The view from the breakfast table at the Poocheri Hotel
Having breakfast before I notice I may have a puncture.
Monument to celebrate the Australian Farmer at Wudinna
Chris meets Obes from Italy. I had just spotted him ahead when he stopped to look for a camoing spot by the road. He's cold and tired after a gruelling day in the headwind so he gives up 15 km from Kimba. And he has cycled some really hard miles before.
The really impressive silo art at Kimba. It's a pleasant town which is really making an effort to encourage tourists in an otherwise farming town.
A private venture, the giant Galah statue (a common pink parrot) is not as classy as the silo art!
Evesham Wheelers shirt on for photos at the "official" halfway point across Australia.
Breakfast is interrupted when I notice my front tyre is a little soft. Soft not flat but better change here in the Harley garage than out on the road. Can’t find an air leak from the tube or anything in the tyre but change it as a precaution.
It’s dry but cloudy and cold so put on two long sleeve tops and a gillet, two pars of shorts (for impact protection!) overshoes and long fingered gloves. I’m still not very warm in a cold sidewind. I see White Winged Chough as I cycle away. First proper
stop is after 70km at Wudinna where I have a coffee. This like other places we
pass is pushing the Gawler Ranges which are off to the north west. The area is
rolling agricultural land and not very interesting. The wind increases and
turns more into a headwind even when we change direction during the day!
Consequently, it is a long day in the saddle today.
When about 15 km
from our destination I see a cyclist ahead but he stops before I have the
pleasure of passing him. He is an Italian called Obes, who is about my age and
who is looking for somewhere to camp as he is exhausted by the headwind. He is
riding a heavily built bike carrying loads of gear. He has been in Queensland,
up the York Peninsular (very remote with bad roads) and then by boat to the
north coast and then cycled south via Alice Springs to Norseman and then across
the route I’ve been following. He is doing less than half my distance a day and
must have been out on the road for months already. He can’t be persuaded to
take any supplies or to come to Kimba with us. I guess these unsupported types
just like being on their own.
We get to Kimba and
check into what turns out to be the best hotel we’ve stayed in (to be honest
the bar is pretty low!) The food, Moroccan Chicken and Buttered Chicken, are
the best meals we’ve had in Australia but the strawberry sundae is just ice
cream with poor sauce on it. Internet access allows me to post the last few
days on the blog.
Before eating
though we look around town in the last of the sun to see the silo art (really impressive
for once), the giant (and a bit crap) Galah statue and the sign to mark what
they say is half way across Australia though we got to our halfway point the
day before yesterday. As of today we’ve done 59% of our journey.
176.64 km today in
7 hours 24 minutes – an average of 23.8 kph. Total so far 2448.53 km
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