Bike Odyssey
Around Australia 2003
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| Around Australia 2003 Sydney to Darwin 01 Around Australia 99 | Great North Walk 98 Snowy Mountains 97 Tasmania 96 | |
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| David Linda Bike Odyssey E-Mail: djf01@bikeodyssey.com.au | |
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| Journal for 28-Sep-2003 : Paynes Find |
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Overnight rain (or was I dreaming?) but we awoke to find the tent dry. Mt Magnet gets <200mm of rain a year, so getting rained on here is not that likely. Another good tailwind day again today. Not as fast as yesterday, but pretty good for the first 100km. As seem usual, the westerly (Fremantle Doctor?) comes up in the afternoon making things much harder, but this certainly beats the headwinds we had further north. A sweet honey smell from the flowering trees by the road scented the air. Magnificent Wedgetail Eagle soared over us for a while (waiting for us to run something over for him), showing off his wedged tail. These are wonderfully elegant animals, once they get themselves into the air. Lots of pretty shrubs line the road in between patches of blooming wildflowers. The is really nice country, and would be ideal for easy bush camping, except there is now a fence lining each side of the road. Fixed my helmet by taping Chux towels in the place of the missing padding. Past mile post 408 (Ks to Perth). I don't know if I should commit this to print but it looks like my rear rim is going to last after all. We are getting closer to Perth now. The trees are getting just a touch taller, and it's getting harder to extract a wave from the passing motorists. I guess waving at each other is a strange thing for people to do just because they are no longer in the city, but remote Australia is so thinly populated that there is some comfort in recognising and acknowledging a fellow human being. Types of Wave we have received (in increasing order of friendliness) The Bottle thrown at the head (obviously the worst) The Bird (same offenders as above) The shake of the head The stare straight through as if you aren't there. The jaw drop The lifting of one finger (NB: It can't be said an Aussie wouldn't lift a finger to help someone in trouble in the outback. They may well drive straight past a stricken traveller, but they will at very least lift just one finger to say hi.) The lifting of two fingers. The lifting of four fingers. The point and shoot: point index & ring fingers at target then raise the thumb. The V for Victory (I think). The standard one hander. The thumbs up. The double thumbs up. The Salute. The Narly Dude: raising only thumb and pinkis. (NB: Try making "narly dude" sound reasonable with an Aussie accent). The Look Ma, No Hands! : wave with both hands at the same time). The Gimme Five: arm stretched straight out the window. And my favourite: The "HOWZAT!!": Reach for the sky with all finger's fully extended. The best example had multiple arms coming out all windows at the same time. << Prev - Next >> |