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
Had a pretty uneventful day today. Found a pastry cutter on the road, that was a little exciting. Nearly squashed a snake that was on the road, it had that poision type look to it so I didn't get any closer. Spent a good couple hours at the gas station in Policeman's Point eating and reading a bunch of old Time magazines. The toilet there had a bunch of racist grafitti written on the stall doors. Since we are pushing stereotypes, it was probably written by some white trash hick with a broken lawnmower and auto parts in his front yard.
The wind was pushing against me a bit and getting to me. There was this gravel road that ran parallel to the highway for about 50km. I rode the gravel road for the first 4km or so but then the road turned to crap. I just turned around and headed back to the highway without thinking about it any.
Rode into the night. The oncoming semi trucks would drive past me looking like the cover of Def Leppard's "On through the Night" album cover (without the guitar on the back mind you). Turned down a gravel road and found a spot to camp near a fence, but in some trees so I couln't be seen from the road.