Adelaide, SA

On Sunday we caught our best tailwind yet.  We got up early, loaded up on museli and peanut butter and did 600km in 8hrs.....on a bus.  It was probably one of the better decisions of the trip even though it was hard to swallow a little help.  We decided we still wanted to explore at least the west side of the Eyre Pen. and from all accounts wouldn't miss much by not pedaling the east side and then up, around and back down to Adelaide.  They were right and it was bloody hot (even on the bus) and we saved ourselves at least 7 days of biking just to connect two dots on a map.  I would have rather biked the Nullarbor again than do that stretch - as they say it "out bores" the Nullarbor.

We ended up staying 2 days in Streaky Bay.  We had a lovely meal the night of our last post of BBQ oysters (grilled in the shell with lemon juice and garlic), king george whiting (a small white fish), and "salmon" also a small white fish.  The fish they catch here (and are allowed to catch here) are so small and not even because we are spoiled by big fish in AK.  They are perch size and both taste about like that as well.  The other fish were contributed by 2 other couples - we also had a couple salads, pasta (we made that of course) and lots of beer, wine, port and a little Jameson's with coffee for dessert.  It was quite a fun night.  The fishing the next day didn't pan out - they couldn't walk out far enough to get to the weedy areas where the fish hang out.  But we went to a beautiful little beach which we had all to ourselves and had a very enjoyable day.

By heading south we avoided the heat that was predicted - although it still got over 100 in the area we would have headed if we had bagged the Peninsula.  We had moderate temps along the coast and of course headwinds to keep us cool.  It took us a little over 2 days to get down to Coffin Bay - a little town on the west end of the Pen. that has a NP.  We camped one night in the NP and had a great time.  Lovely birding right around camp and we also took a long walk with more birding and an overview of the park. We saw live Roos again - which is always a highlight to the day and Emu with chicks.  From there we biked over to Port Lincoln - on the tip of the Pen on the east side.  It also has a NP and we biked out there for a 2 night stay.  The first night we pretty much had the campsite to ourselves - on a beach overlooking the bay that Pt Lincoln sits on.  It was so still and quiet - and a beautiful star scape to boot.  We are now seeing Orion rising in the east after sunset.  A little taste of home.  The next day we hung around camp enjoying the seabird activity and listening to ABC news (their NPR) and even heard a hr show from All things considered.  That made us miss home as well!  In the afternoon, we took a nice long hike further into the park - partly along the coast and partly inland.  Good birding as well.  On Sat we lingered as long as we could at camp and then went back into Pt Lincoln for the evening.  We needed to be there to catch the bus in the am.

In Adelaide, we were met by David and Noelene.  They are the folks we met in Pemberton that have done a lot of cycle touring themselves.  They had biked to the station and then we all biked back to their house.  It had cooled down by then and it was nice to do a little ride after sitting on the bus all day.  This morning we rode over to their friends' house (also cyclists) for breakfast and then we rode to the beach and had a coffee.  They have invited over a friend for dinner (or tea as they call it here) tonight who is also a crakerjack bike mechanic.  We are needing some major bike repairs!  We now have matching bummed up rear derailers, although we know how mine got dinged.   On our way to Coffin Bay we encountered some fierce gusting crosswinds over totally open agricultural terrain.  I got blown off the road into the loose gravel and wiped out...twice.  The first time I hit the road - scraped a knee and elbow.  The second time I actually popped out before hitting the road but didn't have the foresight to stop the bike so the derailer took a hit.  Now I know what Tim was dealing with through the Nullarbor but even he admits it wasn't such a problem then (flat rds and headwinds don't lend themselves to a lot of gear shifing) as it is now (more hills but still bad winds).  It was another factor that made the bus attractive - no need to do more damage than is necessary.

Again we are dealing with 90s-100s temps for the week and deciding what to do.  Tomorrow marks the halfway pt of our time (where did it all go) and we have a month's worth of pretty solid riding to get from here to Sydney.  Tasmania is definitely out of the picture.  It's not worth going there unless you have at least 2-3wks and a car to explore.  We would need at least a month on a bike.  We'll have more decisions to make about where to go and how to spend our time but I have no doubt it will be enjoyable wherever the road takes us.