touring Oz - will it be relaxing / enjoyable?

daviddd

OK, how long is a piece of string! But I'm thinking of doing 'the lap' around Oz next year but I'm reading lots of blogs / books that bemoan the fact that many Oz drivers are inconsiderate to cyclists; that the main routes are busy and often don't have hard shoulders; that the hard shoulder is littered with glass and rubbish and is cracked; that many police officers are intolerant of cyclists etc. I know there are sometimes other routes, inland, that will be less busy when on the east coast, but choice seems limited in some areas. During my tour in the Alps in July I encountered few of these problems, and I'm afraid that a year of all that will just spoil it for me.

I'm not Aussie bashing, honestly, but I need to examine the pros and cons before I commit myself.

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My Alpine Tour 2006: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=lt&doc_id=1914&v=9d
My upcoming Oz tour 2007: http://www.davidddinoz.blogspot.com/

46kgToDate

We realise you need to consider these things before investing so much of your life on a gamble. What can we say? We can't gurantee there will be no cracks on the sides of the roads. There will almost certainly be an intolerant driver or twoand ther will be broken glass, after all beer bottles break when you toss them out of car windows! Heck its a risk...
Far better to stay there in Scotland! The weather is beautiful - all year round, everyone is so sober and well behaved, the roads are perfect, the scenery constantly changing. How could you consider leaving?

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anthonyg

Keep on researching. Cycling all around Australia is a challenge that one shouldn't take lightly. The east coast with its less than perfect highways is the least of your troubles.

You could DIE traveling down the west coast or across the southern coast from dehydration and heat stroke and you may not be found for days.

It's been done but its not a challenge to be taken lightly. Less than ideal roads or traffic are the least of your problems if your up for it.

Regards, Anthony

LeojVS

and DAMN its a long way around. Make sure you know just how far it is for part of your planning. Anyone know? And up the top end its fuggin hot, down low its fuggin cold, so be aware of that. \

If you plan it right, it would be an awesome trip, but make a mistake, and as was mentioned above, you could die and not be found for days.

Good luck mate!!

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Jono L

Yeh, there's a good stretch of road across between WA and SA that hasn't got a bend in the road for a few hundreds k's

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Classic1-
Don't get me started on triathletes. Sluggo wearing, mechanically inept, dirty, dribbling, elbow steering spawn of Satan. Anyone who sticks food to their bike is a disgrace IMHO.

geoffs

depends where you are in Australia but cycling around you will meet the whole spectrum from ignorant redneck to those who will give you the shirt off their back. You will find Aussies a pretty friendly bunch most of the time same as anywhere. If you join Warmshowers, you'll find plenty of places to stay. We've only cycled the east coast and most of our experiences have been good. Sydney is a whole different kettle of fish and you need to be very confident of your traffic skills. We have world class food in our major cities and the number of towns that serve good coffee grows by the day but if you are in outback Australia it seems their idea of haute cuisine is tomato sauce.

For us, given the choice of cycling in Europe or Australia we'd go for Europe every time, especially if you like good food. We had 5 weeks in France last year and only one lousy meal in Avignon. We also had a week in Austria and the food wasn't as good but but we still found a few good places in Vienna.

Our next cycle tour will be in Italy or France

Cheers

Geoff

daviddd

I take you point A, I've done a lot of research and read umpteen books / blogs about cycling in all parts of Oz. I wouldn't be wandering off Highway 1 very far (although I'm a bit peeved that it appears *impossible* to cycle to Cape York, I really fancy riding in the rain forest but unless I can join in the annual group tour to the Cape I've had it. Might have to settle for a plane ride or boat up from Cairns.). I'd have fixed where all the roadhouses are too, and with a trailer could carry up to 10 litres or more of water.
I'm going through all kinds of indecision at the moment to be honest, I have a year off work to go where I want and starting in September at Perth and going anti-clock would get me round nicely in that year - I'd be doing about 12 to 13,000 miles. 1000 a month is OK. I am an experienced cyclist and know my limitations. However another option is to cycle Perth to Sydney in1st 3 months; then 3 months in NZ, then 3 months crossing USA W to E, and the last 3 months in Europe. I do love Europe but it's not too great in the winter weather-wise. I spent 3 weeks cycle-camping in the Southern French Alps in July and loved it. It was very hot so gave me an idea of what Oz will be like (OK, worse and for longer!!). I need to make my mind up soon, hence this thread....

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My Alpine Tour 2006: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=lt&doc_id=1914&v=9d
My upcoming Oz tour 2007: http://www.davidddinoz.blogspot.com/

daviddd

About 10,000 miles around sticking to H1 I think, but zigzagging about 12 to 13K miles (20,000 km). Might nip down to Uluru too LOL. Sounds better in miles LOL. As I said above, the seasons are *favourable* leaving Perth in September (springtime) - summer in the south - autumn in N.Queensland and winter in the north / NE.
My partner and I are actually travelling to Oz next week for her sons wedding so I can see some of it for myself. Watch out for me on top of SHB on 2 December!

__________________
My Alpine Tour 2006: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=lt&doc_id=1914&v=9d
My upcoming Oz tour 2007: http://www.davidddinoz.blogspot.com/

daviddd

Thanks Geoff, good comments, I have to admit I love my food, I too had a great gastronomic time when in France in July, but I won't be getting paid any wages for a year so will be living v.cheaply, lots of cheap calories for fuel. I'm sure you're right about the rednecks etc. I think it's the motorists coming close that I fear the most, that really winds me up.

