24/03/2020 – End of Chapter 1

After spending a couple of hours chatting and planning our routes home, some of us decided to stay in Southern Cross for the evening and head back the next morning.

I managed to hop on some WiFi and contact my parents back home to let them know and to start looking for flights back to the UK for a few days time.

We checked into a hotel, showered and got ready for dinner at the local pub. It was great to spend time with Matt and Jimmy and exchange stories of previous cycling trips and plans for the future.

The pub had WiFi so I went back on to speak to my parents more about which day I wanted to fly back on. It was Sunday and I wanted it to be soon but also wanted to allow some time for getting back to Perth so I suggested Wednesday.

A fantastic burger and chips later and we went back to the hotel and got some sleep. The plan was to cycle the 110km back to Merredin the next morning to get there for lunch. Some were getting picked up from there but I was getting the train to Perth.

A few minutes after our alarm went off Jimmy said that he had a message from the race organiser saying that someone called ‘Kirsty’ was after me with some urgency. I was slightly concerned why my mum needed me so urgently given we’d just spoken the previous evening. I had a very quick shower, jumped on my bike and cycled to the pub for some WiFi.

It transpires that flights from Perth to London were like gold dust. Singapore has closed its airport as had Bangkok. Dubai was the only one left open but was closing on Wednesday.

Amazingly they’d managed to get me on the last flight out of Perth which was that evening. I was currently 350km away, needed to pack up my bike and find some clothes to fly back in. (As much as I am comfortable walking round in cycling kit, flying is probably one step too far).

Matt, Jimmy and I cycled back to Merredin in good time whilst chatting about the race that could have been. All 3 of us had been working up to it and sacrificed a lot.

We got to merredin, said our goodbyes, they jumped in the back of a pickup truck and I jumped on the train and was on my way back to Perth.

It arrived in the centre of Perth mid afternoon so I cycled back to my host family where they still had the bike box I used arriving in Oz. We stripped the bike, smashed some food down, put on some of their old clothes and sped to the airport.

The long queue went down fast enough and the bike got on without a hitch. It was as I was sat at the gate waiting to board the plane that it finally hit me. It was over.

The last 24 hours had been a rollercoaster of emotions and it finally hit home that I was flying home and had clipped into my bike for the last time.

It was such a shame that I wasn’t able to end the trip in my terms.

Whilst the trip is over, the idea is not. Hopefully once this is all over, I’ll come back to Oz and finish what I started. New Zealand and North America still lay ahead of me and I’ll do my best to tick them off in due course.

After a connection in Dubai with every other flight on the boards showing cancelled, I arrived to a deserted Heathrow. We were the only flight there so it was easy to spot my parents waiting for me in arrivals.

They threw me the car keys and had left a mask and some alcohol gel on the car seat which signified the start of my 14 day self isolated quarantine to my bedroom.

Whilst I’d returned home, I hadn’t returned to a normal life. Being confined to a bedroom was the exact opposite of what I’d experienced for the last 9 months. The world is in a strange state and I can’t wait until I’m able to go out and explore again.