Distance travelled: 477 kms.
Cumulative distance: 11,314 kms.
Sponsored by: John Hutchison.
It was pretty brisk this morning at the motel, 3C feels like -3C.
Breakfast was an odd affair with cereal, toast and a light serving of bacon and eggs that appeared intermittently at the bar. I gave up on the bacon and eggs and stuck to the continental. I filled up at the local Shell service station and donned my heated gloves only to find the batteries were flat. I'd forgotten to charge them so with numb fingers I headed out in the rather cool early morning. I also managed to leave my camelpak at the motel. I was interrupted when getting my riding gear on, which is fatal so I forgot to pick up the camelpak. I called the motel and talked to Steve who was most obliging and said he would send it to my home address in Elanora Heights. He would email me an invoice which would contain his bank account details.
Some riders, mainly the latte set, went through Streaky Bay to have a coffee (half an hour after they had breakfast). I didn't bother as I'd been there before in 2010. The road from Streaky Bay rejoins the Eyre Highway near Poochera. All the small settlements along the highway to Port Augusta are in a pretty sorry state. I went into Poochera, Minnipa and Pygery and all have seen better days. We were meant to refuel at Wudinna but when I went into the town the service station was closed!!! Luckily I found a local who told me the service station was on the highway just out of town. After refuelling Erica and I went to check out the "Australian Farmer Sculpture ". It was very impressive showing all aspects of farming in Australia.
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| The Australian Farmers Sculpture. |
Further down the highway there is the town of Kimba with the "Giant Galah". Unfortunately as it was Sunday everything was closed except the Shell service station. Like a lot of Australian small towns they can't the staff.
I arrived at the motel around 2.30 pm and the people in reception didn't have a booking or a me. When I explained we were a group riding for the Steven Walter Childrens Cancer Foundation it rang a bell and out came a box with all the keys. As I parked my bike in front of my room I noticed that my headlight wasn't working. The globe had blown. Luckily they are pretty common and I found one in the local Shell shop (the last one).