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My Alpine Tour 2006: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=lt&doc_id=1914&v=9d
My upcoming Oz tour 2007: http://www.davidddinoz.blogspot.com/

Thylacine

There are idiots everywhere. Fortunately, your chances of being cut off by someone with two heads and a shotgun on the back seat are slightly slimmer than in other parts of the world.

Seriously though, Australia is an extremely safe place to cycle-tour. Our driving style might be a bit more aggro than say England where they invite you around for tea if you cut them off, but I've only ever seen or heard off good attitudes towards cyclotourists here.

Granted, talk of them is usually punctuated with "Hey Kev, didja see that nutbag on a bike out in the desert?", but that just comes with the territory!

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artemidorus

The only parts of Australia where I have consistently encountered nasty, aggressive drivers are the North Shore of Sydney, Parramatta Road in Sydney and Northern/ North Western Tasmania (north of Sheffield and west of Devonport). Everywhere else I have toured just has the occasional nutter, like anywhere else.
Cycling touring in Australia only works if you absolutely avoid busy, main routes whenever possible. Realistically, this means a bike with a minimum tyre size of 28-32mm, and ideally 559mm wheels and a frame that can accommodate 2+" knobblies (which I would carry as foldables for use as needed - slicks, for the same reason, would also best be foldables). Europeans consider our roads to be atrocious because they often are - cracked, potholed, often unsealed and covered in deep dust and/or broken glass. Those relatively few roads with decent shoulders are usually so busy as to be intrinsically unpleasant, and the majority of Highway 1, I would imagine, has no shoulder at all.
You can have a great time with appropriate route planning, but a "lap" would involve a lot of dreary slogs in the baking heat, with a long distance between spots of interest in some areas. Culturally, much of Australia is pretty homogenous - most country towns cannot attract professionals because they are just too dreary. I second Geoff's comments about food in many places.
I have never encountered cyclist-unfriendly police on the road, nor ever spoken with anyone who has, but just wait until you try and report a cyclist v driver traffic accident: 90% of cops seem completely uninterested.
If you encountered hassles touring in cyclist-loving France, perhaps you should avoid Australia - my experience of touring in France was that everything was blissfully safe and easy in comparison with here.

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Thylacine

I think you'll find a great deal of it has an emergency stopping lane which is essentially a shoulder. Freeways/Highways/Motorways are by nature unpleaseant, but probably statistically safer than country roads I'd hazard to guess.

Elitist much? I think you'll find that country towns can't attract professionals simply because the money and jobs are in the city. There are many facinating country towns with great food that I'd move to in a second if it worked logistically for me and my family.

Your food comment is misinformed, too. Sure if you walk into the first cafe you find in any country town you're going to get a ham and cheese sandwich and a crap coffee. However, if you're into your food, you'll find that almost every country town has at least one excellent cafe or bistro. In Victoria, some award winning restaurants are found in the country, like The Daylesford Hotel in Daylesford, Ripe in Sassafras, Del Pieri's restaurant in Mildura whose name escapes me atm - get 'The Age Good Food Guide' and go nuts.

It's true we have a very short history and a centralised population, but to draw cliche's about that is no different than saying all you can get in France is cheese and baguettes. That's just plain misinformation.

Again, you have to compare apples with apples. Australia is a huge place and there is no doubt big expanses of bugger-all (just ask my mate who rode the Nullabor), but to not cyclotour here because it's 'different' than France or wherever else you care to mention, would be missing out BIGTIME.

Like all big endevours, you just have to do your homework. If you do that, you'll find cyclotouring here rewarding.

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artemidorus

OOhh, I can feel the bristling from here!!!
Look, you've only got to look around this forum to see that I've done a bit of touring around Aus, and I certainly intend to do a lot more.
I stand by my comments about country towns - I could name many that are an exception to my generalisation, but you can't tour just through those if you actually want to get anywhere. We certainly can't compete with Europe for cultural heterogeneity.
I stand by my food comment also - how is a cycletourist going to be in the know about the only good place in any given town? In somewhere like France (outside the largest towns), you have to work hard to find bad food, but in rural Australia, it's lurking at every turn.
I'm thinking hard to try and remember any shouldered main route in Australia that I've enjoyed touring on, but my (blinkered?) memory just can't.
Finally, my comparison of Aus and France was made simply because the OP suggested he'd considered (at least parts of) France a hassle - if France is a hassle, then Australia is big brother hassle on steroids in terms of the OP's original concerns of bad, littered roads, nasty drivers and limited routes. Forgetting France as a yardstick, Australian touring is fantastic, but the OP wanted his concerns addressed.

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Thylacine

Damn straight I'm bristling! Actually I'm bristling more from the fact that you obviously appreciate good food yet own a Trek Y bike!

Listen, I've ridden in quite a few places and traveled a fair bit in my time, so let's just sum things up for the OP by saying that all the 'culture' is in the cities, there's a whole boatload of 'not very much' between them, and the geographical/logical landmarks are also seperated by large distances.

So, if you want 'compact', well then duh, Australia is not for you.

If you're scared of cars, then probably touring isn't for you.

If you're a total food slob and lazy, you're also gunna hate the distances between a nice Pinot and Wagyu.

I mean, I'd suggest if the OP wanted 'compact' they should look at NZ, but the roads aren't any better, the drivers nuttier and the food's even worse.

Ah screw it, just stay at home and watch Discovery Channel!

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