April 27th, 2011
Mount Gambier to Beachport
Distance: 100km
Total distance: 2030km
After an awesome rest day at Mount Gambier, today I’m all set to bush camp at Beachport Conversation Park! I left the town fairly late at 8:45am. Wanted to leave earlier but the dew on my tent took up 30 mins of my time. Such a hassle to wipe the dew off my tent every morning.
Riding out of Mount Gambier was a bit slow, due to undulating road. Ended up stopping for a snack after only 20km. But after that, I found myself riding progressively faster as the terrain got flatter. It seems like a slight downhill but could be an illusion. Turned off from the Princes Hwy to ride into Tantanoola township (road was great by the way, very smooth surface with very light traffic) and another turn off at the town to ride the wind farm drive for a few kms before returning to the town.
Reached Millicent just in time for lunch. Millicent is quite a big town, they have Woolies and a quite few recreational parks here and there. After lunch I just sat at the park for a little longer enjoying the breeze under the picnic shelter. It was windy today but mostly sidewind. At some point it was headwind albeit a mild one. My journey from Millicent to Beachport was very enjoyable. It was very flat and I averaged about 24kmh, even went above 30kmh from time to time when I got the urge for speed! Somewhere along the road I saw a guy riding a full suspension bike, one of those crappy departmental store mountain bike. The only luggage he’s carrying was a huge basket above the front wheel. The guy was riding with a smile on his face, and I was instantly reminded that bicycle touring is all about the joy of riding, regardless of what you’re riding on and how you’re doing it. I waved back at him with a big smile!
Upon reaching Beachport, first thing I did was to grab a bottle of ginger beer from the local supermarket and then get a map and directions to the conservation park campsite from the visitor info centre. The campsite was a further 4km away from the town centre and unsealed road, which was no big deal since it was still very early, about 3pm.
The campsite itself was exceptionally beautiful. Shady tea trees, picnic table and bench and nice sandy soft ground to sleep on! But what really stole my heart was the spectacular Lake George about 2 mins walk from my campsite. The lake was calm and seems edgeless. I walked towards the lake and found myself standing in the water, but it was so shallow it may seem like I’m walking on the surface of the water to someone watching from afar. The experience was so surreal. There was no one there so I spend an hour or so taking photos and enjoying the sight of the mysteriously gorgeous lake.
Before I realize, it was already getting dark so I went back to the campsite and started cooking, this was the first time I used my stove for this tour so I was quite excited. Tonight’s meal is only a heated canned beef and vegetables. Wasn’t an actual cooking since I only heat up the food but since it’s my first time I thought of starting with something easy.
It was dark by 6.30 and I’m inside my tent now. Nothing much to do, so I just read the Tattlers (a government publication about national parks in SA’s lime coast) and find some good reads. Sprayed some peppermint around my tent to keep bugs and animals at bay before going to bed. There’s a caravan next door about 50 metres away but we were separated by trees. Nice to know there’s at least one other person camping around here. I still find camping all by myself a little spooky. Perhaps I will learn to overcome this when I’m forced to. Hehe!