Le Tour de KI
9th - 18th July
24572 kms - 25019 kms

While the elite athletes of the cycling world battled it out for the yellow jersey in the French countryside, on the other side of the world an equally-fierce competition was taking place. The not-so-elite Mann brothers were focussed on their own multi-discipline contest, which involved fishing, beer drinking... and a little bit of cycling. This was the mighty "Tour de K.I."

The Mann boys... beer drinkers with a cycling problem

My brother Rob lives in Tokyo, and had been talking of joining me on the track ever since I told him about OzByBike nearly 2 years ago. Time ticked on by, and with only 2 months to go before the end of the expedition, he suddenly realised time was running short. He pleaded his boss for 2 weeks off work, jumped on the first plane outta there, and met me in Adelaide. Rob had gone through an intensive training program before coming out - very similar to the one I did before I left home. Nothing. There are 1,600 kms of roads on K.I., and we had two weeks. This was going to be interesting.

Cape Jervis - departure point for KI

OzByBike leaves the mainland again... as the Fleurieu Peninsula gets smaller and smaller

First stop on the island was the general store at Penneshaw, to pick up the vital supplies needed for the contest. We had the bikes already, and after a quick shop we had the other essentials - fishing lines and beer. The challenge was to see how long we could survive with these 3 things alone.

Rob was very excited to be off his L's

(the signs read "BEER TASTINGS HERE. You provide the beer, we provide the tastings", and "WE NEED BEER TO POWER THESE THINGS. How about a donation?")

Stage 1 nearly complete: Penneshaw Hill (Penneshaw and Fleurieu Peninsula in the background)

Prospect Hill, Eastern K.I.

By the end of day 2, we were still fishless, but were compensated by a lucky donation of a 6-pack, care of Spike and Crazy Eyes at D'Estrees Bay. The 2 locals were huddled around a campfire with their kids, and taking pity on us riding around in the rain, called us over for a yarn. This was our first encounter with the friendly K.I. locals. They invited us to set up camp with them, share a few beers and a couple of stories... but we had fish to catch, and moved on.

Stage 2: D'Estrees Bay. Rob sneaks another line in... and again comes back with nothing.

Frosty morning on the beach at D'Estrees Bay

Wreckers Beach, D'Estrees Bay

Stage 3 of the Tour de KI involved some serious riding, as we took some pretty muddy back roads through the lush countryside and out to the rugged south coast. Our bush camp that night didn't really lend itself to fishing, but after challenging Rob to go and find beer in the middle of nowhere... he came back loaded up with Coopers, kindly sold to him at cost price by a friendly National Park ranger. And boy did we enjoy them around the campfire that night.

K.I.'s south coast

Seal Bay (no idea how it got its name)

The next day we came across "Australia's Best Beach" (yep, another one-think it's the third one I've come across this year)... which happened to have a little store that sold beer, and a nice long jetty that apparently had lots of fish just waiting to be caught. Stage 4 begins.

As the sun sank down in the west, it lit up the sea cliffs across the bay, where we'd spent the morning hanging out with some friendly (and not-so-friendly) seals. There was no problem with keeping the Coopers cold - the air was so crisp that you could just about watch the frost settle on the glass bottles as we sat on the jetty, legs dangling over the edge, waiting for the monsters below to bite. After half an hour we'd had nothing (apart from a few beers), so Rob started reeling his line in to check whether or not his bait was still there. And what did he find when it go to th surface? The moment we'd waited 4 days for... A FISH!!! Not much of a fish - but it was size, and it was... a FISH! It was dark by the time we finished our little dance of jubilation, so we headed back to a nice warm campfire, a few more cold beers, and to cook our monstrous fishy feast.

Riding out for Stage 4 of the Tour de KI, Vivonne Bay

Rugged up at Vivonne Bay, number 17 in a series of the country's best beaches

Notice the empty trailer? Yep, we had big plans, involving many big fish...

Call that a fish? Yeah OK... Rob goes 1 up

With a belly full of fish from the night before (yeah right), it took us a while to get up and moving the following morning - which didn't really matter - Stage 5 was an easy one. Heading towards the western end of the island, we came across some mighty big sand dunes before ending the day at lunch time at the Western KI Caravan Park. Rob caught up on some snoozing while I got to work on the bikes, doing a few patch-up jobs and giving them a good scrub behind the ears. We bought out the caravan park's entire supplies of Coopers that afternoon, in preparation for the night's festivities. We shared the evening with a German bloke called Thomas, who must have got the shock of his life meeting these 2 Tasmanian beer drinkers with their cycling problems... We gave him a free night's entertainment as well as an introduction to Australian culture, as we raved on with our ocker banter well into the night. He had planned on spending just the night at the caravan park, but after meeting us, we expected he'd be packed up and on his way by the time we stirred in the morning.

