Pelican Torch Australia

My Bicycling Adventure: Melbourne to Adelaide - South Australia

The camp site here was right in the centre of the town but surprisingly, was very quiet. There was another cycle touring couple there. They had been on a one week circular tour of the area and were totally fed up because of the weather and the strong head winds. They weren't particularly sympathetic when we told them that we too had had the same struggle. Mercifully today was warmer and the wind was less, meaning faster progress. We turned off the Prince's highway to follow the Southern Ports highway. There was a sink hole at the side of the road which we stopped to look at. There was a cave entrance with deep, clear water and just as we were leaving a group of divers arrived to go into the depths. As we continued Karen's back wheel started to display the same symptoms as Steve's had three weeks earlier in Tasmania. There was a definite bulge and riding it felt like the wheel had gone square. It too had split along the inside. Luckily it wasn't far to Millicent where Steve did his best to patch it up with a splint of plastic from a milk carton. We would have to try and get a new one on the way to Adelaide. About halfway we rode down into Beachport, a popular tourist resort. As today was Anzac day we were treated to free Anzac biscuits with our coffee. Beachport is famous for once having the longest jetty in South Australia (or maybe the whole of Australia?) The original estimate for the construction of this jetty in 1876 was 26,000 pounds! When completed it was 1,220m in length, but is now a mere 770m, still pretty long. We rode up to the top of a small hill to see the Wainwine Cutting. An enterprising local farmer decided that he would cut a channel through the hill to the coast to drain his land on the other side. Despite advice that it would not be possible he excavated a deep channel with almost vertical sides and managed to turn the marshes into productive farmland. As this was the last day of the school holidays the road was busy with families returning home after the long weekend. They all had trailers loaded with every possible accessory for the perfect camping holiday, chairs, tables, canoes, inflatable things to drag behind the boat, bicycles, surf boards. One even had a settee roped onto the roof rack. That's my kind of camping. There were a few housekeeping jobs to be done today.

Keep Australia on Your Left, A True Story of an Attempt to Circumnavigate Australia by Kayak

Natural Wanders in Australia

A Yank discovers Australia

Report on the progress and condition of the U.S. National Museum for the year ending June 30 ...

United States Congressional serial set