The bike:

I was happy with the tyres. I was thankful for having relatively wide tyres when going off road.

Only one flat in 7,000kms is pretty good.

The bike worked well mostly.

The Rohloff gripshift was very difficult to operate in wet weather. I used my knife to scruff it up for a better grip.

The wheels were strong and supported up to 160kgs.

The upright riding position was comfortable for long durations.

Having a helmet-mounted, large mirror was invaluable. 

The only bike lock I had was the wheel lock that came fitted to the bike. It locks the back wheel preventing it being ridden.

Someone could simply pick it up and carry it away or put it in the back of a ute.

The lock has a cable that can be plugged into it thereby making it possible to lock it to a pole etc. I felt this was unnecessary on a touring ride in Australia. 

I assume it being covered in dirt, with faded panniers (I never removed panniers for security reasons), and a flag with streamers on it, made for an unattractive target.

I was always very careful where I parked the bike and felt uneasy when it was out of sight for long periods.

I love the bike and the gear. Not because of its value but because of what it allows me to do. 

My rear light stopped working. It's probably a broken wire from the front dynamo hub. I will get a bike shop to fix this.

The bottom bracket recently started making loud clicking noises. I assume this is because I submerged it during a couple of river crossings. There is no play in the cranks, it just makes noise.

I will change the bottom bracket and see if that stops the noise.

Traffic:

Everyone asks me about the trucks and road trains. I would always get off the road completely to allow them to pass.

The speed limit in the Northern Territory is 130km/hr. This took a while to get used to especially as there was usually little shoulder room.

If noisy speeding traffic bothers you, this isn't a ride I would encourage you to do.

One thing I didn't mention on my daily journal was abuse and near misses. I didn't want to give this any publicity at the time as I wanted to focus on the good things about each day.

I had about 10 near misses where I had to use emergency braking and/or swerve to avoid a collision with a vehicle. This happened at intersections in town traffic on the east coast.

Sometimes it was due to people just not looking to give way to me and other times people deliberately cut me off or swerved at me.

On about 5 other occasions I was verbally abused by drivers.

At all times during the traffic incidents and abuse, I thought I was riding responsibly and not doing anything that could provoke a negative incident. They caused me a lot of grief. 

I mention this now in case anyone wants to travel the same path then it may be something they will have to deal with.

I haven't experienced this on the other tours I've done in Australia during about 10,000kms.

Happily, I had hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand, people give me waves and horn toots of support throughout my ride.

In the remote areas I often had people stop their cars and ask if I needed water or anything else. This was heart-warming. Not to mention the occasional cold beer I accepted.

Water:

I was always able to replenish my water within two days. 

Many times I carried 16 litres of water for two day's of riding, cooking and washing.

I had the capacity to carry a further 10 litres of water which I never used. When I resume this ride, I will still carry the 10 litre water bladder.

I carried about 40 water purification tablets which I only used on one occasion. 

I used my Sawyer Mini water filter several times. This did an excellent job of filtering the water although it was very time consuming. 

Food:

It was easy to obtain on the east coast and difficult going across the top end. 

On a few occasions I had to carry a week's worth of food.

I always over-catered and I would prefer to do the same again. Touring with a hungry stomach isn't something I cope well with.

The sun:

Being in the hot sun all day takes some getting used to. I used about 1kg of sunscreen which is far less than I predicted.

I never wore sunglasses while riding as my sweat would drip on to the glasses and then I couldn't see.

My helmet had a small visor which mostly kept the sun out of my eyes.

Finding shade for a rest stop for 5 minutes or to camp under was a great relief.

The people:

Almost every time I stopped at a shop or tourist spot, without fail, someone would approach and ask me about the ride.

This increasingly became something I enjoyed. I like that people were interested in what I was doing and I hoped to encourage some of them to take up cycle touring.

I like seeing the different reactions on their faces when I told them I had started in Canberra. 

Most were amazed and some were speechless. It was always entertaining. And it didn't seem to change much between the first 100kms or the final 7,000kms.

On my final riding day, one lady was impressed I rode the 7kms out of town to the cultural experience. 

I think perhaps being on a dirty bicycle some people are less intimidated by me than if I drove up to their town in an expensive car and caravan.

Accommodation:

Caravan parks were more expensive and at times outrageously so on the east coast. 

The nightly rate for an unpowered site varied greatly over the course of the ride. There never seemed to be much consistency in the pricing structure. 

I chose to stay in caravan parks when they were available for the convenience of the showers and camp kitchens.

I don't think I ever stealth camped anywhere. It would be possible in most places. It would be difficult in popular towns like Byron Bay.

Darwin would be easy as there are already many people sleeping rough in the town parks.

Free camping was the most enjoyable accommodation for me. I would see more flora and fauna. And often it would be quieter than a caravan park. I loved the tranquillity of being hidden in the scrub with the wildlife. 

Speaking of flora and fauna, Bill gets a gold star ⭐ for his diligent efforts in helping with identifications. He must have spent many hours doing this. My favourite was when he suggested I could eat the petals of the yellow kapok. 

Thank you to the many others that also contributed with identifications.

I used the Wikicamps app almost every day. It was helpful to use their caravan park reviews although I felt caravaners were more critical with their assessments than I was.

It was also more current than road signs. Sometimes road signs would state a roadhouse or caravan park was open ahead and then upon arrival I would find them permanently closed.

Home stretch: 

On the 4,000km drive home there were cattle, sheep, goats and emus on the road. I thought the drive would take 7 days but I did it in 4.5 days.

I stayed in caravan parks on the way home. My Thermarest Neoair mattress  developed a major leak one night. 

I found the leak when I got home. The internal part of the valve support is sharp and pierced a hole in the mattress from the inside. I took it back to the camping shop (part of a national chain) and they replaced it. 

Thank you to everyone that read my journal and to those that left comments. It made me appreciate how lucky I was to do the ride.

And finally, a big thank you to Serena for giving me her never-ending love and support.

Heart

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Veronica JoinerBeautiful Dog. He will be missed.
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