Adelaide River to Darwin
114 kms
Up = 481m - Down = 515m - Highest Point = 99m
ADELAIDE RIVER TO DARWIN – 17th September 2017
115.7 kms The last day of this amazing ride through the centre of Australia from south to north!! A strange day when the start day seems so long ago, yet the journey seems to have gone by really fast!! From the freezing conditions and 5 layers of clothing we left in - to 32 days later and tropical conditions and the bare minimum of clothes - required only for decency!!! We were off and on the road at 6:30 - before the sun had risen, and as expected it was a gentle rolling ride. A few little rises here and there - but with the scent of the finish line and good fitness levels we cruised them. Because of the expected heat we stuck to our proven plan of rest stops approximately every 30 kms. I commented to Annie that it was nice having cloud cover to protect from the sun - but as she rightly pointed out - this fuelled the humidity. It was amazing to watch the green road markers start counting down to Darwin from 100 - amazing to think that we have biked 3000 kms to the start of this day! Our plan was to get to the Darwin Discovery Caravan Park where the support guys would have their caravans set-up, Don would meet us there having flown in last night, and Des would join us on the bike for the final 10 kms into town. As the "Mitchell Mile" was being staged today - a mile running event up and down the main street - Mitchell Street - as well as a criterium bike race - there were road closures getting to my planned finishing point the Darwin War Memorial. I thought parking would be at a premium so Pat and Don piled into Barry and Bette's car to head to the finish line while we rode. Everything went pretty well getting to the camp - there was one section of the Stuart Highway that prohibited cycles - so we had to make a bit of a diversion, but not too many extra kms. Des was there already to ride in with us and the others all piled into Barry's car as planned. We easily cruised that last 10 kms into town (we had a great tail wind)! Seeing the sea was amazing - and the Esplanade at Darwin is a very attractive place to finish. We met the "crew" just short of the finish line and rolled through the park to the War Memorial - the ride was done!!!! Oh what a feeling - lots of photo's were taken and many passers-by asked what we were doing and were utterly amazed when we told them we had biked from Adelaide. I have really enjoyed the ride, the countryside and the people were amazing. From a cycling point of view it is certainly the easiest I have done - the issues that did make it harder were the rough road surfaces, the winds (although they were certainly more helpful than not), the extreme cold when we left Adelaide - and the extreme heat now in Darwin. Pretty much I biked the whole way on the 10 biggest gears on my bike, sure there was some push push push at times, but not the type of hills of New Zealand, the UK, or USA. Particular BIG thanks to Pat for driving the support vehicle for me yet again!! She's sure driven a lot of slow kms allowing me to complete my dreams!! |
Holco is the largest South Australian owned meat wholesaler in the state servicing South Australia and the Northern Territory since 1955. Holco Fine Meat Suppliers is a South Australian-based meat and smallgoods provider.
We have operations in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin and Coffs Harbour from which we supply the majority of Australia. Holco has built an industry-leading reputation for superb products at competitive prices backed by outstanding customer service. We supply a wide range of products to many of Australia’s leading restaurants, hotels and function centres and resorts. Our customers also include commercial caterers and organisations as diverse as healthcare, education, transport and event catering. Our main facility based in the Adelaide suburb of Cavan, South Australia, operates two production shifts daily which allows us to maximize the 400 plus tonnes of meat product currently being sold by Holco across Australia each week. Holco Fine Meat Suppliers
156 Churchill Road North Cavan, SA 5094 T 08 8162 8400 F 08 8262 7265 |