Vanderpants Oz Tour

Distance: 95.99 (43 degrees today just quietly)
TOTAL SO FAR – 1173 km’s

Avg Spd: 16.0

Max Spd – 53.3

Saddle Time: 5:58 (total saddle time 81hrs 11 mins)

Elevation: 526 – felt so much more – i’m going to turn my garmin on tomorrow and compare google to my garmin

Quote: This moment is all there is – This tells me to be present and also life is precious right – there is no other moment other than being there right now with that person you’re talking to – don’t drift Vanderpants hahaha

Song of the Day: it was definitely Missy Higgins – Steer – it came on as I was descending through into Lorne and the lyrics are so spot on about being courageous and follow your heart…brilliant

‘you control where you go….you can steer’


Album of the Day: Was just random music all day

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Well…after finishing my last blog saying ‘lets see where i stay tonight’ the darndest thing happened – earlier in the day I got to having a 10 minute chat to these two awesome peeps

Meet Nigel and Martina – traveling around Oz and Vietnam for the last 13 months and just seemed like likeminded people to myself (which means pretty awesome i know right) – anyway I was cycling a tad faster then them and went into town to blog and eat. As I found a caravan park to pitch a tent for the night I saw them – They said ‘A family had to go home as someone was sick and the cabin is non refundable so they gave it to us and would you like a room as there’s two rooms’

without a word, packed up my tent and went in and we just talked for two hours – I hadn’t showered yet but we shared all our experiences and tips and I gave a few and learned a few too – espesh for the Nullabor – they are def my kind of peeps so we chatted a while then pretty much zonked but how cool is the cabin AND friends – I knew as soon as I saw them they were hardened and had their setup just right – you get an eye for these peeps.

I knew it was going to be hot today so we woke up at 5 and set off at 6ish and cycled together for a while then I stayed in one of the towns longer than them as I was enjoying the view so much (and my 6.50 coffee and scone deal) – coffee was good too. There’s no better feeling then waking up early, packing up your tent, slamming those headphones in the ears and wondering what may happen today, as I overlook the ocean and ponder on just stuff. No plan other than what I might cook tonight and how far MAYBE do i want to ride and how many coffees will I have (with food) mmmmmm fooooooooood. How good is food.

Early in the morning there were a few cyclists in which I tagged on the back to and tried to keep up – I did ten minutes with one group (I can’t help myself haha) but when a hill came I had no hope haha

I made sure to call my mum too and check in on her and we facetimed whilst I had my lunch off to the side of the road – my mum is a bloody battler – She’s pretty sick at the moment but never complains and just gets on with it – I told her that she is an inspiration to me on the hard days as she just gets on with it with no BS – love you Ma

I also called the COACH from My cycling team SADB **shout out lads** and seen how his knee op went and shoot the breeze – hi coach **waves** glad to hear it went well mate.

After I set off Martina and Nigel whatsapped me and told me where they were – I said i wanted to go on as I had Torquay to get to so I rode to their hostel and had another 30 minute yak and they gave me some well needed salt tabs as it was 43 here and I had another two hours to go. before the heat set in it was a beautiful day – sweeping bends, rolling hills, lots of climbs but not everest ones and I just revelled in the music and sights all day…..until it came to about 2pm – OMG the wind changed and the heat just went BOOOOOOOM. I almost couldn’t change gears as the shifter was so damn hot and the bike was scorching. Sides of the roads were all melty and if i went off a it i could feel the bike sliding it was crazy hawt (as i’m sure you all know in Adl today) and I knew it was time to get off the road. Trying to drink my water was like drinking hot boiling water. It was nuts oout there today and lots of people were stopping me asking if I need water or a lift hahahah Which is so nice of them – I told them ‘nah i gotta harden up for the Nullarbor but thanks anyway’. When it got super hot I saw these tiny tiny little bugs all over My arm – hundreds of them – then I felt them all in my beard and it freeked me out – I must’ve rode through a massive swarm and they were all over me – I freaked out as I had ‘infestationy stuff’ – they were EVERYWHERE. In my eyes – mouth beard – GROSSSsssssss – i sed two litres of water and doused myself – i was still feeling them hours later – I can feel them under my skin…aagghhhhhh

Mum had asked a friend up the road from where I was at if I could stay there and they were happy to have me so ANOTHER FLUFFY CLOUD – really well deserved today – i was on the road for 10 hours in this heat today – lunch, shopping, coffee, chats, maps etc it all adds up.

I ate two bananas
a whole box of muesli bars
Half a muffin
a burger
a scone
fries
a wrap
a soup
two main courses
8 litres of water

and i’m still losing weight

it was a tough day in the saddle – i was about 5 km’s from the destination and I had to stop I mean I had to – i was feeling the heat wayyy too much so doused myself in water and let some of the wind cool me down for 30 minutes then took off for the last 5Km which was HEAVEN walking into an airconditioned house with happy smiles, food ready to go and amazing conversation all night. I learned all about their rose farm in Holland and then a dairy farm in Port Campbell and how they lived in a hostel for a while on $70 per fortnight whilst trying to setup a dairy farm in which they had no experience in but just tackled it head on and might I add – did a very god job of it – I love hearing stories of people’s lives and how they got to where they did – you can learn something from everybody. One fact of the day – their cows provided 3 million litres of milk each year for Ozzies – that’s a lot of teet pulling 🙂 – Salt of the earth these people – direct as the dutch can be and I love it – no faffing around – Love it….

My Views Today

Vanderpants saying a sweaty ‘OUT’!