Adelaide – The Beginning of the End?
A lot has happened since my last blog. We have crossed the Nullarbor in a faster than anticipated 18 days, seen some amazing views and wildlife, met some amazing people (and monkey’s!) and had more than a couple of dilemmas along the way.
We had an amazing time across the Nullarbor, not many people get to stop at every single roadhouse on the Eyre highway, and not many people get to see the Nullarbor at the speed at which we travelled. Before we started this journey so many people commented on how boring the Nullarbor was and how much of a challenge it would be. On the contrary, the whole team were amazed at the beautiful views offered by the ever changing scenery as we whizzed by at 15km/ph. Another thing we were told about the Nullarbor is that at this time of year there should be prevailing winds blowing Dave along. We were lucky to get a couple of days with a tailwind but apart from those the majority of the time there were strong headwinds forcing Dave to shelter behind the vehicle! Despite this, Dave still managed to finish ahead of schedule and break his record for the longest day of skating, twice!! On two occasions Dave managed to surpass the unthinkable 100km in a day milestone, starting from Eucla and Wudinna respectively.
We met many kind and generous people during our time on the Nullarbor, some stopping to chat and donate, others offering us accommodation along the way. Ken and Yvonne from Clare stopped us, bought BoardFree T-shirts and invited us to a sausage sizzle at their home, near Port Wakefield. They showed incredible generosity and hospitality by inviting eight complete strangers to their home and feeding and watering us. Many people have made similar offers of accommodation and BBQ’s so we can only hope that the rest of the journey can live up to the amazing generosity shown to us by the people of West and Southern Australia.
The reason I have named this blog as I have is down to the fact that we have reached Adelaide. It was sad to come to the end of the Nullarbor, knowing that we would not be experiencing the vast expanses again. Ever since Dave first began planning this trip, I had always looked at the map of Australia and mentally split it into two parts, the first containing Perth and the Nullarbor and the final part being the big cities. Now we have reached Adelaide, it is almost as if half the journey is finished and now we are on the home stretch. Of course Dave must be feeling a little different with 2700km down and 3300km to go!!
Since rolling into Adelaide we haven’t had the best of luck to say the least. On the day we arrived in the northern suburbs, two of our three support vehicles broke down within metres of each other. One had to be towed, one was jump started and hopefully by the time we leave Adelaide they should be fixed!
This appeared to be only the tip of the iceberg because the very next day, Dave finished skating through the city centre and we stopped en-route to take a photo next to a road sign. This was no ordinary road sign however as it was the sign for Thorpe road. Now as you must know, one of our camera men here is named Simon Thorpe, so we naturally we had to get a photo. Dim, Dave and myself got out and Dim and me climbed onto a wall to jump off behind the sign. “Get up on the wall with us and we’ll jump” we said to Dave. “No no, I’ve only got my socks on, I’ll hurt myself” replied Dave. So he stood next to the signpost. We all jumped in the air, Dim and myself landing safely. Unfortunately, Dave’s left foot came down onto a sharp piece of metal and this resulted in a large gash. Subsequently a visit to the Royal Adelaide hospital was required and seven stitches soon followed.
So to cut a long story short, we are delayed in Adelaide for about a week, until next Sunday. This could possibly be a blessing in disguise though. Dave needs a rest, we are in a major city and the press are all over the freak accident story. It’s funny how the press of any country love stories of people’s misfortunes. Dave has been interviewed more than 10 times today in the wake of the accident press release which just goes to show what people are really interested in!
We are looking at four extra rest days in Adelaide now and we are being taken care of by Bob and Deirdre of the Adelaide Sailability club. The team cannot be more grateful to them both for taking us in and showing us so much kindness.
Finally, I would like to say well done and thank you to Laura Hatwell, a true BoardFree-er!! http://www.boardfreelaura.co.uk/ Soon she will be joining us on the raod to Brisbane and we can't wait to get her over here!! Welcome to the team Laura!!
-D-
We had an amazing time across the Nullarbor, not many people get to stop at every single roadhouse on the Eyre highway, and not many people get to see the Nullarbor at the speed at which we travelled. Before we started this journey so many people commented on how boring the Nullarbor was and how much of a challenge it would be. On the contrary, the whole team were amazed at the beautiful views offered by the ever changing scenery as we whizzed by at 15km/ph. Another thing we were told about the Nullarbor is that at this time of year there should be prevailing winds blowing Dave along. We were lucky to get a couple of days with a tailwind but apart from those the majority of the time there were strong headwinds forcing Dave to shelter behind the vehicle! Despite this, Dave still managed to finish ahead of schedule and break his record for the longest day of skating, twice!! On two occasions Dave managed to surpass the unthinkable 100km in a day milestone, starting from Eucla and Wudinna respectively.
We met many kind and generous people during our time on the Nullarbor, some stopping to chat and donate, others offering us accommodation along the way. Ken and Yvonne from Clare stopped us, bought BoardFree T-shirts and invited us to a sausage sizzle at their home, near Port Wakefield. They showed incredible generosity and hospitality by inviting eight complete strangers to their home and feeding and watering us. Many people have made similar offers of accommodation and BBQ’s so we can only hope that the rest of the journey can live up to the amazing generosity shown to us by the people of West and Southern Australia.
The reason I have named this blog as I have is down to the fact that we have reached Adelaide. It was sad to come to the end of the Nullarbor, knowing that we would not be experiencing the vast expanses again. Ever since Dave first began planning this trip, I had always looked at the map of Australia and mentally split it into two parts, the first containing Perth and the Nullarbor and the final part being the big cities. Now we have reached Adelaide, it is almost as if half the journey is finished and now we are on the home stretch. Of course Dave must be feeling a little different with 2700km down and 3300km to go!!
Since rolling into Adelaide we haven’t had the best of luck to say the least. On the day we arrived in the northern suburbs, two of our three support vehicles broke down within metres of each other. One had to be towed, one was jump started and hopefully by the time we leave Adelaide they should be fixed!
This appeared to be only the tip of the iceberg because the very next day, Dave finished skating through the city centre and we stopped en-route to take a photo next to a road sign. This was no ordinary road sign however as it was the sign for Thorpe road. Now as you must know, one of our camera men here is named Simon Thorpe, so we naturally we had to get a photo. Dim, Dave and myself got out and Dim and me climbed onto a wall to jump off behind the sign. “Get up on the wall with us and we’ll jump” we said to Dave. “No no, I’ve only got my socks on, I’ll hurt myself” replied Dave. So he stood next to the signpost. We all jumped in the air, Dim and myself landing safely. Unfortunately, Dave’s left foot came down onto a sharp piece of metal and this resulted in a large gash. Subsequently a visit to the Royal Adelaide hospital was required and seven stitches soon followed.
So to cut a long story short, we are delayed in Adelaide for about a week, until next Sunday. This could possibly be a blessing in disguise though. Dave needs a rest, we are in a major city and the press are all over the freak accident story. It’s funny how the press of any country love stories of people’s misfortunes. Dave has been interviewed more than 10 times today in the wake of the accident press release which just goes to show what people are really interested in!
We are looking at four extra rest days in Adelaide now and we are being taken care of by Bob and Deirdre of the Adelaide Sailability club. The team cannot be more grateful to them both for taking us in and showing us so much kindness.
Finally, I would like to say well done and thank you to Laura Hatwell, a true BoardFree-er!! http://www.boardfreelaura.co.uk/ Soon she will be joining us on the raod to Brisbane and we can't wait to get her over here!! Welcome to the team Laura!!
-D-
posted by boardfreedan at 1:21 PM
2 comments
