The choice is whether to be a "credit card tourist" or a fully self-reliant camper. We chose the first option and travelled very lightly, with only a foam mat and a space blanket, relying on roadhouses or hotels for accommodation. We rang ahead to make sure we could get a bed. Distances between places to spend the night in a bed were within our reach except for the 254 km stretch between Glendambo and Coober Pedy in South Australia, where there is nothing but arid and open country and few signs of man. We camped out about 150 km along the road from Glendambo, behind a clump of witchetty bush in the sand, with a million flies for company.

Later on we camped out again, north of the roadhouse at Marla, because it meant we could make the roadhouse at Desert Oaks more easily the next day. This time we found an off-road resting area for trucks and motorists at Agnes Creek (dry) which had the luxury of a concrete bench and table to eat our meal of pasta on. There was no water tank there, so we needed the extra water we took from Marla. During the night we heard dogs or dingoes howling, and about midnight some vehicles drove in off the road, circled around a few times, and left. We chose to sleep behind some trees off to one side, and lucky we did, as we might have been run over otherwise.

Our longest daily distance was 185km from Port Augusta to Woomera, the last 7km fortunately mostly down hill. We did 170 km on a couple of other occasions and a few 140 to 150 km days, with other days being less than that. This was within our capabilities but might be harder for fully laden tourers with tent and sleeping bag. We did hear of some English cyclists who were doing 250 km a day across the Territory on a round Australia trip, but we weren't in that league.

Our advice would be to find out what distances you can make in a day by doing a few three day or longer tours before you try this one. The training will come in handy in any case, and you will find out if your bike is set up comfortably for long distance touring.

The foam sleeping mat and space blanket proved adequate for the time of year, if a little draughty. A light weight sleeping bag liner might have been a useful addition. A very useful accessory was a fine mesh fly screen to go over our heads. These fly screens are available from camping stores. The flies, tiny black ones, can be a real nuisance, particularly when camping or stopping for a meal break.

Our bikes were a Gemini Tourer and a Trek Hybrid 7500, with fairly narrow (25-28mm) tyres for speed. We had front and rear panniers for better balance, although we may have been able to get away with only rear panniers. The panniers made riding in a cross wind a struggle at times, but were good with a tail wind!

Food

To save money, and in case we couldn't get some items, we took a supply of food from home in the form of various snack or energy bars, powdered milk, powdered sports drink, dried fruit and nuts and some pasta and cereal. We also took a large tin of powdered Sustagen (hospital type), which has lots of vitamins in it. We restocked at supermarkets in Port Augusta, Coober Pedy, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine. Some roadhouses also had small stores where we could buy a few extras. Jelly beans and butterscotch were good for extra energy while riding. Coke and PowerAde were available at all the roadhouses.

Food at the roadhouses was generally good, with a wide selection, including pasta and vegetables, and almost everywhere "barra and chips" (barra=barramundi, a beautiful tropical fish). Steaks were of course always available, but the days of greasy truckies' fare seem to have gone, thanks probably to the many tourists on the road, and the plentiful supplies available from the road trains moving north with supermarket goods and south with tropical fruits and fish. Some of the roadhouse restaurants put on very good food, and we enjoyed it!

We took Foreign Legion-style caps with neck flaps, plenty of sunscreen, two pairs of cycling nicks and long sleeved jerseys (so we could wash one pair out each night and always have a dry set in the morning), long sleeved shirts, swimmers, and trousers or shorts for evening wear and days off. A cup and bowl and a knife and spoon were our camping utensils, plus a small billy for boiling water. Rain jackets were taken but never used, but you could be unlucky. Warmer clothes would be needed in winter or spring. To save weight we took only our cycling shoes.

For emergencies I carried a first aid kit with bandages, dressings, a few painkillers and antiseptics, and saline for eyewashes and cleaning wounds. The kit was hardly used, but was probably a good idea. Consult a pharmacist or nurse for what is best to take. PuriTabs for water purification were taken, and some Silcon barrier cream for chafing prevention.

Our tool kits had a cassette cracker to replace broken spokes (turned out to be very useful) as well as the usual puncture kits, Allen keys, basic spanners, spare spokes and four spare tubes each. I wore out the rear tyre and had it replaced in Alice Springs where there is a good bike shop. You probably don't need a spare tyre unless you intend to do some detours off the main road. There was another good bike shop in Katherine.

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