Little Sahara

I knew Rob would need a rest day in there somewhere, so I figured halfway through the trip was as good a time as any. So we rested. We only did 55 kms that day. But we'd left all our gear at the caravan park, and gone out for the day to Flinders Chase National Park. If you've seen photos of KI, chances are they were taken within the boundaries of this stunning national park. Remarkable Rocks, Weirs Cove, Admirals Arch... we could have stayed a day in each little spot, just soaking up the glorious views and majestic coastline. No fishing that day - we let the seals do that job for us. The only contest to take place in Stage 6 was the need for speed... and I came out on top with a top maximum of 62.5 kph heading for Remarkable Rocks. Trying his hardest right up to the last km, Rob could only manage 56 kph. Not a bad job, but it meant he was buying the beers that night - lucky for us the caravan park had restocked their fridge with Coopers. But the biggest surprise was to see Thomas the German back again - "Thought you were heading off today mate". With a bottle of wine in his hand, he gave us a cheeky grin - all set to join the Mann boys for some good old fashioned mischief.

A KI local, the Tammar Wallaby

KI is perhaps the best place in the country to see koalas in the wild... but did you know they're not even native to the island? They were introduced as part of a conservation project to save the noisy little fellas, but their numbers have now reached near-plague proportions! Rob was close to getting out of the tent in the middle of the night to help reduce their numbers, after their grunts and growls kept him awake all night.

The blokes at the KI roads department never were good with straight lines...

Traffic hazard, Flinders Chase NP

Coloured energy

Remarkable Rocks

Really quite remarkable

Drosera

Drosera

Admirals Arch

Dodgy-looking tourist, Admiral's Arch

Leaving the south coast, we turned a corner and headed north - in the rain - travelling some dirt roads, over some steep hills and through some green fields before popping out at the opposite coastline, a magnificient little spot called Western River Cove. This secluded little bay had a healthy-looking river running into it - full of bream. I left Rob to go get the fish while I got the fire started. Sounded easy. After half an hour, both of us were cold, frustrated and miserable - both having failed in our challenges. The fish weren't biting, and it was hopeless trying to get the wet wood to catch fire. Half a bottle of shellite later (and a few singed eyebrows), we got cooking, falling asleep shortly later - full and exhausted under the picnic shelter out of the wind. And we stayed out of the wind all night... well, for the first few hours of the night anyway. I vaguely remember a car arriving at our secluded little spot sometime in the middle of the night, and about the same time the wind changed direction and blew like a typhoon in Tokyo. Things were getting blown off in all directions, but luckily Rob was used to these sorts of events, and had everything strapped, tied down and hidden behind things shortly before sunrise. When I woke up, the wind was still relentless, and as I went running down the hill chasing the chopping board that had blown away, I saw a funny sight in the carpark. There were a few people that had come in the middle of the night - and had set up camp in the carpark. I knew there were 2 of them, cause I could see the outline of their bodies as the cyclonic winds wrapped the cheap nylon fly around them. They'd obviously been shopping at K-Mart. They came and introduced themselves after they woke up, and the girl - Becky - looked at me and said "hey did you go to New Caldeonia about 10 years ago?", to which I nodded my head and laughed, before her second question came out, "still got that scar on your foot?". I couldn't believe I'd stumbled across this girl, who I'd spent 2 weeks with in New Cal on a french language scholarship in 1999, and not been in touch with since. Crazy!

Rock On !!!

A section of road the 3rd grader hadn't touched yet

TunesByBike

Getting out the waterproofs as the rain comes down on north KI

Just when the rain got heavy we stumbled across the oasis of the Western KI community sports centre. In the middle of the bush, this place was a welcome refuge, with a big shelter, plenty of benches, running water, hot showers, and a nice warm patio heater. Mmmmmm. We spent hours there!

Rob catches up on some z's

Friendly locals, northern KI

Typical northern KI road

The rainy north coast pops into view

Western River

Western River Cove

The long-awaited Western River Cove campfire (where would we be without shellite!)

Cosy, but windy camp, Western River Cove

Stage 7 turned out to be a bit of a flop, with a lot of rain, strong winds, no fish, a frustrating campfire, and only a handful of beers. The clouds and rain had cleared for Stage 8, and the sun warmed the bodies and the spirits. The day began with a bit of sweat and a few laughs, as we pushed most of the way up the hill out of Western River Cove. Once at the top, it was pretty much downhill all the way for the rest of the day. Rob was trailing behind all morning, yelling out every few minutes "time for Coco Pops yet"... and before we knew it we were at Stokes Bay, and after a huge lunch, went to throw another line in. Again, the fish made fools of us.

Western River Cove. Magical spot.

Mmmmmm... Coco Pops....

