After a restful day in Burra, mostly focused on getting
washing done, we were ready to go once more. The race briefing the night before
assured us that while we were in for some “serious cycling”, they had driven
the track on the rest day and all was good. But rain was on the way, so the
best bet was to get going early.
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| Sunrise |
Which we tried to do. Except being on the last stop of the
luggage pickup meant that we didn’t get going quite as early as we would have
liked. As we waited for the luggage truck, the air was cool and still and the
sunrise stunning. This would be the best weather we saw for the whole day.
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| Birds enjoying the peace |
By the time we’d had breakfast and were on our way, the rain
had started. As had the wind. And the cold. We avoided the first 5 km of the
Mawson around Burra as it was rumoured to be a muddy mess, and we knew from
previous adventures that mud was something to avoid on the Mawson. But soon we
were back on track, once again pedalling into a headwind, with more rain
threatening.
The weather couldn’t stop the photos as we made the
obligatory stop at the house featured on the cover of Diesel and Dust by
Midnight Oil. Admittedly, we didn’t stop long, but we managed to get a few
“atmospheric” shots!
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| Diesel and Dust House |
From there it was back to face the headwind as the rain
started. Not a lot of rain, but enough to make me glad that I had all the warm
things on! We carried on until morning tea, which was shortly after we turned
so that the wind was no longer in our face. Previously morning tea had been at
the top of the hill, to take advantage of the scenery. Not so much this time as
the crew had found a small amount of shelter near some trees. We huddled under
the shelter available, staying long enough for hot tea and
fruit cake, but not long enough for the cold to settle in.
After we left, with the wind no longer in our faces, we
managed to get a reasonable pace going. Though at times you had to hope you
were heading in the right direction as the rain was hard enough to reduce
visibility. But we were moving, which meant we were somewhat warm.
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| Struggling into the headwind |
Our good luck didn’t last. Soon we found ourselves faced
with peanut butter mud, as we crossed a small creek. Going off road allowed us
to avoid the worst of it, but we still had to stop twice to de-mud the bikes
before we were clear. A quick check that nothing sounded *too* gritty and we
were off again.
The rain must have been heavier than we realised, as we soon
came to roads that were big long puddles. Actually, these weren’t too bad as
riding through them washed some of the mud off. You just had to hope you could
ride through them, and didn’t end up bogged and putting your foot down in a
pool of water!
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| Allie powering on |
Which shortly became a moot point. We were now on dust bowl
creek road. More peanut butter mud meant that we were walking our bikes
carefully, when we heard an unfamiliar sound. Engines! Motorbike engines to be
precise. The first group of riders we encountered were courteous, stopping to
provide information on the trail ahead and careful around cyclists. The rest of
the 30 or so riders that we would encounter were not.
But before we could face the terror of the motorcyclists, we
had one more obstacle. Dust Bowl Creek. Less dust bowl, or creek and more
attempting to be a river. Knee deep and fast flowing, crossing this creek was
one of the more nerve wracking things that happened. But we made it and were
trudging up the other side when a motorcyclist tore around the corner, gunning
it for the creek. Given that we weren’t exactly trail breakers, I was surprised
that they weren’t taking better care as they would have already seen many
cyclists and trail conditions weren’t conductive to precise lines either with a
motor or without.
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| Ingrid looking after us |
But we managed. And when we got to the top of the climb out
of the creek we were greeted with roads that were completely churned up. Not
rideable. We were walking. We were still a good 5 km from lunch at this point
and it was here that I realised today was going to be a challenge. The sag
wagon was not going to be able to get us, and unless conditions changed
drastically between us and lunch, I doubted they were going to be able to get
us from that end either. We were freezing, soaked and not moving fast enough to keep warm.
This was not a good situation to be in.
But we were not alone. Ignoring the motorcyclists, who soon
ended up bogged anyway (huzzah!), there were many of my fellow cyclists
slogging it out with me. Never was I out of sight of other riders, nor they out
of mine. There wasn’t much in the way of cheerful banter, but we kept on
keeping on and eventually, after numerous creek crossings and slogging through
mud, we made it to lunch.
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| "The Slog" c/ Carl Purczel |
The first thing the vollies said to me was “come get warm”
and the second was “do you want a lift out?” Hell yes, was my answer! I was
chilled to the bone and couldn’t stop shivering, my bike was a muddy mess that
sounded like it wanted to fall apart. Today the Mawson had beaten me, but I was
proud to have made it this far, and proud of all my friends who stood shivering
under the shelter.
