Between February 2002 and March 2003 I circumnavigated 12,504 miles around the Australian continent on my bicycle, or push bike as they say there. After that I went to New Zealand for three months and met up with a friend and ended up pushing the total mileage to 14,115.7 miles (22717.02 km). I spent 269 days on my bike, 272 days not on my bike, and getting 67 flat tires over those 17 months.
I started and ended my 13 month lap around Australia at Luna Park in St. Kilda/Melbourne.. The distance around Australia (including Tasmania) ended up being about 20,281km (12,600 miles).
One fun thing I did during my trip was to visit six "confluences", which is where a whole-numbered latitude/longitude mark intersects for The Degree Confluence Project.
Craig
wow a flat today, and one actually caused by thorns.
Woke up a lot last night. The palm trees and whatnot above me kept blowing in the wind and making a sound like it was going to rain (I haven't put the rainfly on my tent for awhile now). Every hour or two a train went thundering past, shaking the ground beneath me. I went and paid for the previous night since the office was open. The lady had to have been one of the nicest caravan park people I'd met. She asked me if I got my bike fixed. (I'm assuming she saw me last night bashing the chain (and sometimes my fingers) with my bike lock).
The ride was pretty normal today. There was a dead wallaby on the road and a truck was coming, so I had to swerve around it though the brush and picked up a few thorns. First flat tire in a long while.
Stopped in Rollingstone (what a name!) for lunch and read the Townsville paper. Seems they had a heroin bust at the airport and it was big news....a lot different that Portland or Seattle.
Got to Ingram, liked the town immediately. Was still a little mentally fazed when I went into one of the hotels to get a room. Wow 12 bucks for my own room with a door out to the 2nd floor (or 1st as they call it down here) balcony. The girl working at the bar asked me where I was from. She said she was from Milwaulkee and had a couple friends from Oregon. Seems like a lot of people down here know where Oregon is. Strolled around town, I see Chuck D is on the new John Mellencamp album...wow.
Might be riding in the rain tomorrow...the next stretch of road is the "wet tropics" and the towns here get the most rainfall per year in Australia.
Funny how down here how you can drive right into the bottle shop and buy beer, and drive off without even leaving your car (or bike).
Gonna give up a security blanket and mail three of my laptop batteries away. Too dang heavy and I'm not using more than two.