By Robert Hiini
Catholics who travelled to Norseman Parish for Mass on 26 June got to meet a traveller of a different kind at their after-Mass barbeque. Richard Xu Tan, 27, was in town as part of the Australian leg of his
worldwide cycling tour, having just completed a nation-wide trek across
China.
Parishioners from Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Coolgardie and Kambalda ran into Mr Tan by sheer chance, having travelled south to show their support for Norseman Parish.
Dubbed a journey for ‘peace and mother earth,’ Mr Tan is riding with his boss and Taoist monk, FA Hutchison, 71.
The pair departed China for Australia on 2 April. Landing in Perth, they cycled to Norseman before heading across the Nullarbor to Adelaide.
“Australia is certainly different from China,” Mr Tan said.
“What I notice is how ‘long’ things are. If China is famous for ‘big,’ Australia must be famous for ‘long,’” Mr Tan said, making reference to the length of iron ore trains and haulage trucks, as well as the long distances between locations.
Mr Tan thanked Robert Hicks, Chairman of the Goldfields Parish Pastoral Council and fellow locals for their hospitality, saying they were some of the nicest people he had met in his two years of travelling.Prior to his current journey, Richard Tan had never cycled outside China.
Mr Tan’s previous riding exploits include tackling the Tibetan plateaus and crossing north from Xinjian to Shanghai.
Messrs Tan and Hutchison will spend six months in Australia before heading across the Tasman, to New Zealand, and then on to Chile.