Day 110 31 days to go. Distance yesterday 200km today 75km total 10087km. It’s 7pm Thursday 25/10/2012 Yalata West Rest Area. Talk about yesterday and today being chalk and cheese. I woke yesterday with blue skies and a tail wind how incredibly beautiful for the first 30km where the road hugged the bite and I was able to enjoy the euphoric views at 2 of the lookout spots earlier on. It was so beautiful to stop and savor the coastline with pickies and moments of delish. I took a photo of the info display at one of the spots and have included the details to share the interesting facts about this stretch of the Nullabor National Park. “Nullabor plain is the worlds largest single piece of limestone and covers an area of of around 200 000 square kilometres. When limestone interacts with underground water, it dissolves to form a ‘karst’ landscape – an amalgamation of caves, underground channels, and a rough bumpy ground surface. The nullabor hides much of its beauty benneath its surface of the National Park. It is an extensive cave system most of which is unexplored. Passages run for kilometers linking massive underground caverns . Some contain saline groundwater, others have interconnecting passages that form extensive underground water labyrinths. When enough limestone erodes underground, sinkholes develop like the Murrawinjie cave. Early European explorers and settlers were challenged by the alien landsape and unforgiving aridity. To the explorer Edward Eyre, the Nullabor was ‘the sort of place one gets into in bad dreams.’
Rube and I flew on through our ride and passed a rest area where a couple were pulled up and waiting along the roadside for us. It was Bill and Christine who we met at the rest area where we spent our birthday. Bill treated me to a can of solo that day. They were so happy to see us again and invited me for a coffee and bickies which was perfect timing and another awesome treat. They live in in NSW in a place called Gorokan halfway between Sydney and Newcastle. They have kindly invited us to stay with them on our way through which is so lovely. I’ve had a relooky at the maps today for our options from Port Augusta. I need to have a chat with my poppy to see what he thinks will work well. We’re both pretty weary and the Nullabor albeit cool indeedy has taken a toll on the days and on us mentally and physically. So I’m keen to keep the kms per day not to crazy for the last leg home. Which ever way we choose it needs to be manageable and sustainable for the last month. Im sure we’ll perk up once we get a break from the constant headwind which gets a bit tiresome. What a great thought home yayayay !!!!
We squeezed out as many kms as we could yesterday covering 200km for the day which is the biggest day we’ve done but I was keen to make the most of the westerly. We arrived later in the arv at the Nullabor roadhouse, a welcomed sight as it was threatening to rain with showers blowing in late off the ocean. We managed to get Buddy set up before the rain started so I tucked myself in for an early night after a shower and bite to eat. Unfortunately the manager wasn’t prepared to let us stay for free which was a bit of a shock to the system being spoilt for so long. Ouch to the purse but can’t complain with our run of good fortune. It did make me take stop and have an extra appreciation thought for all the places to date that have supported us!!!!! A good heads up how lucky we’ve been 🙂
I woke this morning feeling weary and fantasized about going back to bed with toast and coffee and more zzzz’s. It was a long hard haul again today with the scenery changing to hilly and more wooded landscape. And of course the headwind was back as we’ve come to expect from the Nullabor. I was talking to some campers this morning and Bill was explaining the wind patterns this time of year bringing about south easterlies for the most part. Oh well!!! We’re at the other end of this stretch now and only 5 or 6 days to Port Augusta. With the early start this morning and tricky ride backing up from yesterday, I was pretty much shattered by midday and stopped at this rest area to boil up a cuppa for some inspiration. There were a couple here traveling back to Sydney who shouted me a coffee and Scotch Finger bicky just yummy!!!1 it was also cool to have some company and conversation. I waved them off and decided that was enough headwind bashing for one day. It’s a nice rest area and with water which is awesome. I set up buddy and passed out for a couple of hours which was delishly delish!!!! We’ve then chilled for the afternoon mapping out a route home as I mentioned earlier. We’re sharing the rest area with a couple of local magpies who have chatted to us during the arv and kept us company. I must say Im a bit looking forward to being home and seeing the fam again plus my big sister Katie will be there to greet Rube and I on the 25th fabulously yum thought!!! For now but it’s time to cook up some dinner and tuck myself in cosy for an early start again in the morn. Talk soon x
shecyclesolo 