Theaussiechallenge Post # 51 Stanley Rest Area

Day 60 82 days to go. Distance today 60km total 4539km. It’s 12.30pm Wednesday 5/9/12 Stanley Rest Area. There’s a crazy wind today with Mother Nature blowing a south easterly with attitude. Rube and I were ready for a break after slogging 4 hours for 60km. What’s that about and today of all days being our birthday. We rode into the rest area and were greeted with ‘hey Maree want a cuppa?’ Roger and Jan are camped here overnight and apparently we met Saturday night. They too were perched on the rock wall to watch the ‘Stairway to the Moon’ in Roebuck Bay. Morning coffee o’clock is always good especially when made for you. Roger is a retired road train driver so I was a wide eyed kid listening to him talk shop about Truckee’s. It was soon midday and a headwindy 110km to Sandfire Roadhouse had the big thumbs down from me and a gooey spitooey from Rube. It’s otherwise a beautiful day so I checked the days to Perth and could manage early stumps with only minor tweaking. Rube’s been singing,’happy birthday to us’ ever since and I can’t agree more 🙂 We found a possie under a shelter and in all happiness.

It’s 9pm. Rube and I pottered about doing lots of yummy nothing for the afternoon. We had a visit from Hazel who stopped at the rest area for afternoon tea. She gave me the biggest hug in appreciation of our cause what a dear lady. She donated $20 before her and hubby got going again. Another couple Shirley and Colin puled up and Shirley was particularly fascinated with what we’re doing. They are from Perth and hope to cycle in France so we have inspired them to move their idea forward into a plan Nice!!. They offered us to stay when in Perth or leave our gear there if needed when we visit home. There’s a bike shop nearby and they’re quite close to the airport so it’s all very generous, very workable, and very appreciated options. They filled our water bottles before leaving thank you kind folk keep ‘living the dream’ as your business card says and we’ll be in touch soon. I almost forgot, Shirley gave me a piece of fruitcake for my birthday. It didn’t last 5 minutes after they left yum burp! It was happy hour and a man gave me a can of solo for to have over sunset double burp!! Jan popped over and invited me to dinner for a vegy casserole and banana muffins Roger had made for my birthday. Talk about spoilt. We shared a very interesting and easy evening dining under the stars to what was the perfect end to a very cool day. $1404.35 cash donations with Hazel’s $20. Talk soon x