22 April – 10 May 2015

In Adelaide I stayed with my friend Allan in Burnside. We used to work together in Copenhagen Airports but haven’t seen each other for 10 years since Allan quit and moved to Australia. I met his two children Lucas and Maelle, his girlfriend Mel and her son Darcy as well as many friends. Allan and Mel invited me along on a short weekend trip to Normanville (80k southwest of Adelaide) and took me to the McLaren Vale region where we visited three vineyards for wine tasting. When Allan was working a Sunday afternoon his friend Henrik took me to Adelaide Hills where we tasted wine at Nepenthe Wines and visited ”German” town Hahndorf and back in Adelaide we went to coastal suburb Glenelg – very popular in the Summer but quiet at this time of year when the weather is less appealing.

The weather was ever changing like a Danish Summer though mostly dry – the temperature was lower than expected around 7-8C (50F) at night and 16-20C (60-68F) during daytime with only a few warmer days. I picked a nice day to go sightseeing in central Adelaide visiting amongst other historic West Terrace Cemetery, the Central Market, the Botanical Garden, the National Wine Centre and North Adelaide. I’m not a fan of big cities and in that sense Adelaide is just another in a long list I’ve visited over the years – there seem to be nothing remarkable or particular about it though I like that it‘s open with countless green areas and that it’s “low” except for relatively few high buildings in the centre.

From Adelaide I’ll ride west ride to Perth and from there north to Darwin – depending on the itinerary around 7,500-8,000k of mostly desert and a lot of ”nothing”. Consequently, I did some research especially regarding where to get water along the way. I also did some shopping as there are very few options to buy anything along the way – besides food e.g. books, camping gas, a big water bladder and a mosquito net for the flies.

Otherwise, I spent the weeks doing a lot of practicalities e.g. tuning the bike, updating my website, preparing couchsurfing requests for Perth/Darwin/Singaporeand researching different airlines regarding bringing my bike to Singapore. At the same time relaxing and gaining weight as it was the last chance to recuperate for a long time.