Vanderpants Oz Tour

Km’s – 100km – The Tonnnnnnne – well done Alex

Km’s to Date – 414 km’s

Saddle Time – 5 hours 20 Minutes

Elevation – 160mtrs

Avg Speed – 20kmph (happy with that with a loaded bike)

Howdy everyone – welcome to the random ramblings of two redheads just pushing pedals and legit LAUGHING the whole way through (with SOME pain) but mainly, hanging shit on everyone and laughing about random shit ALLL day.

We had favourable winds today which made it cruisy and easier to enjoy the scenery and smash out some k’s which really IS the trip isn’t it. The road IS the trip. So much unpacking and discussion and thinking happens on the road plus being able to see everything that goes on around you. All the things we don’t have time for when we are in the thick of it right. These things are priceless.

A lot of the trip is being ON the road. Not the whole thing but a major part is going through everything you need to go through ON the road. It’s such a nice feeling to be pushing those pedals all day and experiencing everything that this amazing country has to offer. Many people say to me ‘but there’s nothing out there’ or ‘isn’t it boring sometimes’ – yeah sometimes but honestly, there’s soooo much random stuff out there that is amazing, not only the scenery but everything else that comes along with the ‘touring package’ that i’ve explained before – there’s sooo much to take in every day that it all seems like 20 mini adventures every day. I feel priveleged and lucky to be doing this.

I’ve realised that I get super sore riding on the flats especially with headwinds and I used to worry about that as all my injuries over the years (and there’s a lot) flare up and I sometimes i’m in my tent and start worrying about how I can finish this whole trip, but then I remember that I enjoy when the hills come because all those other muscles kick into gear and I feel so much better, it’s a strange thing but it is what it is in’t it. I think I adapt to hills much better than the humdrum flats and headwinds.

We started this morning at the bakery – yesssssssss my favourite, and this old local mate there said we are in for bad weather when we hit Robe to which I said to Alex ‘don’t believe everything you hear because everyone says random shit’ hahahahaha but he was lovely and we shared a quick LOL and he said he will be seeing us on the road later, which he did and gave us a toot a few hours later hahaha – PS – got to Robe later on and it was the best weather we’ve ever had hahahahaha.

Along the route today we came across a fake skeleton that was a donation tin for the RFDS so we stopped and had some fun which you’ll see in the vid hahaha

Alex spent like 5 minutes explaining why he enjoys the Symmetry of the pine trees all lines up in a row – I couldn’t really roll my eyes could I because let’s face it, I BOMBARD him with allllll my shit ALLLLLL day about every topic under the sun from why I like this over that Vs what grinds my gears and then more random stuff hahahaha

Moving on, we SMASHED 50 km’s today before 11 am and we were stoked. We got to Robe bakery today and smashed so much of the bakery that we needed a BOX which included – two pastries, cakes and two coffees. Of course I’m a super amazing skillful cyclist so I was the one voted to carry it off to a nice spot on the beautiful beach of Robe. This is where every man and his dog came up to us to ask us all questions under the sun. I was explaining to alex how this happens and today he experienced it hahaha. I love the conversations and curiosity and kindness of people but sometimes, you want to grab a pastry, eat and go hahaha. I’ve met some life long friends this way so I want to sound respectful because every interraction is good interraction but I saw the look on Alex’s face today hahahahahah – it was that face of ‘we got plans people, can we go’ hahahahahaha. One conversation was about Camel Milk and how many uses it has and how good it is for you :-). Personally, I enjoy meeting new people and seeing where they come from and what makes them tick and why. When I was touring Europe, I wouldn’t have met a plastic surgeon in France who invited me to his place to see his ‘Surgery’ if I wasn’t curious right? HEAPS SAFE – what could go wrong 🙂

You’ll see in todays video a snippett of a wtf “im barely clothed moment” … lets just say we stopped to record a special birthday video message for one of Alex’s friends! haha

We also visited the lighthouse and did some droney fun, and answered more questions hehehe and then took off and took advantage of this beautiful weather and wind.

So after lunch, on went the loudspeaker hooked onto the back of my pants and Metallica was the choice of the day. Alex and I both LOVE Metallica – pretty much know every song and Alex explained in detail how ‘Welcome Home Sannitarium’ has a killer bass track and went onto to say that it was a CHUGGY baseline that thinckened it all up – the ‘CHUG’ – the ‘Meat and Potatoes’ and the drum sits a half beat off and then went on to tell me exactly where those ‘chugs’ and half off beats were. I play a little guitar and can appreciate those perfectly explained analogies hahahaha

I must say that I think today, Alex gained his ‘Touring Medal’. Reason I say this is because after a few days on the road, he had A LOT of energy today and SMASHED his first ‘LOADED HUNGE’ 🙂 His first fully loaded 100km day. He finished it with power too. I was impressed. He gets the touring medal of the day for sure.

We ended up in Beachport with Alex saying ‘dude, what the EFF do you like about beachport’

I half said something to which we then rolled down that hill, saw the ocean and the beautiul tiny town and he went ‘ohhhhhhhhhh I get it now’

Beachport is like a small Robe. Everyone goes to Robe but this place is tiny and a little haven of a place. The beach is turquoise perfect.

Tomorrow I’ll take some drone vids and you’ll see. It’s so beautiful here.

We walked around the town a little, had an amazing pub meal and settled in for the night, blogged and then probs going to stretch those tired legs

Tomorrow will be a day off doing some bike maintenance, droney action, swimming and planning the next few days and jetty jumping – how freekn good is that. Many times we just talk about how good this trip has been so far and how lucky we are. SO LUCKY.

PROBS no blog tomorrow but lets see if I can hold myself from not talking hahahahaha

Signing off peeps