Friday 5th October Kimba to Port Augusta and the busy modern world.

Friday 5^th October

After over 2500 km on rough roads, Leathery Backside meets Iron Knob.

In front of a big digger which worked at Iron Knob until the early eighties 

 On top of the big digger was this pair of real Galahs. Much prettier than yesterday's statue.

Arriving at Port Augusta and looking forward to a day off the bike.

Our cabin for the next two nights. 

Annoyingly we could have had three nights for the price of two but we have to move on.

Chirupping Wedgebill. Great name for an interesting bird of inland arid Australia.

It’s sunny but oh so cold when I start from Kimba at 7 am. I have two long sleeve layers on top plus gillet and arm warmers, two payers of shorts, leg warmers, shoe covers and thick full gloves! It is a sidewind but quite strong. I ride north alone as Mandy stays for breakfast at the hotel and to try to book future hotel rooms. It is rolling woodland then rolling farm land then open saltbush/heath type vegetation. I go a total of 88km to Iron Knob, Australia’s largest open cast iron ore mine. There is a big new operation with trains taking the ore to Wyallah on the coast where there is a steelworks we saw a TV programme about last week. It has been bought by a British Asian multimillionaire who hopes to save the Aussie steel industry. Beside this is the small, almost ghost town like, Iron Knob where there is an offer of a museum and mine tours. The tours are too late in the day (if they exist) and the museum seems run just for locals to chat in, so we go on our way, grateful we don’t live here! Lots of prefabricated corrugated iron houses still in use.

I finish off the ride north to Port Augusta where we’ll stay for 2 nights. It has warmed a bit but only to gloves and shoe covers come off. On the right as we head north is a large military range with a warning sign every few metres. The road is ok until we join the road up the coast from Port Lincoln and Whyalla when the road gets narrower and very much busier. The last 26 km is really very unpleasant cycling. If it was like this all the way it would not be worth doing. Hopefully the highway A1 which I use for the start of the next cycling day will not be so bad or so busy.

Anyway, I make it to the Discovery Park by 3.15 pm where we have a cabin booked for two nights. I shower and we get straight off to the nearby Aridlands Botanic Garden which is a place where, as well as plants representing different arid areas of Australia has records of some birds I want to see. Top of the list is Chirruping Wedgebill. Who can resist a name like that, plus it has a crest which is always a plus?! Enquiries at the visitor centre produces less help than hoped for but as usual it is well meaning volunteers on duty. Anyway, a bit of a walk in the grounds produces several good views of the wanted bird sitting up on bushes and singing well. Almost too easy but we deserved a bit of easy birding after cycling over 1600 miles to see it.

Back to the cabin to plan tomorrow’s day off. Birdwatching and Steam Trains on the menu and absolutely no cycling.

157.3 km today in 5 hours 56 minutes – an average of 26.5 kph. Total so far 2605.83 km