Our everyday lifeAfter a few days of cycling we learned quickly to adapt to the nature and to the conditions in Australia:Unlike at home, where especially I liked to sleep very long and get up late, we already rise with the sun. One of the reasons are the birds which start to tweet, screech, ... with the first sunbeams, but the main reason is the coolness at daybreak which gives way to the heat too fast anyway. In addition we often do only in the morning have the chance of enjoying a breakfast without flies. A truly pleasure! Our breakfast consists of milk powder with some water and cereals, which proved to be quite durable, while toastbread (brown bread like in Austria is not available in Australia) tastes like plastic after a day in the sun. Moreover we recognized quickly that this bread it not much good for cycling, since you need to drink a lot against the thirst during the day and then the bread swells in the stomach. The matutinal shower we were accustomed to from home, omittes due to water shortage. Only teeth brushing is on the daily agenda. Then we pack our whole property fast and start cycling. Occasionally - especially at head wind - we surcease. Towards 10 or 11 o'clock it is often already so hot that we watch out for a shady place for the lunch break. When there is none in sight, we build one with a tarpaulin - however, we only do that in the case that we really can´t find a shady spot, because through this canvas cover it still gets very warm, and it is hard to build a stable shadow with a tarp when it is windy. Usually a tree serves as protection against the sun - the disadvantage is that you need to move with the wandering shadow. After some time you become some kind of a expert for trees and recognize the ones that are shady (and which do not throw off their knobs during the heat). Perfect places for a lunch break are the small tunnels and tubes that serve as drainage during the rainy seasons and thus prevent floods. Mostly they are quite clean and offer constant shadow and true chilling because the ground is not heated up. Sometimes - but quite rare - there are shady places with tables and benches at restareas. These have the main advantage that you occasionally get something cool to drink or something tasty to eat from the passing motorists. Sitting on the ground was quite normal for us after some time anyway. Our lunch mostly consists out of instant noodles, sometimes a soup or vanilla sauce and chocolate for dessert which is melted most of the time but still tasty. In matters of our nourishment our valuation changed totally: for us fruit and vegetable are delicacies, a piece of meat with some side dishes a feast for which we need long to eat since we savour every bite of it. There is no food we don't like. We are thankful for each present of motorists (I haven't known before which joy a simple apple can be). We even eat things lying on the ground and lick out every pot. Amazing is my huge demand for chips, which maybe can be described to the salt deprivation through perspiration. Our rests serve - unlike many bikers we met - not only as opportunity for ingestion. Mostly we also wait until the torridity of the day dies down. Until then we play chess or cards, read (in contrast to at home), write diary or simply enjoy listening to music (rather seldom since it is hard to receive a broadcast station; but when we are lucky our whole attention is with the radio). Before finishing our rest we mostly eat one more bite. Then we cycle as long as it pleases us - mostly until short before sunset. As soon as we find a good and hidden place for sleeping we check the place for thorns before building up our tent. In remote areas a shower is not applicable since we have to save water. We use the precious water for things like eating, drinking, teeth brushing. Only seldom we use water to have a wash and then normally only the amount of one small drinking bottle. It's amazing how clean you can get with just half a liter of water! However, the longer we are on the way, the less we miss things which embossed our former everyday life. Basically important are only food, water, a sleeping bag, a bike and the clothes we have on our bodies. Even things like a tent are not really necessary, but mostly we indulge in the luxury to use the tent, because it would have been a pity to throw it away. In addition it is a good refuge from the mosquitoes which are present after sunset (instead of the flies). Our evenings are totally different in comparison to Austria too. We spend our time talking, not with dumbly sitting in front of the boob tube. And sometimes we go to bed early - depending on the sunset even at 7 p.m., because we are tired anyway after biking. Many think that they are not able to live without "luxury". My opinion about luxury has changed tremendously during this trip: we both have a lot of time now for ourselves and the other one. We do not need to be considerate of somebody else, have no obligations and are able to do what we want when we want. The only things we have to look for are water and food supply which we need to survive. For the rest we simply take the things as they happen. That's real freedom! I think that many people dream of this kind of life, however, you can only have the luxury of freedom if you do not own a lot of things ("Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."). written by: Birgit |
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