May 31st, 2011
Fraser Range to Norseman
Distance: 110km
Total distance: 4673km
The morning saw me getting up early and pedaled away by 6.30am. A cold and foggy morning at the Fraser Range Station. My attempt of leaving the park quietly failed when a sheep and a lamb bah repeatedly upon seeing a cyclist. 2km of descent on the dirt road and I’m back on the familiar Eyre Highway.
The next 10km or so was full of joy as elevation gradually drops. Very light traffic too in the early morning. Eventually, the road undulates quite a bit but not as much as yesterday. Red gums dominate the scene for today’s ride. Don’t actually know what these gums are called but their barks were brownish red in colour and they make an awesome eye candy. 25km into riding I rode pass a public overnight rest area and it’s written on the sign board Fraser Range. This must be the free campsite that the polish couple talked about! Saw them not far from the campsite and they admitted that they themselves got mixed up between the two. Anyway, good to know that there are free campsites around here. There’s no shower facility however. A little further down the highway there’s another campsite called the Ten Mile Rock. Saw at least 3 caravans there. These two are great campsites as they’re surrounded by the beautiful red gums. Slight regret that I couldn’t make it here last night.
Today I noticed a lot more people tooted and waved at me. Perhaps they just got overexcited seeing a cyclist survived riding the Nullarbor. One guy actually stopped in the middle of the road and offered me water. One couple, Richard and Sharon, stopped to see how I was doing and checked out my rig. Richard asked me a question that was obvious but no one else has asked before “Do you find your mind talks since you’re mostly by yourself?”. “Yes, a lot” I responded. It’s something I sometimes enjoy doing too. But when my mind keeps rehearsing the same thought, it gets really annoying. Music works as a perfect distraction, so does interesting visuals. What I also to notice is that I have somehow trained my legs to be on a ‘cruise-control’ so that I can allocate my cognitive resource to other more important things, like why is that patch of cloud shaped like a tortoise, or whether the flies that’s been chasing me would give up if I decelerate and accelerate very quickly.
Norseman was approaching quickly. My 12 days journey across Nullarbor was coming to an end. I thought I’d be happy. A sense of relief was definitely there but deep down I knew it would be impossible to replicate the extraordinary experience I had in my remaining journey to Perth. Less than 10km to Norseman, I saw from a distance a rocky hill that stands out quite prominently. Not wanting my Nullarbor leg to end in a melancholy state, I did what any man with a sizable sense of adventure would do: to climb up the hill and enjoy a rewarding view. Without a second thought, I parked my trike in a nearby rest area, and up I climbed. The wind was very strong at the peak, but it was well worth the climb, the 360 degrees view was simply breathtaking!
Upon reaching the CBD of Norseman, my impression was “Is this it?” The first major town I come across since Ceduna have 1/3 of it’s shops permanently shut, another 1/3 closed on a weekday afternoon and the remaining ones that were open have so few customers you’d wonder whether they were all staff or just their friends stopping by for a chat. Went to a reasonable size hotel to book for a room and again I was surprised to find that there is only one staff working and only one other guest in a building with at least 30 rooms. Wasn’t what I expected at all, but the room was dead cheap, condition wasn’t bad, and it includes a continental breakfast too, what more can you ask for?
Leg 4 completed. The best leg ever. Surviving Nullarbor wasn’t as difficult as I expected. Quite the opposite, cycling has never been this exciting. I faced multiple challenges but overcoming them on my own gave me a great sense of achievement. Although I was mostly on my own, I never really felt alone. I met some of the most inspiring people like Andrew and Mike. Overall, the 12 days I spent in Nullarbor felt like a year worth of experience. One that is sure to stay in my memory for a very long time :’)