Australia by Bicycle - page 5

well prepared for the cold night

During the first weeks of this tour, I was often bothered with a nasty headwind. Generally, there was no wind in the early morning, but they started around 10 a.m. I then decided to cycle at night and morning only. At least, I wanted to try this schedule and see if it would make cycling more enjoyable.

One night, I left Katherine at 2 a.m. and followed the beam of my bike’s front light in the pitch dark, windless night. I enjoyed the easy riding. But that wasn't all I enjoyed. The sky was so clear, and so dark, I got excited by the wonderful stars in the sky. I had never seen such a brilliant sky in my life and kept looking up. I could do that without danger of ending up beside the road because I rode the full width of the Stuart Highway. There was hardly any traffic and the few trucks that passed, I heard long before they were near me..

The early morning makes long shadows

Another thrill this early schedule provided was the dawn. It started with a vague spot, growing large on the eastern horizon, slowly dimming the stars asleep. The changing coloured sky was fascinating. Then it became light enough to see the scenery. The early morning appeared to be the only time of the day when I could spot kangaroos.

and then prepare for the hot day: these were the clothes that I laid off in the morning

From then on, I started biking at two or three a.m. In the early morning it often was terribly cold, mostly just a few degrees above the freezing point. Once the sun rose, and started climbing, the temperature rose amazingly fast. As the day lengthened, I discarded clothes, to end up in shorts and a shirt by nine a.m.

The best reward after a night's riding: a big breakfast in a roadhouse (here in Mataranka)

Interesting links referring to the region:

There is also a complete daily log of this tour, but only in Dutch.