The CrossingAdelaide Arrival
Achievement Unlocked
The alarm went at 3.43am and the crew didn't. After a sleepy start, roadside media calls and a countdown measured in parkruns, I reached Torrens and the first capital city since Perth.
Day 63 began at 3.43am, which was the earliest start of HAA so far.
Ben was up making breakfast for me. Ols, very sensibly, was still wrapped up in bed. We had an 18 kilometre drive back to where I had finished the night before, then something like 42 kilometres into Adelaide.
That was the headline: Adelaide.
The spiritual halfway point. The first major city since Perth. The start of the Eastern States capital city tour. A chance to run Torrens parkrun. A place that had been out there in the plan for so long that it almost felt unreal to be walking into it.
The first session had a very HAA complication. I did not see the campervan pass by. I tried calling Ben and Ols many times. No answer.
It turned out that after I set off, they had gone back to sleep.
We were on the outskirts of a major city, which made a huge difference. This wasn’t the Nullarbor. If the campervan disappeared, I could stop at a servo, grab something to eat and keep moving.
There was traffic again. Proper traffic. The day did not have anything like the tranquility of the Nullarbor, but the noise and movement also meant something. Adelaide was close enough to put a spring in my step.
The countdown started to shrink into parkruns.
Five parkruns to go.
Then a sign that sent shivers down my spine: Adelaide and Port Adelaide, right there in front of me. Two and a half parkruns to go.
Then 1.6 parkruns to Torrens parkrun.
Then less than a parkrun.
That last one came after a slight delay for a Daily Mail Australia phone interview. There was a strange amount of media activity building around the Adelaide arrival. ABC had the story moving, ABC Perth wanted a chat, the Daily Mail call came while I was still walking, and the South Australian Heart Foundation had been doing legwork that even made it look briefly as though a TV appearance might happen. That one did not land, but for a little while it was exciting.
Evan, who worked for SA Gate, was fixing a boom gate for Shredlogix. Naturally, I stopped for a chat and a photo even though the day was already full.
Then the final signs came in. City Centre. Hindmarsh. Kent Town. Torrens.
Not too much to say at the moment. So many emotions going on.
That was what I posted from Torrens parkrun, and it still feels like the right level of explanation. Some moments are too big to describe cleanly while they are happening. I had officially reached Adelaide. The first capital city since Perth. The point we had been treating as halfway. The place that had kept pulling us through the long approach from Norseman, the Nullarbor, Ceduna, Port Augusta, and the South Australian towns beyond.
Achievement unlocked. Adelaide, we were here.
The day did not stop there. Julia, my helper on the ground in Adelaide, had organised all sorts of things, including a sports massage at City Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic. The team there had kindly donated the treatment, and I came out saying I felt like I had new feet.
Painful but wonderful. Very much needed.
The official HAA shirts arrived too. STIX FX had turned them around quickly, and they looked bloody amazing. After all the event-shirt pressure that had been sitting in the background in the earlier weeks, seeing the actual shirts in Adelaide felt like a small but very real release.
And then Justin and Sharmaine opened their home to us.
I knew Justin a little from the time he had spent in Perth, through Chris Lark of Runningworks. Our previous conversations had been more “hi” and “yeah, hi” than lifelong friendship, but just after we set off from Perth he had messaged with an offer of somewhere to stay once we reached Adelaide.
What he and Sharmaine did for us that night was wonderfully generous: food, beds, and great company. After weeks of campervan life, roadhouses, rest areas, and constant movement, that kind of welcome meant a lot.
Day 63 had started in the dark with Ben making breakfast and Ols sensibly staying in bed.
It ended in Adelaide with new feet, official shirts, and somewhere warm to sleep.
Videos From The Day
Traffic and Adelaide getting close
Traffic, noise, and the realisation that Adelaide was close enough to feel real.
Open on YouTubeImages From The Day
