LOCK TO ELLISTON

LOCK TO ELLISTON = 92km

CUMMULATIVE TOTAL = 1181km

WATERLOO CARAVAN PARK = $25.20 with discount (powered)

 

Well as you can see from our final destination today (Elliston) we are not in the place we were suppose to be in!  Our plan was to travel north to Highway A1 and to a place called Wuddina (pronounced wood-na ...don't ask we keep getting corrected as we pronounce it Wud-dina) but we found out last night that the caravan park which is also a conference and motel doesn't take dogs and on their website they highlight the fact that they have a 'strictly no dogs' policy. Soooooo we had to change our plans and after many a discussion we decided to flag Streaky Bay and go across west to Elliston and join the coast there so we miss the part from Streaky Bay to Elliston. It is quite annoying that some piddly little obscure town on the main highway won't take dogs.  We did look at alternatives but that would make that day too long or the next day too long and the rest area was too close to the road and no toilets (it would have been better of the road and no toilets) and with the weather tipping to be above 30 degrees we sort of didn't want too longer day trying to find somewhere to camp alongside the road.  So here we are at Elliston!

We did get up before light (it gets light here quite late in the morning around 6.30am before you can see things properly) so we managed to get away before 8am.  The wind was suppose to be a east-north-east and around 15km per hour so that would help us with the long day ahead (90km) but when we started there was no wind and it was overcast and chully!

It was lovely riding on that Birdseye highway no cars!  We did come across some grain fields and even the canola was cut and drying out ...

our road is relatively flat but there were a few undulations, the road itself was also lumpy and bumpy which was strange compared to the previous 2 cycle days the road surface was ideal for bikes ... they shoud rename this highway as the 'cycle highway' as it is a dream to ride on!

we were cycling along quite nicely and making good time, we decided to break the ride into 20km lots and to have a cuppa at 40km.  We found a sub station at the right moment for our cuppa and used the self timer to take this family portrait ... the first photo taken Kouta had his backside to the camera ha typical!

a special moment between Neil and Kouta ...

As we get further away from Lock the grain fields become less and less and there is more empty lands dotted with the odd herd of sheep or cattle, but most of it was empty.  In the distance we could always see the 'Ayers Rock' of the Eyre Peninsula - Mt Wedge - nice to see they really thought long and hard for the name for this monolith!

and as we got closer you could see that there were more grain fields at the base of it.  It is about the 60km mark that we encountered another touring cyclist - an elderly guy riding a Bike Friday and towing a 2 wheeled trailer, he was British but lives in Sydney and was cycling from Esperance to Adelaide via the Nullabour plain - he said he has had nothing but headwinds - he started in September about the same time as us

At 60km we took another break - the legs were still okay but we beginning to feel it.  The road was more undulating now but still ridable.
Sometimes we come across some interesting looking letterboxes - like converted fridges, microwaves, tree stumps etc but this one is probably the best so far...

great use of a small model aeroplane! 

By now at the 70km mark the sun is beating down on us and all around us are fields of rocks ... we are not sure if they are farming them or there is too many of them to clear and farm the land!



When we started the day out we didn't think that it would reach 30 degrees but by lunchtime it was warm and about 7km from Elliston you have to go up a 3km steady climb and I tell you it was hard to do after already doing 85km! and it was hot by then but once at the top you got an amazing view of the ocean and Waterloo bay ...

 

We finally arrived at 2.30pm which wasn't too bad and it was hot now around 34 degrees so it was great to set up camp and with the shade cloth as we are exposed to the afternoon sun. Not alot of people here at the moment but they expect a full camp on Saturday.  Nice campground they have a good camp kitchen and free bbq - going to eat fresh food for dinner!

Elliston is very small and the local IGA is small and really expensive but what we sort of expect in these small towns that we stay in.

We are staying here 3 nights as Neil doesn't want to ride on Saturdays as we are finding that that is a very heavy traffic day anywhere!