Strathalbyn area > Adelaide (74km, 4h30)

Today I will achieve another goal, Adelaide! But I don’t know why, everytime I approach or leave a big city the rain comes up. When I left Sydney it rained. When I arrived in Melbourne, it rained. And today is one of the worse day. I had to stop because my jacket did not protected me anymore and I was cold! But Graham and Joy are waiting for me and I must get some stuff from the post office and a bicycle shop. Tomorrow is Anzac day and none of these shops will be open so I must make it today.

Map.

Elevation.

I opened my tent this morning, 7am, and had a look outside… whouuu, there is big clouds out there but the sun is around as well. I better hurry up if I want to pack my tent dry and avoid the rain (if possible).

When I arrived here yesterday at night, there was a kangaroo around. He was certainly surprised but did not came back during the night. It was deadly quiet.

All my stuff is packed, the sun is rising but there is some drizzle now. Hope it won’t get worse…

I’ve been cycling 500 metres and took already too many pictures. At that speed I will be in Adelaide in 3 days!

But how can I resist to take pictures of mimosa which smells so nice :-)

Wow! this is a nice rainbow.

And even a full rainbow! The last full one I’ve seen was in New Zealand (link).

I can even see where it’s start. What are we able to find normally at the base of a rainbow? gold isn’t it? I should have a look ;-)

Unfortunately, the sun disappear behind a thick layer of clouds and the rain is getting a bit thicker itself.

Nice autumn colors. Normally, Australian trees doesn’t lose all their leaves in winter. I’m not sure if they change their colors either. They have might been imported then.

This is the second hour break. So far, I’ve done more than the half of my trip which is good because it’s only 10am!

And this is 1 minute after the previous shot… It’s now pouring rain. I feel I’m getting wet and I don’t know if I should wait or continue…

10 minutes later, the rain got lighter and I’ve cycled up the hill until the rain poured again. This time, there was a bus stop along the road so I fit myself and the bike in. I’m cold and wet…

This is where I’ve spent the last hour and a half of my time. I put on some dirty dry clothes to be warm. Put my shoes back because flip-flops are waterproof but my feet were freezing cold. I made some hot tea and had my lunch. I could check the weather forecast and knew that it would last a bit but I would be able to cycle again today! Good!

Here I am, on the road again! I’m in Aldgate, close to the top of Adelaide hills.

Apparently there is a walking track running from here to Adelaide. But there is a dedicated cycle path as well somewhere.

Ah! That’s the one :-)

The track I’m cycling on is actually the old highway going to Adelaide. Today the new one, larger, certainly safer, is running down there.

The vineyards view over Adelaide city and the rain :-)

I want sun!

This is the track! Well, the road. There is still cars driving on the road, but compare to the new highway it’s nothing. The families around must be happy and feel very quiet now.

Video of 8 minutes downhill one day.

My first stop in the city: The bicycle shop! I’ve ordered 2 new inner tubes to fit my road tyres, one new tyre in case the stitches on my front one doesn’t work any more. Then I bought two new sets of rim tape and this is it.

Now looking for the General post office which is nearby normally.

Easy! This is the wrong one but the place I’m looking for is just around the corner.

Done! I’ve got everything I needed. Graham and Joy expected me to arrive at 5pm at there place. I’ve got one hour and a half to cover 18km in the city. I should be on time :-)

This is surely one of the main park in the city center. There is lots of modern buildings next to each other but there is space around.

I’m 20 minutes late, rah! :-) Leaving the city centre was a bit tricky as there is no bicycle lane avery were and I had to check the GPS to be sure I was on the right direction. Plus, the traffic was quite heavy at this time of the day. But anyway, I not far from Joy and Graham’s place now.

Just need to find the right house ;-)

They all look the same!

And I finally arrived safely at their place. We put my bike on there backyard. We had a hot tea and then I enjoyed a hot shower. After a day like this it’s really nice! Tomorrow, Joy and Graham will show me around. This is nice, I’m very lucky :-) See ya!