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The Guide
Nik on the Karri Trail at Margarets River, WA
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Top Tips for cycling NT & WA:
- To keep water colder – put a sock on your water bottle –
soak & use evaporative cooling while riding
- Head net for flies – get a big one with an elastic around neck
if possible as flies will try to crawl up into net through neck section
once on. Ensure it’s big enough to get around your broad brimmed
hat/helmet! (see 3. below)
- Slip Slop Slap! –
a. Slip!on a LONG SLEEVE shirt – believe it or not a L/S baggy
cotton shirt is far cooler than a lycra cycling shirt! Let the wind
cool you as you ride.
b. Slop! On 30+ suncream, it’s a must out here; very high UV area
in NT/WA. Cheapest & non-greasy cream we found was Farmland 30+
from Coles supermarkets.
c. Slap! On a Hat - “Hard hat” broad-brim hat attachment
for your helmet! – fits around your helmet with minor modifications
to give you fantastic full head and neck sun protection – the
best available! Neck protecion only is not enough, only a broad brimmed
front also will protect your face up north!
- Carry good spares, especially a spare tyre – bike shops with
proper touring tyres are v.few and far between (especially Broome to
Geraldton). Spare spokes and tubes etc are also
vital if you want to do this without having to hitch a lift.
- Green PET plastic bottles (eg “Sprite” 2L bottles) tend
to get less hot (water) than clear plastic containers whilst carrying
– (a bit better) cooler drinking water. Wine bladders are also
good at that but are more likely to rupture (take precautions in case
this occurs!).
- You don’t HAVE to live on tinned food! Whilst the heat will
limit how long you can carry stuff, fruits & veg WILL survive in
your panniers! (NB – you can get a silver waterproof pannier cover
for your food pannier to reduce the temp inside it, or use cooler bags
inside panniers for your food). Just avoid the high water content fruits
& veg that will suffer from heat the most eg ripe tomatoes, zucchini
etc. Apples last well.
- Winds & Climate Info – check out the Australian Bureau of
Meteorology website at www.bom.gov.au. Knowing which way the wind may
blow in seasons can be the difference between pleasure and pain! The
address for windroses is:
www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/wind/
- It can take 5-8 months to casually cycle through WA from Darwin to
Adelaide, depending on how much you want to see. (keep in mind that
some people do the 14,500km national Hwy in 9-11mths, which is considerably
less than the 25,000km or so to see most of the coastline alone, without
the red centre or Tassie!).
- Most of Australian bikeshops carry only Shimano (or equivalent style)
components for Mtn bikes in stock, but can order some others with a
wait. Road bikes can often get Campagnolo gear easily too. Keep this
in mind if bringing a bike from overseas.
- Cr-Mo bikes are stiffer, thus less road shock than Aluminium bikes,
but slightly heavier – but with water varying 2L (2kg) each day
as you use it you’ll probably NOT notice any difference in overall
weight unless you’re in very hilly country (ie the east coast
or not in Australia at all! – this is a fairly flat country by
world standards).
- There are very very limited places to weld Aluminium in the outback,
only major towns and cities will have TIG welders, whereas most outback
roadhouses have normal welders for steels, so stronger and weldable
CR-Mo bikes aren’t such a bad option, although having said that
Aluminium technology for current bikes is very strong –match your
bike to the use you’ll put it through.
- Maps – you can get topographic maps that detail terrain/hills
etc from the department of land & property info in NSW
Other tips in the book:
- Getting to Australia
- Australia arrival guide
- Bike and accessories
- Health
- Eco-camping
- Getting started in Darwin
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