An overview of the road covered during our drive into the Australian outback [~3,250 kms].

2018.03.26 – [AU] Melbourne ==> Melbourne (27 kms | Total: 5022 kms) – We recovered, after a good night sleep, from our previous evening’s stressful bicycle ride from the Spirit of Tasmania ferry to our accommodation. We had to cycle for the first time after dark, in the rain and under windy condition. We had our complementary continental breakfast at our accommodation before reloading the tandem/trailer and heading out to collect our Chinese Visa at the application center. We had chosen yesterday’s accommodation for its proximity to the visa center hence it was a fairly short ride to get there. The visa center was surprisingly unoccupied. The queue for the visa pickup/payment was quite short. As the agent reviewed our pickup slips and looked at the computer monitor several times, we kept holding our breath until she said “two passports right?”. We felt relieved only once we paid for the visas. Our next task of the day was to cycle across the city of Melbourne from the south to the north where our next accommodation was located – near the airport. Although the distance was fairly short at 25kms, it seemed like it took us forever to get there. We checked into our accommodation around 2:00pm. After settling in, we took advantage of the motel’s free airport shuttle to visit the airport in order to purchase a bicycle box. We even managed to take the shuttle back to our accommodation with the box. We had to setup the tent to allow it to dry following our last night of camping in Tasmania where it rained in the morning. We had our evening meal at a nearby pub’s bistro. In the evening, I disassembled the tandem and trailer for our upcoming flight to China.

2018.03.27 – [AU] Melbourne ==> Melbourne (0 kms | Total: 5022 kms) – In the morning, we walked to a nearby bakery for our breakfast. Upon our return to our accommodation, we borrowed a luggage scale to weight our bicycle box to ensure it was under 23kg to avoid any unpleasant experience as when we encountered flying out of Auckland. A very strange thing happened to our faithful Sony RX-100 camera. It suddenly stopped working when we went to take a photo of our bicycle box. We tried various unsuccessful steps to resolve the issue. At lunch time, we walked to the car rental office of the company at which we had reserved, a few weeks ago, a car for the last part of our Australian visit. It was nice to see that the car was ready for us upon our arrival. We practiced our driving by carefully making our way to a shopping mall outlet. We managed to purchase a new pair of casual shoes for me as my cycling shoes were now showing heavy signs to wear and tear. We drove a bit further for our evening meal at a Chinese restaurant. We struggled a bit to find our way back to our accommodation as Jenny was just getting use to the Maps.me gps application. In the evening, we dropped our bicycle box and trailer at the motel’s reception desk for storage while we would be away on our driving adventure in the Australian outback. I looked at some YouTube videos for help with our malfunctioning camera. We finally discovered that if we applied heavy pressure on a specific corner of the camera, the LCD display would work, as well as allowing us to take a picture. Unfortunately, unless we opted to take some training with Le Cirque du Soleil acrobatic team, it became very complicated and frustrating to take pictures with the camera. It appeared as I needed to open up the camera to assess the source of the problem but it would have to wait as I did not have the necessary tool to tackle the task at hand. Jenny and I agreed to fall back on our mobile phone cameras for pictures during our drive to the outback.

2018.03.28 – Melbourne – Murray Bridge (AU) [655 kms] – We left our accommodation shortly before 8am. We encountered a bit of morning rush hour traffic but after leaving Melbourne behind, the driving was uneventful. We checked into our accommodation at a tavern in Murray Bridge and had our evening meal at their bistro.

2018.03.29 – Murray Bridge – Port Augusta (AU) [383 kms]– We had breakfast at a McDonald’s on route. We stopped in the town of Hahndorf, classified as Australia’s oldest surviving German settlement, for a short visit. We continued our route to Port Augusta and checked into our accommodation around 2:00pm. We bought a few snacks for tomorrow’s drive, the start of our outback journey. We had our evening meal at a Chinese restaurant. After a few days of driving, I’ve found the most difficult thing was to activate the turning signals for which the lever was on the right side of the steering wheel. I caught myself activating the wipers on more than one occasion. We may finish our road trip with the cleanest windshield in Australia!

