Friday 10 October 2014

Up until now I hadn't met, or even seen, many other bikers, but today was to be different. First, a guy I'd seen in Ceduna and also at the Nullarbor Road House kept catching up with me. He was with his family who were towing a caravan and setting an even slower pace than mine hence the reason I kept meeting him.

Loads of bikes seemed to be going in the opposite direction too. I presumed they were going to the Moto GP races at Phillip Island which Mark and Kim in Port Augusta had been heading to.

It was a beautiful ride today but after the storm at the Nullarbour Road House, it was freezing and I ended up wearing my liner and windproof jacket beneath by riding jacket all day. After crossing over the Western Australia border the road started to rise and at Eucla it swept round a big bend onto a straight which followed the base of the Hampton Tablelands for miles. I'm pretty sure I also passed the end of the Dingo Fence which crossed the highway round about Eucla but I'm not entirely sure as it wasn't signposted.

Eventually the road headed over the tablelands at the Madura Pass and led onto a much more wooded area. At Cocklebiddy I was keen to get off the highway and go and have a look at the Eyre Bird Observatory and the Old Telegraph Station but this involved a trip down a 5 km dirt track so I gave it a miss. It's not that the dirt still scares me, I just don't want to do it on a fully laden bike.

My final destination for the day was Caiguna. As I filled up Ruby's tank a guy on a Triumph Sprint pulled up behind me. We chatted for a bit, then another biker I'd noticed having a cup of tea came over, followed by two other guys towing bikes on a trailer. Then the guy following the caravan turned up.

After they all moved on, I was left with the guy who'd been drinking tea, Ed. He was trying to decide whether he'd continue on or stay there the night. When I said I was staying, he decided to join me. He was travelling around Australia on a huge 1400cc Suzuki and wearing only shorts, a T-shirt and a Drizabone rain coat. He was a little eccentric.

After we pitched our tents another guy on a 650cc Honda turned up and rolled out a swag to sleep in. Usually these have a mattress and sleeping bag included, but he only had the mattress and no sleeping bag. That night the temperature dropped to almost zero and when I got up he'd been up for hours having almost frozen to death.