Day 156

Date:- 17 August 2010
Distance:- 117.40 Km
Distance to Date:- 9255.7 Km
Start:- Edaggee Rest Area
Finish:- Overlander Roadhouse Caravan Park
Comment:- Last night it was too cold to eat outside. So I cooked my tea and made a cuppa in the tent. Crawled into bed about 7.30pm and listened to the radio before going to sleep. There was a shower of rain about 8 pm. I had a reasonable sleep waking early and was going to get an early start. But the sound of rain on the tent put pay to that and I eventually got up about 6.30 am.

Had breakfast, packed up wet tent and all, and on the road by 7.45 am. Nice morning, no wind at this stage, sun shining and a bit of cloud around.

A lot of feral goats around, and to make me feel at home, a few small mobs of sheep, as well as some cattle.

A north westerly wind is starting to come in about 9 am and as I am heading south west it’s a nice tail wind.

I spotted another cyclist coming towards me so stopped to say hi. It was Stephanie and she is from Germany. She flew into Perth and she is cycling up to Port Hedland and hoping to get a job so her visa can be extended. She then wants to visit the various National Parks before going to Darwin then home.

About 2 km from Wooramel Roadhouse it started to rain lightly so I didn’t bother to stop and put covers on. By the time I got to the roadhouse the rain was quite heavy. I arrived there about 10.30 am, had a bite to eat and decided to make a decision to stay there or go on to Overlander Roadhouse. The rain stopped about 1.30 pm and it was decision time. Overlander it was.

There was a popular Lookout where cars and caravans could drive up a hill and oversee the country. And a bit further down the road I crossed over the 26th Parallel.

About 70 km out from the rest area a car pulled up in front of me and the driver got out and held up a bottle of water. I stopped and he gave three small bottles of water, also a donation which was very much appreciated.

Stopped for a quick break about 90 km out at 3.30 pm. Wind has swung around to the east. I am watching heavy rain moving across in front of me while I am still enjoying the sunshine. It wasn’t long before the road was very wet, and every time a truck came towards me I would get off the road to avoid being drenched.

Finally arrived at my destination about 5.30 pm booked into the caravan park, set the tent up, had a nice hot shower, then it was diary time.

Tomorrow I hope to get to Nerrin Nerrin Rest Area about 75 km from here.