Day 47: Enough Rain Yet? Apparently Not

May 1st, 2011

Meningie to Strathalbyn
Distance: 104km
Total distance: 2398km

It was still raining when I woke up. Spent my morning checking on few sources of forecast on TV and online, all predicted its going to be raining all day. I had an internal debate on whether I should stay for another night at the cabin or ride in the rain to Strathalbyn, about 100km away. Two hours later, I decided to go ahead with riding. Told myself that this is merely a rain, not a storm or anything worse. Besides, I was prepared with rain gears. Off I went at 9.20am.

Looking out from my cabin window to check out the weather condition. To be on this side of the window, or the other side, that is the question
By the end of the day, everything you see here were soaking wet, even the contents inside my panniers

Riding in the rain was kinda fun, minus the traffic. The traffic was what worries me most. Today I observed something disturbing for cyclists riding in the rain and foggy condition. I noticed motorists tend to give me very little clearance, presumably trying to minimise the risk of colliding with the oncoming traffic by not overlapping the opposite lane. As a result, several times a vehicle overtake me with 1-metre clearance or less running at 100kmh. That’s the last thing you would want when riding in the rainy and foggy atmosphere. Anyhow, I managed to just kept riding non-stop for about 47km until I reached River Murray where I took a free ride on a ferry to cross the river. A chap approached me while on the ferry. Apparently he built trikes (faired ones) for schools for the trike competition Pedal Prix! I think he did that quite some time ago as he was checking out my GT3 and commented that this is a fine piece of engineering. This model has been around for close to 10 years!

Lake Albert. Nothing to see due to rain and fog
This wet after only 10 minutes into riding
Free ferry ride across River Murray!

Had a quick lunch at a petrol kiosk in Wellington before continuing to Strathalbyn. The ride so far has been quite flat, at times I was able to maintain above 20kmh for an hour or so. There was no shoulder from Wellington onwards but it may be a good thing. The road was smooth, unlike the shoulder this morning, it was rough. It was even harder to ride on a rough shoulder seeing that the driving road next to it was smooth. Nearing Langhorne Creek, I rode pass several wineyards, must be nice to ride here during a sunny day. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the grapes scent along this stretch. By the time I reach Langhorne Creek, I was only 14km to Strathalbyn. I wanted to get a drink but the general store was closed. Small towns like this usually won’t have any business opened on a Sunday. For some reason, me left toes become numb, too moisty perhaps? My supposedly water resistant shoe cover wasn’t able to withstand the 6 hours of continues exposure to the rain, hence my soaking wet socks.

Lunch at Wellington, and an opportunity to be unshowered for a while
No shoulders but this means I can ride on the smooth road without pressure
A pink lake?! Pretty sure its a salt lake but why is it pink?

I finally reached Strathalbyn at about 4pm, made a quick enquiry at the info centre and head straight to the caravan park. As soon as I entered the park, it appears the rain has finally stopped. So I opted for a tent site, anyhow their cabins were full. The ground was all wet, but hey, at least it stopped raining! And I can finally see a bit of blue sky. Took a nice and long warm shower shortly after. It was the most awesome shower I’ve ever had for a while! There was still a bit of daylight after I came out from shower so I took a ride into the town centre to check out the historic buildings and also to look for food. They have a very nice garden in the middle of the town. They even have Woolies, I use this as one of the indicators of how big a town is. A big supermarket with no competitor, a couple major petrol stations, and no giant fast foods. I reckon the population is about 3000.

Campsite for tonight, wet ground but no longer raining, so it's all good
Sunset sky as I was cruising in the town centre

Just checked Wikipedia, it says 3894, well, not too far off! After touring in Australia for a while, one tends to develop this skill. Now I’m really hoping the forecast of mostly sunny tomorrow is pin point accurate. Since I’ll be doing a long climb across the Adelaide Hills and apparently the scenery there is fantastic.

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