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
Spent all morning around the roadhouse doing a little bit of nothing. The guy at the roadhouse didn't even charge me for staying there, saything that "you pushbikers work hard enough as it is." Talked to another guy who was doing survey work near one of the railines. He said that if they stopped the train it would cost them $10,000, since that is what it cost to get new brakes back on the trains. These ore trains are incredibly long and must be really hard to stop if they need to do it in an emergency.
Ride was pretty uneventful all day, just a horrible headwind. Stopped midday and ate, then pushed onward. Found a place to camp, but soon discovered a zillion biting ants crawling all over me. So I quick got out of there, ants still eating me as I road down the highway. Found another spot a few k down the line. Wind is blowing hard, hopefully it won't do it all day tomorrow.