Our hearts may be full of love and warmth for Oz, yet our wallets may be obscenely empty.
For those of you who can't afford a decent visit to
"Your Chance To See The Old Man", hop on the Beehive teleportation system. We'll try to tour the biggest hill of the TDU : Old Willunga Hill Road.
To get to Down Under, we'll probably have to first get the hell out of 'Up Over'. How will we do that? Simple. Give a spank on that globe, let it dance around and voila! Embrace the Southern Hemisphere!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg72nsYPTdR37lPpM88v3RTvzMbMy45CTZRMBHFXuR7VbJYg6u3Gk_l_SgnY9hf_hl4nl2iWNIO7T1_83VU8DTQjgSpOg1lJ0fdUz7HVOyLNmXqlCCcp1C9rUeKuhsGbJrkKZg5n4rpDF4/s400/willunga+stage+5.JPG)
Please, do not try to jump into Australia. This is not drawn to scale.
Patience now. Lets zoom into the wonderful land of Kangaroos.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqJ35QSnlI_1SBDF3QH34vPKEuHylYgZxLmorqds_Ljh6UHSTKBtlwSFAaA5WBd-qhRG0xJTYK5HAvLWMUd7Pz5dpjsAyt2lP04lBpJbTf2s-OdJZToN8LDsRBLZ9T87zG4cP5LdKvv4M/s400/willunga+stage+5_1.JPG)
Calm down. I see some of you are getting excited...
We're now approx. 100,000 feet above Willunga, in the sunny state of South Australia.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzJ7kGJskqOlBwlJjvyG-1kQMqAISDObtKwILTnIN7VY5UPJ-YB6EJEw0nmD0H66JeIZCFgMgT_qO57P5Pzqo6CCifSx1Q8OhsTFDd_wgfoBC0SC5x4iQExm1U9FsAhOcAkT-wLKCG0M/s400/willunga+stage+5_2.JPG)
Please calm down, we'll get there. Do not eject or do a Chesley Sullenberger either...
Our Chinese digital zoom frankly sucks. Switching to European opticals.........
.....aha, there's Willunga!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG0QlhExUhYaHACfqlwBQt4-wlWam3WFInWwZjMHbP5WX5qpJjJd1fbfdwGxlmItAX5KMmGhhbU3Ym97y7ZjcusNq_BgDvskWA3SoQKvEXX4j7i7u5GXXhzYb5CsKyN6JGguk3K9h-8P8/s400/willunga+stage+5_5.JPG)
Do you know Willunga is known for its almonds? Sadly, the Aboriginal word for Willunga does not mean "Land of Almonds". Gotcha there. See how I tricked you? Infact, the word actually means "Black Duck" - that's more uneventful than almonds.
The road shown with the red arrow is our destination. Its the Old Willunga Road.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZJTtHBLPM3gI3CQG7bwU5UAz5_riXP3RCna6844Z2qnGUvModkUDTvVRzzsBRIKwBJxtocyBTtxptdlgufohrCur7ao4earu4RbDIGXdmAF26zQNjgKieR4_Ku33aPQIvx-KeSo0XN8/s400/willunga+stage+5_4.JPG)
It is featured in Stage 5, the longest stage of this scorching Tour. Riders ride two times over it and it could perhaps be the most strategic spot for attacks.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcGjKUlySmy_THVjOOKUuvdBoe35h4jHs0ryI9JkmMpTudU2FBOI4bTAbUCO2dqACl9RhZzEDp1UZ8nTX1VpIjq8z8ZHoUrz6WV34MNoEzDMfyni9BkiD5y3t8xg74LGsduYLYx-LcbaY/s400/stage+5+tour+down+under.JPG)
Old Willunga is basically a 1000 foot climb, little over 6K in length at almost 5-6% in ave gradient.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsJgu_85NFzuqIA-wcENyD1oQMjw4rK7lWZxLxKpJ84rtlNqm71NTTqSFZmHieOULtQMJYLH0wwtpdD2wnynR7tYT9cFgoy4BTN_JiSCbJ3aqWl5PAbSQSV9sGLmt7qWFUMjlI4rfioiw/s400/willunga+hill+road.JPG)
The ancient Aboriginals never rode bikes, but it is said that they could jump so damn high, the could reach the top of this road with little effort.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaj6lbiy3bYZdDoR6-tjqaxd1bRsJ90p6kK91qOSkRMAzMNVpuZHgVvFpCG41gslkY2u6xTg7Dc_G4Y0z5jKw2_CkEGhXLR0DVgtCmKo2A4oPdMn8AFlLhWcZx7P5PBxpvrhtS2GEdVg/s400/Willunga+Hill+Road+Satellite.JPG)
Marvel at the beauty of the ups and downs of terrain. For essential cows, beautiful sunflowers and a McDonalds, please use your wild imaginations. There are only bushes and bush fires here.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCYrbFCd65bqKpSPjVYwlvZVK7Ex8Z_2NJxTW5ngjkBRoVnZEBjR8LBqSCv5RCa09Tda7lhH7udnhOc-mXM585bEgG2ZTIi4dEaQ19BULPkYFNLXjH1T0M9WH9NONxQ8cvg0SEmScx3o/s400/Willunga+Hill+Road+Satellite+1.JPG)
We have come to the end of our trip. Thank you and please boast to all your friends that you just went to Willunga... in a little over , let's see....one fifth of a second. Thanks for joining.
2 comments:
It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but certainly a great climb. :-)
Groover : I'll be waiting for the pics! Looks the pros had an easy time over it. Lance looked like he was comfortable using a huge gear on it too.
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