The vollies had done their best with what they had, space
blankets, tarps, an outdoor heater, cars on with the heaters running, but it
was hard to get warm. The worst of us got bundled into the cars, people like
Allan who decided to go swimming in the creek! Soon Bike SA came to the rescue,
minivans made it through on other dirt roads and we abandoned our bikes by the side of the road and
go into the warmth (don’t worry, the bikes made it back too eventually).
While we were no longer trying to slog our way through,
staying warm and dry still presented a challenge as we were staying at the
Hallett oval that night. Of all the places we had stayed, it was the most
limited in facilities, with no clubrooms and few buildings to offer shelter.
Not surprising really as the oval is no longer used. But we managed, and
Geoff’s shower truck was an absolute blessing of steamy goodness that I never
wanted to leave.
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| Safe and warm |
The rain still wasn’t letting up, but our tent was up thanks
the amazing volunteers at Bike SA. There was a small problem though, the zip
leaked water into the tent. This was easily sorted with a horse blanket to sop
up the water and we suddenly had a (mostly) dry place to rest our heads.
Bike SA did an amazing job making sure that everybody got in
safely. There were a few tense moments as people were checked off, but
eventually we were all accounted for. Dinner was at the hall, resplendent with
portable gas heaters. Soon there were groups of people, crowding round each one
with steam pouring off of whatever they were trying to dry. Dinner was warm,
filling and delicious. A short drive back to
the campground (we got lucky and hitched a lift), we curled up in our sleeping bags, toasty warm, wondering
what tomorrow would bring.
Day 7 – Hallett to Spalding
Daybreak came to the Hallett oval accompanied by the sounds
of a very enthusiastic morning person, chatting with someone who wasn’t. After
they’d inadvertently gone to the wrong tent. And felt the need to explain, at 6
am in the morning, why they were in the wrong tent. In detail. It did give me a
giggle to listen to the very one sided conversation, but I felt for the poor
person who’s tent they walked into, they needed a coffee!
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| History at Hallett |
There was a distinct lack of enthusiasm to get going, the
thought of cycling in the cold and wet again was not particularly appealing.
Carl and I were just trying to convince ourselves to get out of our sleeping
bags when Russel, the co-ordinator of the Odyssey, made an announcement. We
would not be riding today! To be honest, it was a relief. The cold slog the day
before had taken a lot from me and the notion of getting cold again was
unpleasant to say the least.
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| Believable |
With that news ringing in our ears we got ourselves sorted
and wandered over for breakfast and a look the museum hidden upstairs at the
hall. There were many interesting articles and photos, though the one that
caught my eye after yesterday was about snow falling at Hallett. I could well
believe it.
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| Cruisy! |
Soon we were on our way to Spalding, in the comfort of a
heated bus. After a baked potato lunch, we sorted our bikes and dried our damp
clothes on the very convenient fence. While there were a few showers, the
weather got better as the day progressed and we were able to enjoy some
sunshine before dinner and bed.
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| Bundaleer Channels |
It was a cold night in Spalding and a frosty oval greeted us
as we got ready for the day. After a wonderful cooked breakfast we rolled out
under grey skies. The first section out of Spalding travels along the Bundaleer
Channels.
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| Aqueduct |
As someone involved in water management, they’re an interesting piece
of history, an engineering marvel nestled away in the Flinders. There’s an
amazing aqueduct that forms part of the channel system, allowing water to flow
into the Bundaleer Reservoir. Of course, it’s fallen into a state of disrepair
as it was supplanted by the piped water from the Murray, but the gradient of
the channels makes them a very pleasant section of the ride.
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| Misty morning hillclimb |
I was actually getting warm as we approached morning tea, and
debated removing my rain jacket. This thought didn’t last long as more clouds
rolled in and a gentle misty rain started. From morning tea we were heading up into
the Never Never Ranges and the Bundaleer Forest. I had memories of many photo
stops the last time I did this climb, however with the misty rain restricting
the view I rode all the way to the top without stopping!
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| Lunch |
The misty rain made the trip through the forest a little bit
magical, and we had big grins as we rolled through the vegetation. The grins
got a little dampened as the rain increased, but it stopped long enough for us
to dry out before lunch. However it still loomed heavily on the horizon, so
after a quick lunch we got rolling again. Not quick enough to miss the rain,
but we didn’t get too wet.
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| BMCR Poster boy - take 2! |
The roll in to Laura was mostly that, rolling gently in a
generally downwards direction. We managed to make it into Laura before my
garmin quit, the cold getting to it more than it got to us! Our tent was in a
ring of mushrooms, the fairies were obviously getting ready to party!
