The Adelaide Adventures (www.cureduchenne.org/Jimsride)

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After loading up the bike I stopped at the Roadhouse just outside of town to fill up with gas they didn’t have premium so I had to put 1/2 a tank of regular in my tank. After a quick egg sandwich I was off and running. The Trip down Adelaide would be around 300 miles (how many Kilometers?) Answer at the end of the blog.



The first hour or so was bleak nothingness - flat as far as the eye can see and the temp quickly built up to a simmering 95 degrees F. However it was the first 10 miles of the trips start which caught my attention. There were 30 Roo roadkill’s over the first 10 Miles out of Woomera. That’s a total 52,780 feet with an expired Roo every 1,760 ft. What I can’t figure out is - this means there were a LOT of Roo’s on this road last night- But not a one in sight. As you can see from the picture there is no place for them to hide. We aren’t talking little bunny roo’s here - we are talking deer size Roo’s. Where do they go in the day time. One of the many great mysteries of Oz.

I started seeing what looked like salt lakes. Some fairly small but then a really big one (see picks). I imagine they get a lot more water in the wet season. I was later told that when the water completely evaporates the salt starts to turn a pinkish hue. If you look at the big picture of the salt flat you can actually see a pinkish hue in the picture. After the salt flats I started seeing actual arable farm land and a couple of small mountain ranges. I hit some bad traffic outside of Port Augusta. A car pulling a trailer caught on fire. The flames were so big that it caught the brush on fire as well. Between my bike overheating and black flies dive bombing my face. I had to use the shoulder to move myself up in the Que (that’s what they call a line in Oz (also in England). Some of the cars tried to block my way by sticking their vehicle out onto the shoulder. However most know that bikes overheat and gave me some lead way. If I hadn't went around I would have been in the heat, fly's, and Que for another hour.

About 1 hour from Adelaide the road become a 4 lane separated highway, this was the first time I had seen one of these since Brisbane. I started trying to get my hotel plugged into my Garmin but couldn’t find my hotel in the hotel searches. Nor could I find the street address in Adelaide. I did find an address in Port Adelaide but upon arrival I as either staying at a very small hotel (someone's home) in a residential area or I was in the wrong spot! I thought my hotel was in the town center so I picked an Art Gallery in the middle of Adelaide then when I made it to city center I asked someone where King William street was. I eventually found the hotel. It is s new hotel which explains the Garmin problems.

Chad -the guest services guy came out to greet me - we started talking about options to park my bike. By rule, they don’t let bikes into their valet so he suggested I use the public garage. I told him I would prefer to Park in their much more secure valet garage. After discussion with his manager we agreed that it would be OK to park in their valet garage. After checking in I finished publishing the "Wondering to Woomera" blog. I stopped up on their top floor Whiskey/Bourbon lounge. (See pic’s).

I asked Chad and concierge services if they could recommend a good Irish pub that served Guinness. They suggested “Lady Burra” Which was walking distance. Strike.... Lady Burra is a micro brew/restaurant which may have had some tasty brews but no Guinness. I decided to go to my tried and true google Irish Pub finder and settled on Finn McCool. It was a $8.00 Uber ride. Finn’s was the right place although my first Guinness was over nitro-sized (to much nitro in the line). Like the three bears story the second was better and the third was just.....right. They announced that they were having trivia night. I decided to be a team of one against a bunch of 6-8 person teams. Fortunately, Ken (a local) standing next to me offered to help me with Aussie related questions. He said he would be heading out as soon as his pint was gone but got into the game and decided to stay for the duration.

At half time we were 12th out of 12 teams but the spread between 1st and us was not very much. So we endeavored to persevere. The highlight for team Jim was all of the captains had to watch the screen as the camera started on a single building in a city and slowly panned back exposing more and more of the city eventually slowly going to a satellite view. Everyone was to shout out the name of the city -the first to get it right won a free drink. The kids were yelling out random cities. I just kept watching until I saw something recognizable. Once Lake Superior came into view to the far lower left of the city -I said Montreal. Bingo !

Ken and I were able to improve our position by one spot to Eleventh place. But the girl running the contest came over and gave me a 25 gift certificate. I guess it was like a courage award?. If not for Ken there were quite a few Aussie questions I would not have gotten -actually he was a great sounding board for all our answers. Thanks Ken!!

I headed home to the Mayfair after a full day. Oh BTW I’d give that 3rd Guinness a 9.0.

The answer 500 Kilometers in 300 miles. Take the first digit of the kilometers and multiply by 6 (6*5) = 30 then ad the zero(s) to get miles.

I have the day off of riding today before heading East for the first time on the trip. Mildura then Wagga Wagga then the nations capital Canberra and finally back to Sydney.

Last minute Day 2 Adelaide Supplemental edition: Did some shopping in the morning, including finding a cool Map store. The proprietor Anthony Stephens showed me around the store and shared some of his travel pictures with me. I found a nice lamented Aussie map that they made in house. I also found a place that specializes in Reflexology and did a 1 1/2 hour session on my feet and calves. Riding a bike for long periods is toughest on your legs and feet. If you have never had reflexology it can be very painful. But once you get through the pain it gives your feet a new lease on life. After finishing up yesterday and today's blog - I'll be heading back over to Finn's to use my gift certificate and likely a pint or two.

G’Day Mates



Jim



Sent from my iPhone

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