Meet Jackie and Mo. Jackie had been riding a postie bike around Australia for the past 8 months. She’s doing a figure of 8, which geographically is sideways on with Alice Springs being at the centre of the 8. (I hope that makes sense?).

Mo is the postie bike, which to date has been giving great service. I met Jackie at the Principality of the Hutt River. (More on that later!).

Jackie has her own blog here http://www.postienotes.com.au It makes an interesting read and if you look closely… I’m in it! Fame at last!

Very nice to meet you Jackie, I hope the rest of your tour goes as planned!

I spotted a disused loader of some sort in a field. I didn’t know what it was so I rode over for a closer look. I’m really starting to like the fact I can just ride anywhere, the mighty KLR650 just doesn’t seem to care.

On closer inspection I still couldn’t work out what this thing was. There seems to be a mechanism to raise something out of the ground, and there are three different hatches or chutes that can be opened to load whatever is parked underneath.

But with no other infrastructure around, I’ve no idea what would be loaded. The bottom of the shaft didn’t appear to go very deep either, so I’m at a loss. Any ideas?

There’s actually a place called Billabong! How cool is that? I wonder if this is the actual billabong that inspired Banjo Patterson to write the song?

There wasn’t much there past a roadhouse, but it was a photo opportunity I couldn’t miss! Now I can’t get the tune out of my head. Oh well…

One of the things I didn’t manage to do was cross the 45th parallel south, when I was touring New Zealand. Most of my trip will be around the 45th parallel north, so it would have been nice to do both, so to speak.

The 45 is roughly half way between the equator and the pole, with the north or south suffix indicating which pole. (I say roughly as the earth isn’t a perfect sphere). I bet you didn’t think this was going to turn into a navigation lesson did you?

Anyway, I just crossed the 26th parallel. I know this because there was a sign. I’ve no idea why it was signposted, but I’m glad it was. It’s always nice to know where you are! It’s a little sad to be leaving the north west though, I was just starting to like it!!

Unfortunately the picture doesn’t do it justice. I came across a dirt track running up the side of a big hill. It didn’t look well travelled and I was up for a challenge, so I fired on up to see if I could reach the top.

I got to the top alright. The view was amazing, looking out over some immense flood plains. I took a few pictures but there’s no perspective. It just looks like a great flat desert. I couldn’t work out what that line running across the plains is. A track? A fence?

One of those moments where you just had to be there. Luckily for me, I was!!

So I’ve ridden past the big prawn, big apple, big pineapple, big orange and big tomato. Despite this I’ve always had that nagging feeling that something was missing in my life. That’s all sorted now that I found the big banana!

It’s not even publicised as such. Come on guys, where’s your marketing department? It’s a big banana! The king of fruits!

I bush camped for a second night in a row, which basically means sleeping somewhere you’re not supposed to be! That hardly makes for a serious crime, but the practicalities mean a very early start to avoid detection. Up at sunrise and no fires, so no morning coffee in the Kelly kettle.

That part was no problem, I got packed up and on the road for first light. The problem was it was still cold, 10° on the thermometer! The first 100 kms were very hard work and I was pleased to see Carnarvon. It’s amazing how draining riding a bike can be when the temperatures drop.

Carnarvon was everything I’d hoped for and more. The Fascine Coffee Lounge by the sea did an excellent breakfast, great prices and friendly staff. The sun was out and I sat enjoying the ambience as I warmed up.

The local hardware shop sold ear plugs to replace the expensive one I lost the other day, and I picked up a replacement switch for the USB charger that broke earlier that day. I left feeling completely refreshed, even the bike felt better. Thank you Carnarvon!

Just when I thought I couldn’t get any cooler, I rode over the tropic of Capricorn line. South this point, the sun never reaches 90° to the earth at any time of the year. Between the tropic lines (Cancer and Capricorn), the sun gets directly overhead at some point.

It means that the lovely 30+ temperatures will slowly give way to more temperate climbs. The bags will get easier to pack as the thermals come out. I rode over some mountains today and got the first prickles of freshness in the cooler air. It’s coming alright!

Unfortunately I won’t cross the other tropic line or the equator by bike on the way home. Those are further south than Korea or Russia. Another one of those things to put on the list for next time!

This is the second RFDS emergency airstrip I’ve seen, the other is on the way to Alice Springs. It’s a great idea. The road is long, flat and straight and makes an excellent runway, so why not use it as such?

It’s a bit weird riding along it. As an ex Microlight pilot, those piano keys mean a lot more to me then the average motorist. Now if I could just get the bike to fly!