Laura served up a wonderful roast dinner as well as a hearty serving of Golden
North! We also met Lawrie and Alexa, who
had wisely joined us at Spalding, rather than Burra. All was well in the world
and we slept deeply, ready for what tomorrow would bring.
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| CJ Dennis |
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| Lawrie |
Laura to Melrose started with the wonderfully gentle rail
trail out of town. I had a bit of a giggle to myself as I remembered almost
coming off due to a clothing incident the last time I rode this section. But
this time there were no such issues, just the pleasant company of Marshall Ian
and Mr Carl.
Soon enough we turned onto some “tracks” that were more like
uphill single-track than anything you’d want to drive a vehicle on.
Surprisingly I found myself powering up these, in stark contrast to the amount
of walking last time we did this section. We did stop along the way to admire
the views and take pictures of new friends as they struggled up the climbs.
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| Kathy |
From here we turned into Wirrabara Forest. Forestry roads
make for chilled riding and soon we were at morning tea, complete with toilet!
Yes, this is something I tend to get excited about, facilities are often few
and far between, so their presence is something to celebrate in my books!
Morning tea also provided a rather spectacular view of the
local fungi, with a bright orange mushroom in various stages of growth present
at the entrance to morning tea. I kept an eye out for more fungi as we
continued our ride, but never saw any as good as the ones at morning tea. I did
see the impact of the fire that went through a few years ago. It was
interesting to see which areas were burnt and how they were recovering. The
road that we were on had acted like a fire break in some areas, with one side
of the road burnt, the other not.
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| Morning tea! |
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| Picture stop! |
Mount Remarkable and Melrose were where we were ending up
today, and it would have been hard to get lost. As soon as we left the forest,
Mount Remarkable came into view, offering many opportunities for scenic photos.
At one of them, Carl and I had a moment reminiscing about the last time we did
this section. We remembered sitting on the bench, nursing his knees, wondering
if he was going to make it. That year, the Marshalls kept us company and helped
us hobble in. This year the Marshalls also kept us company, but we were no
longer hobbling.
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| Mount Remarkable |
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| Two thumbs up for lunch! |
The smell of lunch soon reached us, BBQ is good like that.
We turned a corner and were faced with a BBQ going full swing offering yiros
meat on warm pita bread with plenty of toppings. And then there was the cake
table. Not one or two cakes, but a whole table filled with an array of cakes,
biscuits and slices. It looked like a bake sale at a country fair! Off to the
side a fire was crackling away and chairs were provided so we could sit and eat
our lunch in luxury! And to top it all off, because it was mother’s day, all
the ladies got chocolate! I ate mine in honour of my mum!
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| Coffee!!!!! |
It was hard to get going from lunch, but we eventually moved
and were on our way again. Mr Carl was doing fine, but my knee was a little
iffy so I was taking it easy on our way into Melrose. Which was a lot more
uphill than I remembered. Still, we eventually got there, and after a brief
break organising our rest day accommodation, we hit the trails! I managed to
have enough left in the tank for one loop of Weaving Camels, which is my favourite
Melrose trail. Possibly because so many of the others scare me!
Day 10 – Rest day, Melrose
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| Bike friendly accommodation |
We’d organised rest day accommodation at Under the Mount,
which was fantastic! They were well set up for cyclists, with excellent bike
and clothes cleaning facilities, which we were in sore need of. We weren’t the
only Odyssey people there, and by mid-morning there were a bunch of bikes being
clean and clothing hanging from every available surface!
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| All the good things! |
With our chores out the way, we headed into town, raiding
the local gift and bike shops. Over the Edge made us a wonderful coffee as we
sat enjoying the sunshine. After a massage we headed to the pub for lunch and
had an amazing schnitzel. After, we wandered around with cameras taking
pictures of the scenery and wildlife.
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| Neighbours |
We went for a short walk up to the monument, where I ended
up meeting a gentleman who knew one of my Dad’s best mates! South Australia is
a very small place sometimes! We stopped in to get another coffee from Rory,
but got distracted when Marshall Chris let us try his e-cargo bike. That thing
is scary, I’m pretty sure I was screaming the entire time! Of course Carl and
Chris were having quite a chuckle! I’m pretty sure I didn’t actually need
coffee after that, but it was nice to have something warm to drink.
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| Bike art |
The rest day in Melrose was coming to a close, with all the
washing sorted and the bikes cleaned and prepped for the final section. We
enjoyed our final night of sleeping in a bed, preparing ourselves for what lay
ahead.
