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Asia, bikepacking, bikes, engineering, GPS

Sado West

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Enjoyed not having to decamp in the morning and heading off for the day riding around the west part of Sado unloaded. Felt a bit flat riding into the wind up the coast, but not too bad and this was made up for by the wind being behind us on the return to camp. A lumpy day, somehow a thousand metres of climbing despite only once getting slightly a hundred metres above the Sea of Japan.

Brown board and batten houses strong on this side of the island too.

We happened upon what was once the largest gold mine in Japan, plenty of ruins of the processing plants being slowly overgrown to wander around and wonder at the scale and process engineering involved.

A flat section along various coastal sights, not all of which I could figure out.

Former loading facility?

Ominous, but hopefully not relevant today.

Biggest climb of the day, and some interesting civil engineering to admire.

Angry birds as a tool to keep people out of construction zones?

Patches of rice growing, as expected, started to see it out drying.

None of these decaying bridges collapsed under us, thankfully.

Heading for the northern tip of the island, next photo is climbing the low point in centre of photo.

Over to the tip of the eastern section of the island – where we rode the previous afternoon.

Pillar boxes like these an occasional sight.

Concrete sea defences still multiplying.

Down the plains connecting the two hilly sides of the island with that kind wind to find that most every rice farmer in the area was queuing to deliver their harvest.

Line of kei trucks amusingly dwarfed by the silos. How many truck loads does it take to fill a single silo?

Back early enough to enjoy a quiet onsen at the hotel adjoining the campground, very nice leisurely unloaded day.

Asia, bikepacking, bikes, GPS

Sado East

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Still able to roll out the door after another big hotel buffet breakfast, it was not far to go to the ferry terminal. We boarded the largest ferry we’d been on yet for our longest crossing to another island – Sado.

Again, very well secured.

Got to board first, and disembark first too.

More laying around for the voyage, good time to try and stretch some of the sore muscles.

Ready for Island #6, after a lumpy crossing.

Certainly bigger than all the other ferries.

Riding by noon, we had the afternoon around the north of the east shore of the island – before crossing back west over some hills to the central plains. The island looked prosperous and I saw none of the abandoned buildings that we’d become used to during our first seven weeks in Japan.

The northern tip of the eastern side of Sado.

The western side of the island extends further north.

(Rachel’s photo.)

Small islands like this close to shore usually have a shrine – this no exception. The arch under the island different though.

The predominant house style was brown board and batten.

More board and batten, with bonus onions drying. (Rachel’s photo.)

(Rachel’s photo.)

This was a great campsite, but too early in the day and Thomas wasn’t carrying camping gear.

Just about to discover a guy escaped from the city selling tasty donuts out a window of his house. (Rachel’s photo.)

Certainly worth stopping for.

A pleasant 300-odd metre climb took us through mostly forested land, with some rice fields, persimmon orchards and attempts at erosion control to then drop to the plains.

These were differnt statues to what we were used to seeing at temples.

Certainly were a lot of them.

The sea was a lot calmer when we came to check-in to the campground, conveniently next door to the hotel-onsen that Thomas was staying in.

Tasty dinner that night at a Taiwanese restaurant – little bit more spice than typical Japanese fare.

Aus, family, national park, roadtrip, travel

Top End by campervan

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Into the Northern Territory, where the roads deteriorated markedly but perversely the speed limit went from 110 to 130 km/hr – not that the camper was worth driving at those speeds, 100 was plenty. The landscape of vast flat plains, occasionally interspersed with mesas, covered in low-density, low-height forests and scrub continued. We regularly saw controlled burns keeping the undergrowth in check, only once having the highway completely engulfed in smoke.

Posted observation points were welcome, they helped to break the driving. This one just short of Victoria River had a bonus walk up a hill in the sweltering heat.

Trees and rocks, with a bonus river.

Down to the roadhouse, with attached campground, the only facilities for many miles.

Said roadhouse, without all the vehicles belching diesel. Saw a bunch of big motorsport team trucks rolling through, a change from the preponderance of mining and cattle road trains. Found later the Supercar roadshow was moving from Perth to Darwin.

After not having seen a supermarket all week, a restock in Katherine was needed before heading to Nitmulik National Park for a couple of nights. The Three Gorge boat tour gave us the opportunity to sit, occasionally walk to another boat and learn about the gorge from a local. Towering cliffs and how the volume of water in the wet season has shaped the landscape were impressive.

This may be recognised from some films, but not by me.

Somewhat inexplicably to me, we had an hour to swim at Lily Ponds under a tall thread of a waterfall. About a third of the group got in the water, most else sat in the shade.

I found a marked track that involved plenty of rock-hopping and steep scrambling to the top of the waterfall. Much better view and more interesting up there.

The creek approaching the cliff.

Spot the tour group.

Further up the gorge, past where boats can reach – there are a lot of rocks around these parts.

On the return, the longer walk (not long) between boats and impassable rocks.

First crocodile in the wild for the trip.

Our guide pointed out a viewing platform up high as we neared the end of our boat trip, suggesting it was a good place to see the sunset. As it was the first time I’d seen significant clouds in the sky since our layover in Melbourne, I was hopeful it would be worth the walk and steep staircases. It was.

But first, different rocks! Curious conglomerations.

