Cycle Around Australia 2013: 23 weeks until March 23rd 2013

The time is just flying by this year, may have something to do with organising this trip. Last week we went to the Leisurefare at Sandown and bought further cooking equipment and a generator. Yesterday we went to the Bike Expo in Melbourne and checked out the range of bum creams. During the week Collis got a new bike rack built and applied; so it is all happening.

We are tossing up whether we should do some advertising or not. It has been a couple of weeks since our last applicant came on board. Currently we have vacancies on all legs with fewer on some than others.
The current vacancies are:
Melbourne to Cairns- 6 spots left
Cairns to Darwin- 5 spots left
Darwin to Broome- 3 spots left
Broome to Perth- 8 spots
Perth to Melbourne- 6 spots

The training ride in January is looking good with at least 20 people coming along so far. Should be a fun 5 days (3 days riding).

I have been practicing some new recipes for the bush camps and have been cooking large amounts trying to work out the correct amounts we will require. The menu will have to be fiddled with depending on the ingredients that will be available at all the towns with grocery shops. Hopefully this ride we will not be running out of nibbles for morning teas; I have been making all sorts of treats and testing them on the family.

Nearly time for the next Newsletter with 2 of our past riders highlighted.

We are still placing accommodation bookings for across the Nullarbor but it is nearly done. We will be ringing everyone again in the new year to check they have us in and then again a couple of days before we arrive to confirm everything.

Cairns to Darwin ride

Banka Banka to Elliott 150 kms

Banka Banka is an historical cattle station which was the first operational pastoral lease in this region, and a supply camp during World War II, providing meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables. It was occupied and run by the Ward family and is still the site of a mudbrick homestead and camping area. "Philip and Mary Alice Ward bought Banka Banka Station in 1941. Mary supervised the development of an extensive garden at the station. The homestead was a regular stopping place for travellers and Mrs. Ward's hospitality became legendary. In 1945, Philip Ward was among the first to truck cattle by road. After her husband's death in 1959, Mary ran the station. Due to her efforts, a government school for Aborigines opened at Banka Banka in 1961. She was known as "The Missus of Banka Banka." In 1970, suffering ill health, she sold Banka Banka and moved to Adelaide, where she died two years later."(Wikipedia)