Monday 1st
October
A Dingo seeing us away from the Nullabor Roadhouse
Getting ready for wet weather that happily did not affect us.
The last banana in the box. A bit far gone, even by my standards.
Some big climbs today. That is me by the arrow.
All day we followed the rain falling from a front.
The sun came out for a late visit to the seaside at Fowler's Bay
The next bit of bad weather reflected in a salt lake.
Well today turned out much better than expected! Woken in
the early hours by torrential rain on the tin roof. Lie awake trying to work
out what to do if it is too wet to be safe with passing road trains. By
daylight it is showers so some hope. Also, it is not windy at all though it is
cool. Get ready slowly and get my, light, computer and temporary padding on the
saddle covered with a plastic bag. By the time we are ready to go it is dry and
the front that caused the rain is a little way east of us. Drove the bike out
to yesterday’s start finish point seeing a couple of Dingos beside the road and
luckily we don’t catch up the rain though the road is wet with my favourite
smooth bit of the road holding a puddle.
Set off enjoying speeds unheard of for several days yet with
less effort than I was putting in against the wind. Right at the beginning I am
running along with a Whiskered Tern following the road and keeping pace with
me. The bike seemed to have odd noises until I realised it was just that I
could hear the noises instead of just the wind in my ears! Passing trucks don’t
buffet me in the still air. Great.
We are now out of the treeless area and there are birds
around that I can hear! See 4 Major Mitchells Cockatoos including one showing
its colourful crest temporarily and later I have one land close at eye level
and raise the crest. Also see a couple of Scared Kingfishers, Wedgetailed
Eagle.
It warms up slowly so I strip off layers after noon. Stop at
aboriginal community to hopefully have lunch but it is closed and boarded up.
Get to the Nundroo roadhouse early afternoon and Mandy checks in whilst I carry
on along tomorrow’s route, enthused by a temporary tailwind which gave
stretches of 40kph coasting. Soon though it is a strong sidewind and then Mandy
picks me up with an extra 20 kilometers covered that I don’t have to do
tomorrow. Today the cycling was fun again, something it hasn’t been for some
days.
It is now warm and sunny so we drive out to the tiny seaside
settlement of Fowlers Bay. We see what
we think is a new bird for us – Black Eared Cuckoo soon after starting down the
26 km dirt road. See several salt flats with possibly pratincoles sitting in
distance. There are large sand dunes next to the settlement. Several Whiskered
Terns, Caspian Terns and Ruff on the sea weed covered beaches. Have pie and
chips in the warm sun on the prom. Well we eat the bits the flies don’t get!
Don’t be fooled – fliers ARE a problem in Australia!
Back towards the roadhouse we see a huge dark cloud looming
with lightning showing strongly. See some dead Wombats but no live ones even
when we look out with spotlight on the tracks behind the roadhouse, which we
are assured is a hot bed for them. It is raining on and off but who knows what
will happen tomorrow.
After drinking some of the water from the tap, we read the
water is not fit for drinking her for the first time. We also find a large
spider of unknown risk on the bedroom floor, so I do as any real man would do.
I get Mandy to catch it in a glass and put it outside!
134.45 km today in 4 hours 53 minutes – an average of 27.4
kph. Total so far 1998.11 km
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