2018.03.30 – Port Augusta – Coober Pedy (AU) [539 kms]– We were glad to know that McDonald’s was still open on Good Friday as we had breakfast there before leaving Port Augusta, the southern outback gateway city. We started our journey on the Stuart Highway which crossed the outback from south (Port Augusta) to north (Darwin) – over some 2,700kms. As some folks may remember, our cycling itinerary had initially included following the Stuart Highway to Darwin. After reaching the first roadhouse, some 172 kms under 35C, Jenny and I looked at each other and we were relieved that we did not undertake this stretch of road – although many brave cyclists had done so. Roadhouses were spread, every 100+kms, along the Stuart Highway typically providing fuel, basic groceries, meals, accommodation and camping sites. Our first roadhouse stop for a washroom break introduced us to the annoying and abundant bush flies which literally got into our faces. We kept a close eye on our fuel gauge as we approached each roadhouse. We arrived in Coober Pedy, a mining town for opals, which was known for providing underground accommodation in abandoned mining excavations. We stayed at a beautiful underground B&B. We bought groceries and cooked our evening meal at the B&B’s well equipped kitchen. The town’s surrounding landscape was quite unusual with all its mine excavation mounds scattered all over the area.

2018.03.31 – Coober Pedy – Yulara (AU) [736 kms] – We had breakfast at our B&B before our long drive to the Uluru area. We stopped at various roadhouses along the way to stretch our legs, buy some coffee and snacks and re-fuel when necessary. We arrived at the Yulara Resort town, which was the service town for the Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park. The resort provided three accommodations with varying price ranges in addition to a campground. Reluctantly, due to the very pricey accommodation, we opted to setup our tent for two nights. The campground was fairly busy and everyone was trying to pitch their tent under the limited available shade to seek some relief from the sun and the temperature of 36C. We left the Yulara resort town at 5:30pm and drove to a designated car park to observe the sunset reflections on Uluru – scheduled for 6:45pm. Along the way, we bought our 3-day park access passes. We snapped several pictures of the sunset with our two mobile phones. Even when we entered our tent after dark, we were still sweating from the heat.

2018.04.01 – Yulara – Kata Tjuta (Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park) (AU) [106 kms] – As we learned from tourist information leaflets, many walking trails closed by 11am whenever the day’s temperature forecast was to reach 36C or higher. Hence we opted to get an early start for our first hike. We awoke at 6am, well before the sunrise, and drove 50 kms to the start of the Kata Tjuta’s Valley of the Wind trail. The 7.4 kms trails was designated as difficult. Its difficulties were most likely associated with the loose stones that made up the trail. Needless to say the flies were abundant (and happy to see so many tourists!). We managed to complete the trail in 3 hours – typically a 3 to 4 hours walking trail. On our way back, we stopped at Uluru’s Cultural Centre for a short visit. We stopped for lunch at a coffee shop in Yulara’s town center. We spent a few hours there taking advantage of their air-conditioned environment. Back at the campground, I enjoyed some time in the pool while Jenny looked after recharging our phones/computer at the open-air kitchen facility. We returned to the town center for our evening meal after visiting a few restaurants operating under the various Yulara accommodations.

2018.04.02 – Yulara – Uluru – Kings Canyon Resort (Watarrka National Park) (AU) [353 kms] – We awoke again before the sunrise and broke camp. We drove 20 kms to the car park at the head of the 10.6 kms Uluru base walk. The temperature was again scheduled to reach 36C. The flies were again out in large numbers. We completed our walk around the base of Uluru in 3 hours. After leaving the car park, we re-fueled and drove 300kms, re-tracing over 100 kms of the route we had earlier covered to arrive in Yulara, in order to reach the Kings Canyon Resort. We checked into an expensive basic accommodation (but more convenient than a tent) around 2:30pm. Jenny relaxed in our air-conditioned room while I cooled down in the pool. We had our evening meal at an expensive (as everything else) BBQ restaurant.

2018.04.03 – Kings Canyon Resort – Kings Canyon (Watarrka National Park) (AU) [20 kms] – We awoke again before the sunrise and drove 10 kms to the car park at the head of the 6 kms Kings Canyon rim trail. The temperature was again scheduled to reach 36C. The views offered by the rim walk were breathtaking. We further enjoyed the walk as the flies were almost absent. We completed our rim walk in 3 hours. After leaving the car park, we returned to our accommodation for some rest. I enjoyed some more time in the pool. For our evening meal, we had some disappointing pizza at the local bar.

2018.04.04 – Kings Canyon Resort – Alice Springs (AU) [475 kms] – Again we left our accommodation slightly before the sunrise. The forecast temperature was calling for a comfortable 32C. More than half of our journey involved re-tracing our route we had previous taken. It was refreshing to arrive in the town of Alice Springs, which was mid-way on the Stuart Highway. After enjoying some lattes at our first McDonald’s since Port Augusta, we bought some snacks/groceries and re-fueled. We checked into our nice backpacker accommodation. We walked to the town center for our evening meal. We had some expensive and disappointing Chinese food.