On Wed, 26 Jun 2019 03:07:09 -0000 (UTC), news18
wrote:

On Wed, 26 Jun 2019 05:50:09 +0700, John B. wrote:

On Tue, 25 Jun 2019 13:22:45 -0000 (UTC), news18
wrote:

On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 16:31:48 +0700, John B. wrote:

On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 07:40:49 -0000 (UTC), news18
wrote:

On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 12:47:19 +0700, John B. wrote:

Do you really believe that cyclists were the determining factor in
the building of better roads?

Yes, but we just needed tracks and not a whole road.

"You wouldn?t know it now but in the 1890s Australia had the largest
bicycle path network in the world. As the long distance cycling centre
of the world for many years, Australia provides many of the most
fascinating stories from cycling?s early days. Wheeling Matilda: The
Story of Australian Cycling by Jim Fitzpatrick documents many of these
stories, with an account of almost 150 years of bicycling in
Australia."

https://treadlie.com.au/wheeling-matilda/

And I've got a copy of the third edition of touring guide for
motorists produced in the early 1900's which was researched on a
bicycle. The guy was actuaslly producing them to selling as part of
his business to sell attire to eary motorists. Name escapes me atm.

And I read that of the some 913,000 kilometers of roadways in
Australia some 353,331 Km of the roads are paved (:-0)

It would be heavily weighted towards all the residential street on the
SE coastal strip, plus the national higways. a lot of inland and farm
stuff woud be gravel/unsealed. If you really want to tour in this
country, you best be happy with gravel roads and camping everywhere.

I used to crew change from the Irian Jaya copper mine through Darwin but
the only time I have actually visited Australia was a few years ago
when I visited a friend in Perth for a week and the friend's brother was
getting his wife's car ready for a trip to eastern Australia. I was
really amazed to see that he was mounting racks to carry extra fuel and
water.

Crossing the Nullabor, there is little choice in fuel supplies and do the
proprietors know it. Modern, fuel efficent vehicles give you a bit more
choice, but in general, leaving the coast can see fuel prices far higher
(up to +50%). They claim transport costs. A few jerry cans of fuel, can
give you a better fuel cost average, if you don't mind the fiddle.

One of our guys at the copper mine got into Darwin and the crew change
airplane was broke so he had to lay over a week in Darwin. He rented a
Mini- Mok and with a Sheila he met in pub was riding around Darwin and
saw a sign "Alice Springs -". so he says to the Sheila, "Want to
drive to Alice Springs" and she says "sure". So off they went. An hour
or so later they haven't seen anything but bush and he says, "How far
is this Alice Springs anyway?" and she says. "Oh, about a thousand
miles."

So he turned around and went back :-)

You take water, because if you break down, it can be hours before any
recovery service and 100+F/40+C temperatures need to be considered.

When Bicycle Australa put together its Nullabor(Perth to Adelaide) bike
route guide in the 1980's, it listed the road houses along the route that
would let you fill up your water bottles from their tank of rainwater or
pumped groubdwater, and those who charged you for it and those who said
no.

Vistors often see all those streams marked on maps and assume they can
pick up water along the way. They are just stream beds that in some cases
don't see water annually and when it rains, you do no want to be anywhere
near them. I've seen a 50' wide, 10' deep stream bed turn into a banker
an hour after rain in the hills.

If you're using gravel roads, then you should have food for camping for a
week. Throw in a bit of water, and those gravel road turns very pliable,
no matter what you driving. That particular stream banker I mentioned
above locked us into a remote camp place for a week. They even moved us
to higher ground.

Aas well as the mushy roads, one "stream" had insufficent culverts and
demolished 100 yards of 20' road embankment that took days to be rebuilt.


As an aside, I've always thought that Australians talked sort of funny
and when I was in Darwin several people mentioned my "funny accent" :-)

Lol, sadly the internet is making everyone sound the same. bit like it
would be in USA. Australia did have regional accents, but nothing like
the Poms. After spending a few years in UK, swmbo'd can play "guess the
accent" good enough to tell them a potted history of their life.

Years ago I met a USian woman in Singapore and she said something
like "Gee, it's nice to hear someone from home talking". I was amazed
as I have no accent at all and either did she :-)

When I worked for the Indonesian National Petroleum Agency I was once
asked, in English, to attend a conference with a USian oil well
drilling. When I asked why the Indonesian chap told me that he
couldn't understand the drilling people. So I went and he was correct
the "boss driller" was from west Texas and had an accent that even I
could hardly understand :-)

--
cheers,

John B.