THE OVERLANDER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1358, 8 February 1912, Page 6

THE OVERLANDER.

FROM PERTH TO SYDNEY. GREAT CVCLIXC RECOKD. Francis Hirlle?, the cycling overlander, wlio lias succeeded iu lowering by no loss Hum r>; days the record from Frcitiiintlo tu Sydney, had a triumphal entry into l!iu metropolis yosierday (says the Sydney "Herald" of i'riday last). Hroir/.ed by n month's exposure to the rays of an Australian summer sun, and iniikiiiß as liard as nails, Jjjrlles pedalled Ihvoiigli the city Iralljc as fresh as if he had just returned from a spin into (ho suburbs. The crowd waiting at (ho l-ieneral Post Office Rave the long-dislanre champion tho heartiest of hearty welcomes, and he came, iu for public plaudits all along (ho Parraimitta Koad, whero his arrival had been expected. The overlander had finite a retinue onco he pot into the suburbs. On the last stage of his journey, from Melbourne, to Sydney, iiirtlcs was accompanied by two motor cyclists, and a few miles out of Sydney several motor-cars picked him up. Riding nt the head of his petrol-driven escorts, tho dust-stained cyclist, beut grimly over his handle-bars, made an interesting figure, and wherever he was noticed in time—and his tooting entourage heralded his coming right merrily —room was at once mudo by drivers of vehicles to give him a. free run along the home, stretch. People in the streets stopped to gaze after tho hero of (ho long ride, and to cheer him in congratulation oi his feat. .He bore all the outward and visible signs of a much-travelled wheelman, and especially was this tho case, before he lightened his load of equipment before reaching Sydney. strapped to his machine at t'his previous stage was his tent equipment, his blankets, and guns, the total weight, including that of the rider, being 2lcwt., and the outfit alono marked him oiit as a waylarer. Anything may happen in a tour iroin the west to the east of tho Australian continent; so tent and blankets were an absolute necessity. Jin-tics in the interior olten found himself among wild blacks, and the shootingiron was no less necessary for defence tlian ior securing him a bird or a wallabv when he was far, far away from citv restaurants and the flesh-pots of Egypt." i I i' e £'. 01, th Territory, he stales he shot 10 alligators in ouo day, the largest being lGlt. long. He found the blacks suspicious, and at first they mistook him tor an inspector or police officer, and, being tearful of having to accompany him to a Government reserve, gave him a wide berth at first. To gain their confluence, lie went hunting and shooting with them for days at a stretch. Leaving out of count GOOD miles which Ho covered before reaching I'remantle, and when lie was spying out strange country and sight-seeing generally, without an eye to records, Birtles rode 317, r i miles from I'rcmantle to Sydney in 31 days J hours, thus eclipsing 1\ "White's ns^tuir 13110 "^ 8^ He approximately accomplished 100 miles a day, and after negotiating tho trackless and sandy stretch of tho Western Australian goldfields, had a 1G hours' spell in Adehide. Generally speaking, in what lie calls his 31 days "plug" from the western to the eastern centres he encountered dry and dusty weather, and to an interviewer he stated after the end of his trip that tho dust worried him moro than anything. Irom Adelaide to Sydney the wind blew m his face For days at a stretch ho sometimes did not see a human being in the 11,000 miles he traversed since he left ■Sydney. In South Australia he had a bad fall after leaving Kinston, and his injuries compelled him to ride only short stages for the following three days. When he reached Mclbourno ho had broken two records. Leaving Mellonrnc at 5 p.m. last' Sat nrday, Birtles was accompanied by the Victorian Tccortl-blreaking motor-cyclist, and, as showing the aggravatinely bad roads that. New South Wales is" getting notorious for, lie says that between Melbourne and Sydney ho did not ride on ten miles of good thoroughfare.