20kg over!! The staff just wheeled the bikes away… Collection at the other end couldn’t be simpler – they were just wheeled in to the luggage reclaim area. We were now in Australia!!
Through Warm Showers (www.warmshowers.org), a cycling organisation we recently discovered where members offer each other accommodation (and a warm shower!), we had found Kingsley, a fellow cycle-tourer living near Darwin. Out of Darwin airport at 8am, we cycled straight down to his place, 40km south. Despite the sleepless night we were quite bright eyed and bushy tailed – must be the excitement of the lovely wide tarmac roads with orderly traffic, and even cycle paths… Such a bliss after the hard cycling on the roads of Indonesia…
After one night at Kingsley’s (near a town called Humpty Doo – they have such quaint place names here), we set off on our long journey south into the outback, straight down the North Territory to the Red Centre of Australia – called as such because of the colour of the ground as well as being ‘red hot’ in Summer season. We had timed our arrival perfectly to coincide with the start of the Dry Season / Winter (beginning 1 May).
Dear Bent Duo,
Your welcome to come and stay with us (family of five)
in Ballarat, Victoria for 2 nights.
Spotted your post on the Audax web site.
Just email back.
Looking at your route turn left at Geelong, Vic and avoid
Melbourne.
Cheers Tim and Ann
Hi Nic,
Checked the site out to see where you’re at. Travellers heading north told us that the bikes were back on the road and heading southwards.
Have contacted the list of people we gave you… they’re expecting a call for a hot meal, bath….and some story swapping.
Take care… happy cycling
(In case you’ve forgotten us already….bok choy
hi nic sed. just looking up your web siteto see how both of you are travlling .we meet you near attack creek in n/t. in april , how good where those nemissa socks i gave you . sorry it was only 1 pair . we arrived back in melbourne 1/9/2006, lance