Vanderpants Oz Tour

Hi there,

Today felt long and hard although km’s wise it was not. That headwind was soul crushing. Not really a technical kind of day or the types of sweeping vistas all day that I’ve been lucky to experience (except for one major one) where I actually started to see the Flinders today and it was a beauty

Today was a red dirt, white dirt, red dirt, white dirt kind of day on secondary dirt roads until the last ten km’s where it turned rocky out of Wilmington and hilly. This trail continues to dish up a different experience every 30-60 minutes and you can never ‘settle in’ mentally because you know something different is about to happen within the hour. Was hard to get any speed on at all with this rocky terrain and the flinders were in sight so for about an hour today I hopped off the bike and walked the steed just so I can take it all in and go slower(er). Was really beautiful

some terrain for the day:

So, back to the start, I wanted to get an early start today as I ‘thought’ it was going to rain from 1pm and then all day tomorrow so I woke up at 5am and had a coffee and my oats then packed up the tent and I was off by 6. I brought a few portions of my famous oats on the trail for when I know I want to get away early and I just add water and go….Oats, nuts, my own dehydrated apple and banana, cinnamon and milk powder. No dishes, add water to the bag, wait 1 min and off you go. They are so filling and I really think although oats are the most boring breakfast in the world it’s quite a tasty mix AND definitely the best energy giver for the day hands down. I stay full for much longer than anything else on the road when I have that in my gut.

The sun was just rising over the hill after I left Melrose and it was a peaceful morning. It was basically all secondary roads from Melrose to Quorn and half was the red dirt (dry roads only).

I made it to Wilmington at 10 for my second breakfast and i’m glad I did. The cafe there was unassuming and didn’t look like much BUT boy did it deliver. They had three things on the menu and the main one was ‘Chops and eggs on toast’ hahahaha. I opted for just eggs on toast and out came these huge bricks with two lovely eggs on top. Half way through the owner came out and asked what did I think of the bread. He made it himself and said the the flour comes from the flinders and that made me think ‘this is what it’s all about’ hahahaha. It’s about experiences be it the trail or the food and don’t forget the coffee hahah. My father was a baker so I KNOW what good bread is like and this was up there (nothing beats my dads bread rolls though) just sayin 🙂

I got to talking to a gentleman (as I do) and he used to take the horse to school in Wilmington but now lives back in Adelaide. He was saying that it’s now mating season for snakes so I better watch out.


My second breakfast went down without touching the sides – Thank you Rusty Kate Cafe – and off i went and boy did the wind kick up even more than the brutal beginning. I thought today would be an easy day gradient wise but when there’s no gradient there’s wind haha. Soul De-Stroy-Ing……

Up and over a 15% rocky hill and over the side and I was not too far from Quorn when I stopped for a quick spell and a snack at this lovely spot. not one car all day – so quiet. Actually one car passed me and it was fully kitted out with i don’t know what but the banner on the side said ‘Outback Ghost Hunters’. A small part of me had a chuckle and said to myself ‘THEY ARE NOT REAL – you’re hunting the nothing’ 🙂

Side Note: I saw a lot of ants here and gave them a bit of apple. The buggers were walking right by it. So I thought ok mate, here’s a choc bud try that on for size. Hundreds and hundreds were walking right by (and around) both items. If this was the city, the alley cat ants woulda snapped that up right away. Must be the country in them that said ‘we don’t want no crap – we prefer bush tucker’

So I agreed with the ants, nodded my kudos to them for wanting better and off I went.

I could tell the surface was getting rockier the closer i was getting to Blinman which made it hard to get any speed on at all but still it was lovely then a small decent into Quorn and I still had to pedal on a 2-3% downhill – for some reason I was spent today – that headwind is a mind game…….Here in the last few km’s i couldn’t think of anything else then sitting down and having a coffee. I was happy it actually didn’t rain but tonight it will so I think i’ll wait one day then have a look at the tracks – I overheard a few convos in the pub tonight about a few diff farmers getting bogged around Quorn and also a motorbike too hahaha so waiting a day after the rain is a good idea I think

So tomorrow is a rest day plus might go check out pichi richi, go for a walk and do some ‘home chores kinda stuff’

Have a great night all

VANDERPANTS OUT!!!