Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A long(er) run in Coober Pedy on a nice morning for it (although it's remarkable how warm 13 degrees can feel in full desert sun). Started out for the first hour on an out-and-back with Jenny, on a randomly-chosen road out of town which turned out to be a good showpiece of what the town had to offer (particularly in the things-dug-into-the-side-of-hills department, the most spectacular example of which was the Serbian Orthodox church). Once she went back I then continued on a further loop through the main section of town. Another fairly reasonable run; I've had quite a good week this week. Getting a proper amount of sleep undoubtedly has a fair bit to do with this. (No sign of trouble from any niggles, either, although there haven't exactly been any hills to test the back issues).

Coober Pedy during the day (on a Sunday at least) seems to be pretty dead - certainly not much sign of action in the tourism trade, which surprised me a bit given the town's reputation and how much accommodation there is here, and much less lively than it seemed in 1990 (although, on the positive side, I don't think gelignite is used quite as much in local dispute-resolution these days). Perhaps a sign of how the local economy is doing (or not doing) is that what seemed a reasonable house was on sale for $70,000 (a three-bedroom dugout we saw advertised for $158,000). I get the impression that the opal-mining game these days is largely a game for old-timers hanging on (the Census stats which show that 28% of the population are over 60, compared to a national average of 20%, would seem to bear that out); there are quite a few mines in the area for things other than opals but their workers presumably live on site. There are still plenty of signs around warning of the perils of opal shafts - one of them disturbingly close to a sign advertising a dog off-leash area.

(I did have some fun going through the Census stats. One which surprised me was that the proportion of dwellings with 3 or more registered vehicles was below the national average, although as Jenny pointed out, the figures might well have looked very different if unregistered vehicles were included).

This was possibly the most remote run I have ever done - apart from the three of us, I think there's a fair chance that there were no other people within a 50-kilometre radius (we didn't see another vehicle between Ceduna and Tarcoola).

The day started at Googs Lake, about 50 kilometres along the sand-dune section of the track. The plan for the run was for Geoff to drop us off at the Mount Finke turnoff (after 73 kilometres and three hours of dune climbing), and for us to run from there to the base of the mountain - a real standout rising probably 250 metres above endless rolling sand-dune country. The run itself was short, and nothing too startling, but that wasn't really the point - it was a chance to get close to the landscape in a way you don't experience so much in a vehicle (even one doing 20-30 kilometres an hour).

Apparently Stuart was so impressed by the exploits of William Finke (or maybe just by the amount of money Mr. Finke may have contributed to the expedition) that he named both this mountain and the Finke River for him. I don't know if he also gave his name to the Finks motorcycle gang.

The track was slowish going but not exceptionally difficult (although I was glad someone with dune experience was doing the driving) - there was only one dune we had to make a second attempt at.

And then we got to the end of the track and hit the smoothest dirt road I've ever been on, past the settlement of Tarcoola (where I ticked another name off my weather-stations list). The tentative plan was to stay at Kingoonya, either camping or at the pub, but when we got there just before last light it was already apparent that a lively night was in prospect, so we quickly changed plans and decided to go on another 300 kilometres (mostly highway) to Coober Pedy - I was already aware from the 1990 trip that I was missing precisely nothing by doing this in the dark (and we only saw two roos in the middle of the road). The day's last 400 kilometres took less time than the first 100.

C • Remote runs? 3

Leaving Minnipa, and its silos that are too tall for even Billy Brownless to kick a football over, behind this morning. Plan from here is Ceduna-Tarcoola-Glendambo-Coober Pedy-Oodnadatta-Marree-see how much time we have left. Ceduna-Tarcoola will be the most challenging part - lots of sand dunes.

Shortish session along the Ceduna foreshore before heading for the wilderness. Both of us took a while to get going but not bad after the first 10 minutes.

The route north from Ceduna goes along Googs Track (pushed through by a couple of locals in the 1970s - don't think you could get away with doing that in a conservation park these days). Once you leave the farmland about 30km north of Ceduna, it's 130km of dune crossing (supposedly 360-odd, although that includes a lot of small barely noticeable bumps) before the dunes end about 20km short of the railway line.

Once again, outward from Minnipa in search of rocks (this time a one-way trip - Geoff came and picked us up at the other end). A pleasant run on rolling country roads stretching to the horizon, and somewhat faster than I've been doing for runs of this type this year - haven't often been stringing together kilometres with times starting with a 4 unless I've been specifically doing speedwork. No niggles either after the first few minutes. All in all, a return to normal service, despite still coughing a bit more than I'd like to be.

The rest of the day was then spent looking at various rock domes in the Wudinna area, then exploring bits of the Gawler Ranges. Heading into more remote country north from Ceduna tomorrow if things go to plan.

We're using Minnipa, in the west-central part of the Eyre Peninsula, as a base for the next couple of days, doing day trips from there (today out to the coast, tomorrow into the Gawler Ranges now things have dried out a bit). This morning's run was an out-and-back from town (such as it is - it's a classic grain belt row-of-silos-plus-a-couple-of-hundred-people settlement) to the nearest significant rock; this part of the Eyre Peninsula has a reasonable number of granite domes, some just areas of bare rock but others (like this morning's) with a fair number of boulders too. A fairly undemanding run but one which didn't trigger any real issues - the cold is slowly fading away. Missed all the just-enough-to-be-annoying showers (and missed them at most of our major sightseeing points too, along the coast at and south from Streaky Bay).

Took the last chance for a couple of weeks to hit the water to loosen myself up in the Whyalla pool (on a morning where it wasn't much wetter in the pool than it was outside it). Quite a strong session by the standards of recent swims. Given the time of day, it wasn't surprising that most of the lanes were taken up by swimming lessons and the one remaining also had someone noodling, but we managed to stay out of each other's way.

Whyalla itself seems to be doing OK (somewhat ironically, the one signifcant local industry which is in trouble is a solar power station project), although the old town centre still looks like it could be frozen in 1970.

The original plan was to head to the Gawler Ranges today but the rain made that not such a good idea, so instead we've set up a base in Minnipa and will be doing day trips to the coast and the ranges the next couple of days.

Middle distance at Wilpena Spurs. A technically accurate but tired effort, particularly in the first half when various body parts were very reluctant to perform at any sort of speed. The flat areas of this map make you feel as if you should be running fast, but it wasn't really happening (and, as with yesterday, there was more on the steeper parts of the map than I'm used to here). Not even in the frame as far as results are concerned.

Now in Whyalla (which I can report is still here), in preparation for heading further afield tomorrow (although perhaps not as far as originally intended tomorrow, as the forecast rain will make the remoter dirt tracks a no-go zone for a day or two). Updates may be sporadic.