DAY 73

105 km from Marlborough to Clarview is done and Lasses bike made it the whole way, yay! The day can be described as the hottest so far. 30 degrees from they stood up and 35 the whole day. Very hot with a very remote landscape. In 105 km it was only one rest area, where they took a long lunch. They only passed two gas stations. Other than that it was no houses, no visible farms and no civilization. Just heaps of white and beige skinny cows. These cows is afraid of the two Norwegian cyclists, which is a huge contrast compared to the cows in southern Australia that used to follow the boys.

As mentioned it was one of the hottest days. At lunch both of them felt boiled, after cycling 65 km. A man at the rest area sees that Anders is “well done” and locks up a door and provides Anders with two cold water bottles and a frozen mug of water. They chat a bit about how hot it is. The man suggest a shorter route and Anders jabs along. But Anders and Lasse has a plan that they have to stick to because it is nothing in between, so they have to get to Clarview.

It is something with after lunch. Either you are a bit slower because the body is focusing on digesting the lunch or it is that the weather often changes. The headwind increase and the last 40 km is fight in rough surface. It goes slow for both of them but they are not worried they are not gonna make it.

The landscape is flat and in the eastern horizon it as a chain of mountains that have followed them for a few days. It’s a medium amount of traffic and medium quality on the roads. This is the kind of landscape I imagined it would be before we started this tour. The road goes straight ahead for 2-3 km, then a small turn and then 2-3 km again. Hour after hour.

Because the landscape is so monotonous, it is a lot of accidents here. The signs show “Fatigue zone next 150 km”, “rest or R.I.P” or “tired drivers die”. The have also set up quiz questions to make drivers less drowsy.

Funny thing:
Anders and Lasse enters the restaurant at the Caravan park. Two men and a woman sits at the entrance. One man says quite load when the boys enters “Oh that’s a couple” and the woman replies “Oh, Gay!”.
It’s not the first time somebody believes the boys are gay, but the first time that obvious on this trip. There’s nothing else to do than hope for a brighter world with better manners. Anders and Lasse is not bothered at all by the comment, but a bit shocked.

Awesomestralia – a normal life is boring