CYCLISTS' ADVENTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19809, 2 December 1927, Page 15

CYCLISTS' ADVENTURES.

MELBOURNE TO DARWIN. EXCITING EXPERIENCES, Adventure, rather than a desire to break records was the imofciva inspiring two young Victorians, Messrs. Stewart Gordon and Russell McLellan, to make a trip from Melbourne to Darwin and hack by motor-cycle. They returned on November 19. * Equipped with a machine, to which a long box hr>d been fitted in place of a sidecar for the better carrying of Supplies, the young men left Melbourne on August 25, taking turnu in riding the cycle throughout tha journey They depended mainly upon tinned foods purchased on the way and on a two-gallon tin of water, replenished wherever possible. The first major delay occurred at Oodnadatta. While the travellers were there an aboriginal came in with the news that a man had blown his hand of! with dynamite at Blood's Creek, about 100 miles to the north. The owner of the store there was bringing the victim into the town for medical attention and Mr. McLellan volunteered to ride out to help him. This caused a delay of 10 days, and Darwin was reached after an uneventful ride. , ' .■ • The young men were' informed that they were the first motor-cyclists to cross the continent from south to north. Their actual travelling time was 20 days, though they were a month on the road. Leaving Darwin, after a rest of three days, they found themselves at a bore 60 miles eas!i of Newcastle Waters, with a vital part of the engine broken. To add to their anxieties, the y°" n £ men ran out. of food and for two nights and a day they subsisted on g&lahs shot with a rifle Fortunately for them, they were found by t™o women who" were travelling iu a car through Central Australia. The rescuers _ f ed the hnnery youths and towed their machine 60 miles to Newcastle Waters.