The 29th Parallel – Part 2 – Australia 

March / April 2001

Ballina (A) to Dongara (B)

Ballina (A) to Dongara (B)

I suppose that it was quite natural, really, once I had recovered from the cycle across South Africa in 1999, to take a look at the atlas to see just where the 29th parallel crossed Australia. It ran, I found, across the bottom third of the continent, and for the most part it traversed a landscape bereft of any roads. If one is looking for major, surfaced, roads crossing Australia from west to east, there are only two. One runs more or less along the north coast and the other more or less along the south coast.

I bought a road atlas of Australia, and started looking into the feasibility of the trip. An early observation was that it would not be possible to follow the 29th parallel for any length of time as there were simply insufficient roads. In fact much of the route would, of necessity, be covered between 31 and 33 degrees south. If I started and ended at points 29 degrees south, it would lengthen the trip to well over four thousand five hundred kilometres. More than double the distance of the trip across South Africa, but I felt that I had learned a lot about distance cycling since that time and could avoid some of the pitfalls that made the ride tougher than it would have been otherwise.

The idea blossomed once Jane agreed to accompany me over the entire distance, as this made it a realistic possibility. Together we sorted out the details and the whimsical thought became a reality as the route was finalised.

Air tickets were bought, hotels booked, bicycle spares obtained – I decided to take my own bike, rather than hire one in Australia – and all the other arrangements made. In mid-March we left South Africa for Australia.

 

Sydney Opera House Sydney Opera House

We decided to hire a campervan in Australia and this was done purely on the basis of price. It was the cheapest that we could find. With an exchange rate of R4.00 to the AU$, the cost of the daily rental was more important to us than comfort. If it was going to cost an extra AU$20.00 for a campervan with a toilet, we would pee in the bush. No, not really. We wouldn’t do that. The facilities in Australia are clean and quite close together. Well, okay, not in the Outback, but then you can’t have everything.

 When we collected the campervan we found that the licence plates reflected the number “OXO 862”, and because of its overall shape the van was immediately christened “OXO Cube” or “OXO” for short. We found our way to the Pacific Highway outside Sydney and headed north towards Ballina, the closest town to the point where the 29th parallel intersects the east coast and which, for that reason and that reason only, had been selected as the starting point for the trip.

Part One – Day 1: From Ballina to 75km before Tenterfield (115km), Day 2: From 75km before Tenterfield to Glen Innes (167.3 km)

Part Two – Day 3: From Glen Innes to Armidale (101.17 km), Day 4: From Armidale to Lake Keepit (161.17 km), Day 5: From Lake Keepit to Coonabarabran (138.5 km), Day 6: From Coonabarabran to Warren (178.27 km)

Part Three – Day 7: From Warren to Cobar (151.18 km), Day 8: From Cobar to Emmdale (150.25), Day 9: - From Emmdale to 50 km beyond Wilcannia (148.02), Day 10: From 50 km beyond Wilcannia to Broken Hill (148.45 km), Day 11: From Broken Hill to Yunta (201.94 km)

Part Four – Day 12: From Yunta to Orroroo (123.22 km), Day 13: Orroroo to Iron Knob (163.17 km), Day 14: From Iron Knob to Wudinna (190.39 km)

Part Five – Day 15: From Wudinna to Ceduna (210.67 km), Day 16: From Ceduna to Nundroo (153.32 km), Day 17: From Nundroo to Nullabor Roadhouse (144.9 km), Daye 18: From Nullabor Roadhouse to Eucla (198.21 km)

Part Six – Day 19: From Eucla to Madura (182.99 km), Day 20: From Madura to Caiguna (154.91 km), Day 21: From Caiguna to Balladonia (182.28 km), Day 22: From Balladonia to Norseman (191.11 km), Day 23: Norseman (0 km)

Part Seven – Day 26: From Southern Cross to Merredin (108.73 km), Day 27: From Merredin to Northam (161.25 km), Day 28: From Northam to Moora (169.14 km)

Part Eight – Day 29: From Moora to Beyond Eneabba (155.23 km), Day 30: From Beyond Eneabba to Dongara (56.52 km)