2015 Australia

Tour 2015 Australia, Brisbane – Sydney – Melbourne – Adelaide – Port Augusta – Uluru
Viaggio “Giardino delle Rose Blu”

starting date: 26th July 2015
arrival date: 27 August 2016
crossed: Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Northern Territory
distance covered (km): 4.400
average speed (km/h): 21 di media
cycling time (h): 210
pedal strokes: 819.000
stops: 33
bycicles: Milena Merita, Tiziano Specialized
flat tires: 12

postcards sent: 600
charity organisation: Fondazione Onlus del “Giardino delle Rose Blu”
amount devolved: 4.000€

Watch our videos on mi&ti Onlus youtube channel.

So anothe trip has come to an end, a great 32 days straight ride , 4400km covered, amazing feelings.

It has been a beautiful journey, rather challenging and full of surprises.

We landed in Brisbane, east coast of Australia, after a 30h plane ride. We touched the Oz soil on the 26th of July at about 7am and once we gathered bikes and luggage we were good to mount on our shiny rides.

We got out of the airport and after 30km reached the centre of the Brisbane, a colorful city with happy people and despite we were in the middle of winter, the weather was just about perfect to go on a bike ride.

For our first night stop we went for “Warm Showers”, an effective tool that allows free hospitality exchange within theinternational community of cycling enthusiasts. Our contact was located right outside the city and offered us with a great accomodation and experience: dinner, a comfy bed, breakfast and a Whole lot of smiles. We succesfully replicated this formula for another 8 times during our stay in the land of kangaroos, all of them were just as nice as the first and left us with unforgettable memories.

Damn! Who said Australia is a flat land? It has been 1500km of ups and downs.

Luckily each steep wasn’t too long in terms of distance but the alternation of different surfaces definitely took a toll on our legs and arms.

The landscape throughout the Whole trip is breathtaking with its characteristic scents, clean air, vivid colors and of course interesting encounters: parrots of all sizes and colors, pelicans, kangaroos but also plants and flowers that we have never seen before… what an oustanding place, especially by the coast!

The oceans though, was something else entirely. Lots of locals dared to ride its majestic waves while we stick to our concept of riding and just watched them trying to tame the Australian waters.

After Brisbane comes Sydney where we got to cross the beautiful landscape on its world famous bridge with unexpected ease, given the lack of vehicle traffic and the abudance of fellow cyclist and pedestrians.

At this point in time all distances seemed to be neverending, each road faded in the horizon while we rode for about 70/100km in the middle of nowhere.

Melbourne, Victoria State’s capital, in the South East part of the country is what you can call a green city, with heaps of parks where parrots can comfortably fly between trees. We really had a good time going through the multiple bycicle paths located throughout the city but at that stage winter was something a little closer to what we intend it to be: as little as 4/5° in the morning were then becoming 15° by the afternoon.

Adelaide, though, gosh! That was the first truly cold place we came across during our journet and unfortunately it was also the place where we had to set camp in preparation for the following morning’s 15km downhill, where my bike got almost single-handlendly taken over with with a jump by a kangaroo! While getting closer to the city the landscape aligned with the rest of our trip in terms of natural beauty, but the cold made us shake for quite a bit until our hearts warmed up at the sight of Adelaide and its beautiful parks.

The following segment of our trip took us to bike up to Port Augusta, in Southern Australia, on the North side of theSpencer Gulf about 310km north of Adelaide. From that point onwards we knew we would face our last1200km trip through the desert.

Needless to say it was an extremely impactful experience.

Our surroundings changed as we progressed in a beautiful rhytmic alternation of red desertic ground, flowers, shrubbery, sunrises and sunsets that will will Always remember.

The alarm was set for 5,30. With the help of a torch we dismantle the camp while it’s still dark, ready to approach the epilogue of another, splendid travel. We didn’t leave before experiencing the monumental beauty fo the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, located in the North of Australia, 1431km South from Darwin. The park area covers1326 km², with its vivid, characteristic red shades. As the day goes by, the landscape is know to mutate coloration (fro ochre Yellow to golden, bronze and purple) according to the light. We were fortunate enough to have our breath taken by the sight of the red and golden shades. Nature did put on a show there!

I began the journey with a load of over 4kg on my bike, which eventually decreased in a rapid fashion since we managed to send about 600 postcards from Australia in support ofGiardino delle Rose Blu”.

We would like to take the chance to thank from the bottom of our heart every company and every individual who believed in us and backed our project with donations. Hopefully with your help we achieved our goal of giving a smile to those in need. Until the next trip, thanks again.

Milena, di mi&ti