The Cycling Adventurer

   Perth-Adelaide 1997

Day 28   

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Bikes of all sorts become a recurring theme

Today was a classic demonstration of how the wind can affect a riding performance. On Saturday, I did Bookabie to Ceduna over a similar distance in an afternoon.

Today, I took another two hours to ride the distance, although I must admit to a casual approach that included a late start at 9.30am, and easy pedalling. The morning was good, but the road slowly turned south-west and I pedalled straight into a south-westerly seabreeze.

The bike is intact and going, although I still have strong suspicions about the front wheel because it started to make strange noises in the last 20km. The rear bearings, however, seem to have survived quite well, but some binding persisted and was more noticeable in the last 10km when I did some decent climbs before a final run into Streaky Bay.

As I left Ceduna, I checked out the Sports and Outdoor shop and had a chat to Val, who helped on the telephone last Friday. The store did not have anything other than caged bearings similar to the ones they had sent me, and no inner cups for the hubs, nor any hubs. I did buy a pair of leather sailing gloves for $25.95 and a cheap watch for $16. The gloves are very well made compared with the pair I mislaid at Bookabie. They have the added advantage that they cover the entire back of each hand, although I don't know how long the large dark patch on there will take to fade.

The ride today was mostly uneventful. The traffic was light both on the Eyre Highway out of Ceduna, and on the Flinders Highway down the Eyre Peninsula coast. Of course, the first vehicle to go past me on the Flinders was... a roadtrain. But I saw only four others for the remainder of the day. The country continues to be cropping land and large grain silos mark the entrance to Streaky Bay from some distance away.

Bikes became today's theme. I had just stepped back on the road after a "comfort stop" in the bush when I saw a cyclist heading towards me, laughing and almost beside himself with delight. He was Japanese and had set out on his Australian cycling odyssey from Rockhampton to travel west to Ayres Rock. He asked if I had seen two Japanese girls on bikes, and I said I had several days previously when the weather was really hot. He told me he met them at Ayres Rock, but they travelled south to Adelaide by bus rather than ride as he had done. He was even more delighted that they were all right and were only four or five days ahead of him.

The guy appeared as well equipped as any other rider I had seen so far, with neatly packed panniers on a Malvern Star bike with drop-bars. He left the Eyre Highway at Poochera, and cut across to the Flinders Highway, but bypassed Streaky Bay. He also did not seem to know much about backpacker options. He was impressed by the size of Australia and proclaimed the country as "excellent" for touring by bicycle. He has seen about 10 other riders since leaving Rockhampton, including the two Japanese girls. I told him to expect to see an Australian couple riding east as he rejoined the Eyre Highway.

My second encounter with bikes was at a lookout over Perlubie Beach. I was overtaken earlier by motorcycles and a utility, and about five minutes later saw them all stopped at the lookout with a storyboard about the history of Perlubie Beach and Eba Island.

The utility was an escort for three Vincent motorcycles on a journey from Perth to Adelaide to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the marque's first model. Two people, one a woman, had come from England to take part in the ride.

The ones who stopped at Perlubie Beach appeared to have fared well, but I was told the third bike was still at Ceduna having some running repairs done to it. I was passed by the latecomer just out of Ceduna, and I saw the group again at a motel as I came into town.

Streaky Bay was a welcomed sight after the headwinds and steep climbs towards the end, and the size of the town surprised me. The road runs along the shoreline, and the area haS a comfortable atmosphere. The silos are on the northern entrance to town and a heavy vehicle bypass takes care of the trucks travelling through the centre.

These three vintage bikes were part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of
Vincent motorcycles.

Vaughn Waye, at Ceduna, told me about Labatt House, the Streaky Bay hostel, and I watched for the murals he said were painted on its exterior walls. I missed it the first time past, and had to check at a liquor shop, where I also happened to buy some beers.

I retraced my route and found Labatt House next to a machinery museum that also had huge murals on its walls. Diagonally across the road is the motel where the Vincent crew is staying. The sign on the hostel's front door said to inquire at the information centre across the road. I could see only a Shell service station. Of course, the blue "i" sign on the post was exactly in line with where I was standing. I wandered across the road to the station and inquired. "This is the place!" came the answer.

The hostel is deceptively large with five dormitories, a large lounge-room and a similarly large dining area adjacent to a large kitchen. Reading through the visitors' book, Labatt House does not seem to be very busy at the best of times, but those who do stay here sure seem to like it. And why not! The house is right on the waterfront with only a hop, skip and a jump from the back verandah into the water. The view is very relaxing. It would be great waking up to the sight, but all the dorms are at the side or front of the house. I had a couple of steak sandwiches for dinner, using the meat I bought in Ceduna yesterday and put straight into Vaughn's freezer.

The woman who runs the milk bar in the middle of town said Streaky Bay has a population of about 1,000, including the surrounding farming families. No Aborigines live in the town, and as she pointed out, there are no racial problems. It's a place where people leave the keys in the ignitions of their vehicles and the doors unlocked at home when they go shopping. "There is no crime problem here, and it's a great place to bring up kids," she said.

Fishing is one of the town's major industries, but the big companies based in the south at Port Lincoln have bought up most of the licences, and only a few boats work out of the small port. But Streaky Bay is surviving by developing its tourism industry and by becoming a popular base for recreational anglers. Sea lions seem to be major attraction for the town as a major colony inhabits the shore just to the south.

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