Anders wakes up first at the motel in Mount Gambier. He is freezing, again. The alarm goes off 08:00 and is quickly muted. He can clearly hear the wind outside and the rain hitting the metal roof. It is shitty weather outside and Anders is thinking 90 k’s in this weather could be the last nail in the coffin for the both of them. Lasse wakes up and says he been freezing the whole night. Another bad night of sleep and the boys can with the hand on their heart say that they have slept well 1 out of 12 nights. The boys have underestimated the low temperatures here to such a degree that it is the worst thing that has happened since Per Mathias Høgmo got offered the position as coach for the Norwegian national team in football from the Norwegian football association.

They decide to split todays leg into two days. It is 33 k’s to Nelson and they get on their bikes even though it is raining cats and dogs outside. The wind is very heavy the first 15 k’s. The bikes hardly moves while the rain sting against the cold skin in their faces. The wind was so bad they had to pedal downhill to get forward, otherwise they wouldn’t have moved at all. On a hilltop they take a small break to drink som water and behind them a trained man comes on a racer bike and says “ha ha ha, where you guys going?”. The boys explain they are only going to Nelson due to the wind while pointing at the heavy bags. The man understands and pedals on. The man understands, continues cycling and disappears over a ridge in a few seconds. In that moment Anders realized how amateurs themselves are. The have to go deep within themselves to find power and motivation for the last 20 k’s.

“This is one of the reasons why we came here, to experience the feeling of pain, tiredness and exhaustion, rain, wind and difficult weather” Lasse says to Anders. Anders couldn’t agree more, this is actually one of the reasons for this expedition. It is just a bit harder to remember there and then when you are wet and it is gale wind gusts.

Both of them gets blown off road and into the ditch several times. They get back up and presses the handlebar hard to the right to compensate for the wind. That’s is how the first 20 k’s went.

50 cows starts running next to the boys, when both Anders and Lasse starts mooing at them. The cows run side by side with the boys for 100 meters , before a fence prevents them from running further. This have happened before on the trip and Anders thinks the cows just wants company, since they are standing on a field in the middle of nowhere day in and day out. It is a quite joyful sight to have 50 cows mooing and running after you. Now video was taken due to the heavy conditions and the rain, and the boys had enough with themselves at that moment.

Then the rain ends and the boys starts cycling in more eastern than southern direction, which gives them a mix of side and tailwind, finally. They arrive in Nelson at 14:02 local time. They have now put behind them South Australia and are in Victoria. 1 out 5 states done, 4 to go.

Awesomestralia – a normal life is boring