Bogged, Snellings Beach

"You first, Rob"

The intense look of concentration... of an unlucky fisherman

Stokes Bay

Stokes Bay

Stage 9: Rob and I had been to KI before. 23 years ago. I don't remember it, but apparently we both caught our first fish ever, off the jetty at Kingscote. We'd been pretty pathetic in the fishing stakes thus far, but if we were going to catch on anywhere, it would be off the Kingscote Jetty. If a 4- and 6- year old boy could catch one, surely a few 27- and 29- year olds could. The ride was short that day (50 kms), but gave us one of our most memorable moments. About 5 kms out of Kingscote Rob, fitting in with the 'friendly local' way of life, gave a wave to a passing vehicle. The lady stopped, thinking he was waving for help (he's a pretty enthusiastic waver!). After telling the lady we were fine, she asked where we were headed. When we told her Kingscote, she immediately gave us her address and told us she had a granny flat out the back where we could stay the night. You bewdy! So she went off in front, racing home to turn the hot water cylindar on so we could have a hot shower that night, while Rob and I took the slow route - via the bakery, the pub, and the jetty.

Named after Rob and myself, of course

View from Kingscote Esplanade

Our granny flat in Kingscote

The Pelican Man, Kingscote

Stopping for some essentials on the way to the Kingscote Jetty, the arena for Stage 9 of the Tour de KI. We caught nothing... again.

It was a bit of a novelty having a flat to ourselves: no need to pitch the tent, no need to blow up the mattresses, no need to get out the sleeping bags, or prime the stove, look for wood or light the campfire. Instead, we turned on the oven, made some pizzas, bought some ice cream, sat on the couch, and watched TV. It was so good we performed a similar ritual in the morning, not leaving until 11:30 for the final dash to Penneshaw. This ended up being the biggest day on the bikes - 66 kms - and perhaps the most memorable. A few dolphins came for the celebrations as Rob clock turned over to 400 kms and mine to 25,000 kms. We deserved a glass of wine. So it was off to Sunset Winery - where we'd stopped for some tastings and some laughs on Day 1 - this time indulging in a glass of sparkling shiraz - which we regretted about halfway further up the hill. It was a good feeling getting to the top of that hill, seeing Penneshaw - and the finish line - in the distance. We went like the clappers down that hill, both of us smelling fresh fish, beer, and the glory of success. Neither of us knew where to look as we flew down that hill - straight ahead at the bitumen, to the west at the setting sun, or down at the computer telling us how fast we were going. We both managed speeds over 60 kph, and both elated at arriving back at the Penneshaw Jetty. We'd done it. We'd circumnavigated KI. But we still had work to do. The sun was just about to set, and this was our last chance to catch a decent fish. Rob got the beer, whilst I snuck the first line in.

Well, I can't bring myself to say it... but by now, I think you know how this story ends...

Lazy morning, Kingscote granny flat

Rob's big milestone

Ant's big milestone

Cheers, to a marvellous 10 days on the Island

We decided that the dolphins were to blame our lack of fish. Cheeky buggers.

Rob's Two Bob

After 18 months of promising to join Anto for a leg of his journey, i finally wrote the email to my boss, pleading to let me leave the excerise free zone of my 2m x 2m cubicle space and join Anto for 2 weeks of riding around Kangaroo Island. After receiving the OK, i managed to train up enough to reduce my usual 9 minute bike ride to and from work down to an 8 minute bike ride ..not the most ideal preparation, but i thought i was fit enough to match it with Anto. After a few days on the saddle, i realised my only chance to match it with him would be at the pub - not on the bike.

The first 5 k for me were absolutely exhilarating - my first ever bike touring experience, with my brother, in beautiful surroundings, and hardly a soul in sight. Anto had planned the first day perfectly, from the winery 2 kms from the ferry terminal to the roo steak for dinner, he`d done a morvellous job. Turned out that the following 455 kilometres was just as morvellous - from beach walks with the seals, to koalas, to the wedge tailed eagles, to the hospitality of the people we met, to the campfire banter, to Anto's cooking - (including campfire char grilled capsicum - my new favourite food!).

The 10 days of riding were an amazing experience for me - and to share a small slice of Anto's 18 months on the road made it that much more. I can only really begin to imagine some of the sights he`s seen, some of the people he`s met, and the influence he`s had on their lives, as well as how it has impacted on his own life. So for me when the finish of the trip neared, it was tough to climb back in the car knowing that we`d be speeding along watching the world whizz by, not feeling the fresh air on my face, not feeling a little twinge in my knee, not seeing that roo bounding off into the paddock...

- Rob Mann, Tokyo correspondant

Day by day...
9th July: Penneshaw - Brown's Beach
10h July: Brian's Beach - D'Estree's Bay
11th July: D'Estree's Bay - Seal Bay Rd Bush Camp
12th July: Seal Bay Rd Bush Camp - Vivonne Bay
13th July: Vivonne Bay - Western KI Caravan Park
14th July: Flinders Chase National Park
15th July: Western KI Caravan Park - Western River Cove
16th July: Western River Cove - Stokes Bay (via Snellings Beach)
17th July: Stokes Bay - Kingscote
18th July: Kingscote - Penneshaw