Day 57: Unbelievable Encounters!

May 11th, 2011

Clare to Melrose
Distance: 140km
Total distance: 2810km

Not going to have a rest day afterall and I’m glad I didn’t, as I had a couple of interesting encounters on the road.

Woke up to a sky full of rain clouds. After a brief chat with Scott, a neighbour camper who invited me for tea and toast but I have to decline because I must start riding early today to get more distance done. Not long after I hit the road, I heard the rustling of the tree leaves but I couldn’t feel any wind. “This is odd” I wondered. A moment later it suddenly hit me “OMG, this is a tailwind!!!” I haven’t been getting a tailwind for so long I forgot how it feels like, haha. Pity, the wind only lasted for a while and it comes and go whenever it feels like.

At about 30km, when I reached the top of a long gentle climb I heard a “Good morning!” from the opposite lane. Turned around and I was pleasantly surprised to see another touring cyclists! Roger is his name, a 64 year old English cyclist who rode all the way from England to Malaysia and flew over to Perth to finish off his world tour in Australia. Needless to say, when two touring cyclist meet, there are always so much to share! Not long later, a bloke driving a self-contained 4WD stopped and asked whether we would like some tea, “Sure!” and he quickly set up his gas stove. Philip toured on a push bike in the past as well so we shared our traveling experience but it was mostly them doing the talking since I’m only a newbie and haven’t explored much. Nevertheless, we had a good time and the hot cup of tea was possibly the best thing we can have on that cold and windy morning. After about an hour of chat, we decided it’s time to move on as we both needed to make it to our destination before the day ends. It was a fantastic encounter and after we left I kept thinking about what we talked about, imagining myself going through what Roger went through in his world tour.

For the rest of the day, the strong wind continues but it was no longer a direct tailwind. The rain also comes and go so I never had a chance to make myself dry the whole day. Had my lunch at Georgetown and rode passed my destination, Gladstone. Since I was already wet, I figured I could just ride until sunset and settle down at the nearest town. As I was exiting Gladstone, I had my next interesting encounter. This time it was two touring cyclist! Also from England and they were around my age. What are the chances of meeting two sets of touring cyclist within a few hours! They were Damo and Andy, doing a world tour on a similar route as Roger but in the opposite direction. They flew to Perth to start their journey and will end their Australian leg in Sydney before flying to Kuala Lumpur and ride all the way back to London, where they live. They met Roger while riding in Western Australia and thought he was behind them. We didn’t stop for long, so after we exchange our namecards, we parted. They warned me about the flies in Nullarbor. Damo gave me his mosquito head net! Here’s their website: http://bigbikeback.co.uk/

Meeting the three cyclists gave me some psychological boost. I ended up riding all the way to Melrose, absorbing some 140km along the way. Today was also the first time I ride in the dark after sunset. If it’s not for the moonlight, it would be pitch black. My cheap made in china lights all holding up well even in such wet conditions. When I got to the caravan park at Melrose, I was quite disappointed with the unpowered sites as they’re basically bush camping ground with access to the park facilities. The camp ground is a public area and in order to get to the showers I need to walk 150 metres crossing a creek (dry that time) with no lights on the walking path. It was still raining when I pitched my tent and the wind got even stronger. I was too tired to cook so I popped into the local pub to have a nice meal of chicken snitzel. Back at the campground, my tent fell over a couple of times and it looks like I have to endure sleeping with the constant flapping sound.