I have realised how different it is to write a blog from writing a diary, or even emails to different people. For one, one doesn't really know who is reading it (indeed is anyone reading it?), but also internet cafes are not as homely as writing the days event in our tent... and I haven't got time to do both! Anyway, I find it very difficult...
Well, we left Port Augusta and its fumey power station on Friday, found a small road away from road trains but had to pay for this peaceful time by climbing a very steep hill, Horrocks Pass. There were road works and the workers didn't help by saying it would be very long and very steep... well we survived, despite the fact it was midday (why do we always lend up cycling uphill in the heat of the middle of the day?) and arrived in Wilmington, where we rested in a covered area outside "Beautiful Valley Cafe". No flies! cycled on 20km to Melrose, another small charming early settlement (1853), with many interesting old buildings and most importantly a campsite with GRASS! John realised he had had withdrawal symptoms from grass and was so happy! the campsite was nestled by the wooded Mount Remarkable (956m...a hill?) and was the home of hundred of noisy corellas (white cockatooes) who squwaked late at night and early in the morning so loudly one could not talk to one another! but we didn't mind and we met Don, an inspirational, modest and quitely spoken cyclist who was on his last leg of his trip around Australia: 17,000km! We have just completed 2,000km today (and it does feel like all around Australia to us!) he gave us his blog dons-bike-trip.blogspot.com
Next Day made Wirrabarra by 9.00 am, breakfast on home-made meat pie and pasties. I long for coffee and croissants... Had most interesting talk with the owner/cook Patrick O'Donnell. he was one of the "Stolen Generation" having been taken away from his mother when he was 9 and fostered. to his and his wife and children's surprise, he only discovered his father was Aboriginal when he was 40 (he looks very Irish). Patrick was not bitter, considered himself half/half, but life seemed quite difficult in this small rural community where different "groups" (perhaps 4 groups of 20 people) didn't talk to each other.
Replenished, we cycled on only to find that there was a wonderful coffee shop in the Old Bakery" at Stone Hut... and a hotel open in Caltowie (or "sleepy lizard water hole") where the proprietoress opened to sell us a coke. We had never been so spoilt for food and drink in the whole of the journey! Eventually arrive in Jamestown, where Chris, a cousin of Barrie, was to pick us up in his truck to take us to his home in Burra.
Well, we left Port Augusta and its fumey power station on Friday, found a small road away from road trains but had to pay for this peaceful time by climbing a very steep hill, Horrocks Pass. There were road works and the workers didn't help by saying it would be very long and very steep... well we survived, despite the fact it was midday (why do we always lend up cycling uphill in the heat of the middle of the day?) and arrived in Wilmington, where we rested in a covered area outside "Beautiful Valley Cafe". No flies! cycled on 20km to Melrose, another small charming early settlement (1853), with many interesting old buildings and most importantly a campsite with GRASS! John realised he had had withdrawal symptoms from grass and was so happy! the campsite was nestled by the wooded Mount Remarkable (956m...a hill?) and was the home of hundred of noisy corellas (white cockatooes) who squwaked late at night and early in the morning so loudly one could not talk to one another! but we didn't mind and we met Don, an inspirational, modest and quitely spoken cyclist who was on his last leg of his trip around Australia: 17,000km! We have just completed 2,000km today (and it does feel like all around Australia to us!) he gave us his blog dons-bike-trip.blogspot.com
Next Day made Wirrabarra by 9.00 am, breakfast on home-made meat pie and pasties. I long for coffee and croissants... Had most interesting talk with the owner/cook Patrick O'Donnell. he was one of the "Stolen Generation" having been taken away from his mother when he was 9 and fostered. to his and his wife and children's surprise, he only discovered his father was Aboriginal when he was 40 (he looks very Irish). Patrick was not bitter, considered himself half/half, but life seemed quite difficult in this small rural community where different "groups" (perhaps 4 groups of 20 people) didn't talk to each other.
Replenished, we cycled on only to find that there was a wonderful coffee shop in the Old Bakery" at Stone Hut... and a hotel open in Caltowie (or "sleepy lizard water hole") where the proprietoress opened to sell us a coke. We had never been so spoilt for food and drink in the whole of the journey! Eventually arrive in Jamestown, where Chris, a cousin of Barrie, was to pick us up in his truck to take us to his home in Burra.
What luxury! Chris and Mares made us very welcome in their beautiful mill, Chris being such a talented architect. They drove us around Burra and its interesting mines and after a pub meal, Chris, Mares and I watched and listened to the very moving (but too noisy for John) DVD of the tribute to George Harrison until the small hours of the morning (while John tried to sleep). It was so wonderful to sleep in a BED!
Moved the following day in the afternoon to the nearby camping as Chris and Mares had to go to Adelaide and spent three lazy days visiting Burra, a copper-mining site from 1847 to 1877, where many cottages and other reminders of the mining days can be seen. John is happily wandering in the sun, visiting the mine, pump house, museums and Cornish, Scottish and Welsh cottages, while I am typing away in the cool of the library.
During this trip we have become aware of the harshness of Australia: climate either too hot, too dry, too wet, too windy... soil too hard and stony to fit tent pegs...Now we also realise that this hard environment is also a very fragile one. 40,000 years of Aboriginal occupation hasn't altered the continent, but European colonisation commencing in 1788 has caused catastrophic damage to the environment. We talked about the introduction of pest species, the destruction of forests and the effect of overgrazing a poor and thin soil: what is left now in many places is bare earth or treeless prairies. The different mines we have come across (gold in Kalgoorlie and copper here) are also witnesses of man's ruthless greed...
During this trip we have become aware of the harshness of Australia: climate either too hot, too dry, too wet, too windy... soil too hard and stony to fit tent pegs...Now we also realise that this hard environment is also a very fragile one. 40,000 years of Aboriginal occupation hasn't altered the continent, but European colonisation commencing in 1788 has caused catastrophic damage to the environment. We talked about the introduction of pest species, the destruction of forests and the effect of overgrazing a poor and thin soil: what is left now in many places is bare earth or treeless prairies. The different mines we have come across (gold in Kalgoorlie and copper here) are also witnesses of man's ruthless greed...
Hi John and Nicole, Valerie and I are struggling with the technology but hope you get this this time.
ReplyDeleteWe are truly amazed by your adventures, and are all following the blog avidly, at Quakers and at Scottish Dancing where Dorothy printed off reams of it for all there!!!
Looking forward to seeing you on your safe return.
Love, Shella and Valerie