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Emi & Steve
Cycling Around The World
Since 1989
Australia

The Beginning:The rough road continued to climb as it had for the last 30 kilometres and now darkness was falling. I considered putting up the tent but it seemed that it would be a wet and stormy night approaching. I could see across the valley, my goal, the warm off-season ski lodge and the illusion was that it
wasn't far to go. I was definitely wrong and found myself very cold and wet pushing the last several kilometres in complete darkness with violent electrical storm upon me. The road turned to mud and in the brief flashes of lightening I
could see that the road was clinging closely to the mountainside. I had to walk since it was difficult to keep my balance in the darkness and muddy surface. One
false move and I would be over the steep edge and nobody would know.
It started the 1st of March 1989 after breakfast, after 8 years of preparing a limited financial freedom. Around the world by bicycle? Well why not? But lets take it a little bit at a time I thought. Lets say just to start, just riding to Japan taking the closest land crossing points. Like crossing one bank of the river to the other. This trip was to be a collection of my dreams to ride certain parts of the world.

[ Outback camping]

First, the voyage of discovery of my own country, Australia. My idea was to take the lesser-used roads following the Great Dividing Range, the mountains that run all the way up the East Coast of Australia. To experience the gradual changing environment I headed north from my own front door; I saw for the first time tropical rainforests, sugar cane and banana plants. There was also the abundant wild life, kangaroos, Koalas, wallabies, wombats, different snakes and spiders. In the outback wild goats, camels, donkeys and brumbies -wild horses-. Then there was the diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Meeting Emi: In Cairns while in the Youth Hostel there, preparing to cycle up to Cape York, I met Emi. Emi was riding a Honda Transalp motorcycle around Australia alone. She was interested in giving up the m/cycle so she could experience the world close up. She had learnt from talking to another cyclist, that she had missed so many small details of the environment by turning the throttle and going by so quickly.

[ Steve & Emi when fist met Cairns]

She decided after 4 years of touring Japan, Korea now Australia to change to a bicycle. I came along at the right moment. Emi had to complete her Australian tour whilst writing for a Japanese monthly motorcycle magazine. While she was doing that, I was cycling out across the Gulf Country on a back-road on the way to the Northern Territory where I ended up in Darwin. Emi joined me in Darwin after selling her motorbike in Sydney and catching the bus up from there.
In the meantime I had ordered a bike for Emi, to be sent up from Christie Cycles, in my hometown Melbourne.

The Cape York Peninsula is the dream trip of many Australians who like off-road 4 wheel driving. It is a thousand kilometres of corrugated sandy road; bridge-less crocodile infested river crossings and wilderness. Many have been known to boast of their achievements, to have driven to "The Top". When I was pedalling my way along this road on my bicycle these macho types were in disbelief. Maybe their ego was hurt to see that this big tough

[ Entering the Northern Territory]

adventure could be done on a mere bicycle. It was tough. The sand was often deep and the corrugations were continuous and they kept my speed down to a few kilometres an hour. There was little water in the first hundreds of kilometres but further on I had some major rivers to cross and with those I had drinking water. At that time I drank directly from them. The water was often warm and therefore less refreshing. There was talk of an outbreak of TB in the cattle and I was a bit concerned that some of the cattle may have died in the water I was drinking. At the top there were communities of Polynesian people who had come to live on the Australian mainland during WW2. Their original home islands are between Papua New Guinea and Australia and now are part of Australia. To be in these communities I felt like I had left Australia. It was tough 3 weeks cycling but a week before a group of retirees also had also made the journey by bicycle.

It was a 2000kilometre run of mostly remote sandy road from Cairns to Mataranka Springs in the Northern Territory. There were often distances of hundreds of kilometres between drinking water. Luckily there were water tanks regularly filled with water for travellers on these desert roads. But they were put there with motorists in mind since they were spaced many kilometres apart. The sun had become my enemy, as the temperatures would be in the 40's by 10am. I would rise before dawn every day and on the first faint light I would be on the road “on a mission" to get as many kilometres as possible before the sun rose. It appeared each day as a huge orange ball. The countryside being so flat and virtually

[ Outback road trains]

treeless there was a clear view of the sun rising. Since I was cycling west I could check with my watch and the sunrise to see how the time difference had changed each day. Often I was shocked out my drowsy state by huge thick snakes lying across the road. I was lucky they were usually dead. Not so lucky for the though. On the odd occasion someone would be driving past in their 4wd. Sometimes I would be offered a cold drink from the fridge that most people seemed to have in their cars up in the north of Australia. Another thing though was the drink that was preferred was usually beer. I had to say no or else I would have had been more dehydrated. One bloke gave me his wife's only cold soft drink. I also had some nice cold meat cooked meat given to me and as soon as I opened the packet the thousands of flies came from everywhere.
After the long ride from Cairns I spent a few days soaking in the hot springs at Mataranka. Each night thousands of fruit bats flew overhead on their way to feed.