Day 32 (12/5): Meningie to Kingston SE; 148 km; 23 kph; Caravan Park
Day 33 (12/6): Kingston SE to Penola; 145 km; 23 kph; Caravan Park
Day 34 (12/7): Penola to Hamilton; 135 km; 19 kph; Cabin in Caravan Park
Day 35 (12/8): Hamilton to Halls Gap; 100 km; 19 kph; YHA Hostel
As the observant viewer can see above, the distance covered each day have risen dramatically. There are two reasons for that. First, with my Christmas return date and desire to ride from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney, I have set a fairly rigorous schedule for myself in terms of nightly destinations. More importantly, I got almost three days of tailwinds in the last five days riding (with mostly sidewinds the rest of the time). Yippee! For those of you who ride, imagine covering the last 60 km of day 33 in just over two hours on flat ground. Good thing it wasn't like this those first couple of days out of Adelaide last month--I would have tried to ride the "big loop" and would be a dried up shriveled sobbing mess somewhere out in the outback between Katherine and Fitroy Crossing (get out your maps everyone)!
Anyway, couple of other hightlights from last five days. I was thinking the other day about maybe not needing a spare tire or more than one tube as my new 700*38 Armadillo tires were so burly. Less than five minutes later I had my first flat of the trip (I am not kidding, this is how it happened). Fixed it no problem. Riding yesterday towards end of long, difficult (hilly!) ride I noticed that I was really slogging on what appeared a fairly flat road. Finally stopped for a snack and noticed I had another flat! After fixing it and getting back on I immediately sped up by at least 5 kph--what a relief though I felt a bit silly. You may also notice "cabin" or "caravan park" listed. Caravan park means I just camped (Aussies call their campgrounds caravan parks). In Meningie I got a cabin kind of on a whim--it ended up raining for about three hours that evening so my whim was good. Last night I did not get to town until 6 pm--setting up camp and figuring out dinner, etc was not appealing so cabin it was. For about $50 US I got kitchen, bedroom/queen bed, TV, porch, ensuite (that's a bathroom/shower in the unit). It was sweet though it didn't rain.
Also, the boat shown below is the Wellington ferry which I rode on day 32 as well. According to the pilot its the saem actual boat Sandy and I rode in 1992 (going the other direction). Below that is shot of Coorong National Park--sort of like our Everglades but long and skinny.
Finally, riding yesterday amongst large gum tree fillled fields I came into an area where there must have been a thousand white cockatoos milling about. I caught one photo of a group of them--see below. It was hilarious albeit a bit nosiy.
Tonight I am in Halls Gap at the cleanest hostel I have ever seen. This town is at the north end of Grampians National Park, which I rode through on the way here today. Tomorrow I am going to hike in the park before riding on to my next town in the afternoon so look for some good pics in next post. Weather forecast is a bit suspect the next couple of days so everyone cross something that I luck out. Mainly I don't want to have to start riding in rain. Once I am on bike its not so bad when it starts, you've got no choice but to suit up and ride on.
Running low on time (only bought an hour of Interent time) so better get on with it. That's why this posting probably seems a bit rushed--it is! Oh hey Jeff, I tried putting captions on pics but its not working and I'm out of time. Will try again next time I get free web at a library. Its a good idea.
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