The last two days I was either riding ahead or slightly behind the rain. Today I was in it most of the day. Not to worry, with the right gear, a straight road and plenty of time I really enjoyed the ride. Totally different, with temperatures between 15-18C it turned into a great day to ride.
From last night’s stopover at the Nullarbor I continued E and stopped at Nundroo Roadhouse for a cup of coffee and had a really interesting chat with a truckie and his wife. They were heading W in a cattle road train; she now travels with him after telling their 18 yr old son, some 4 yrs ago, “I’m off”.
I continued and found that the Nullarbor Plain was almost at an end, the vegetation became heavier, and as I approached Penong the wheat fields appeared and light industry was evident. Penong had a large number of older styled windmills, never did find out why, but they were pumping water. There was also a massive gypsum mine nearby at Lake McDonald(?), something like 87 square kms and 48m deep – enormous.
I headed onto Ceduna, the largest town since Norseman, refuelled, had lunch and continued on. Ceduna is a fishing town and I had just missed the Oysterfest. The weather was not conducive to sightseeing but great for riding. So I chose the latter activity.
I road further SW down the Eyre Peninsula through towns such as Smoky Bay, Streaky Bay and Port Kenny onto Elliston for the night. These towns are basically fishing holiday villages, keen on tourism, with grazing properties surrounding them up the peninsula.
Today I had my first animal strike. This black bird, around the size of a seagull, took off, flew parallel to me for a while then turned straight into the screen bounced over my head and hit the ground behind me. You simply have to look long and right straight, and I did, still not what I would like to happen again.
So in all around 570km today, still feeling as though I could continue at the end, but that was enough, no need to push the envelope. The weather is still likely to be wet tomorrow so I’ll make a decision of where to and for how long when I rise. I had a 2 and 1/2 hour shift in the clock yesterday so a lot closer to Sydney time – I must be get closer.
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