The start of the Kakadu Highway held the most engaging driving of the trip – especially in a seven metre long, three metre high van. Alas that didn’t last long, but probably good for Mum’s comfort and getting to Jabiru campground before dark. I was a bit under the weather for our two days there, unfortunately coinciding with the hottest weather of the trip – alarmingly close to forty degrees Celsius.

Better than your average water tower.

A little boat tour up the East Alligator River (no gators in Australia, only crocs – the river mistakenly named) was slightly cooler than staying on land. I found the local guide interesting, plenty told of how the local flora and fauna form part of their life. Not a lot of wildlife to be seen in the heat of the afternoon; more time in Kakadu and even getting into the vast, sparsely populated Arnhem Land would be cool.

Spot the fictional characters – Homer, E.T., Robocop…

Although not that far back to Darwin and campervan return, certainly less distance than we had generally been driving, we broke it up choosing to stay in the middle of nowhere. Bark Hut Inn had a great campground, adjoined to a roadhouse, built in an area that once was predominantly buffalo and croc hunting (the old modified Landcruisers with a lot of external steelwork looked plain mad). Disappointed by the lack of wildlife on the trip thus far, we booked one last boat tour on the nearby Corroberee Lagoon – thinking we had enough time to pack, clean the camper and drive to Darwin the following day.

It turned out to go swimmingly (except no-one literally went swimming for obvious reasons). An exceptional tour with a very knowledgeable guide who was only too happy to answer questions, show us what we wanted to see and keep us both amused and informed. Helped that we saw plenty too – here’s a little of it:

On that high, the campervan was returned on time leaving us a day and a bit to have a look around Darwin. With the Supercars in town for the weekend, the excellent night market at Mindil Beach was packed – but the city seemed deserted the following day. Perhaps it’s always like that, but it seemed an odd place. Give me the wilderness instead.

bikes, friends, GPS, MTB, national park, NZ

Paparoa, Pike29 loop

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Not having seen Rachel since her last big bikepacking trip abroad, time was running out to get the Oteake crew back together for a more modest bike trip. The weekend long since decided, the location was only confirmed closer to the time as late-autumn forecasts considered. Andy and I were keen to ride the recently opened Pike29 Memorial Track, off the Paparoa Trail; Rachel was happy to ride it again – possibly as it meant she had the shortest drive. Richard (soon off to Tour Divide), Tom (recently reacquainted with on previous ride) and Ian made up our group assembled in Blackball Friday night. The plan was to ride a loop from Blackball, to and along the southern section of the Paparoa to the Pike29 intersection, the Pike29 and thirty-odd kilometres of road back to Blackball.

A very frosty morning, we were eventually underway after I’d sorted my car loaded for two weeks of adventures (and possibly two weeks of work) out. Getting up to the trailhead at Smoke-ho was an opportunity to warm a bit, but it wasn’t too chilly – even being the only one in shorts. The climb to Ces Clark hut is one of my favourites – an old mining pack track, I’ve always found it an achievable technical challenge on a loaded bikepacking rig. I was looking forward to the Paparoa on my unloaded trail bike; the climb seemed a lot easier – it seemed to have been sanitised in parts, but it was probably mostly the change in set-up.

A few bridges early on; the entries and exits the only non-rideable parts of the trail.

Frosty at the old hotel site, around 400 m elevation.

Ces Clark hut view down the lower Grey River valley.

As we reached the tops, the breeze picked up a bit – cooling things off a little. Despite a few prolonged stops, not many photos taken (previous trips here) as I was enjoying riding and being on the trail.

After lunch at Moonlight Tops Hut, it was into one of my highlights of the Paparoa – the goblin forest as you ride along the escarpment. My lack of time on the bike starting to show – I don’t remember there being so many little climbs! With all our stops, it was about six hours before we reached the top of the Pike29 track.

From the top end, the trail starts with a somewhat unexpected climb for half an hour – at my, now, slow speed having walked an alarming amount of it. You’d think I’d have dropped from the 32 tooth chainring by now, but no – at least getting a smaller one is finally in progress. 32t was manageable when I was in some sort of bike-fit condition and I’m definitely no longer that.

More, possibly even better, goblin forest at the top of the Pike29.

All were waiting for me at the final lookout at the top of the descent.

Finally, the long descent to Pike River – which was the main reason for bring the more-fun (on trail anyway) bike today. Wow, I don’t know of a longer downhill on an intermediate, built trail in the country. Dropping eight hundred metres over seven and a half kilometres, that was fun that continued for twenty+ minutes – little effort to give, I just enjoyed the descent twisting through the forest. For the time of year and location, the trail was remarkably dry (well-built and little used so far) – only getting a bit sticky on the lower parts near streams. An extraordinary trail, both in itself and the memorial aspect of it.

I waited for five minutes at the carpark, time to rest, look around and consider some of what had happened here in the previous fifteen years. Realising, as the slowest one on the road, I was wasting time I began what can only be described as a plod thirty kilometres back to Blackball. With big, slow-on-the-road tyres and little energy to push them it was only twenty-five minutes before I was caught and fairly unceremoniously dropped. The rest of the way being character building and good training for something. Thanks to Ian for picking me up just before the final climb to Blackball! A grand day out on two excellent trails.