Tuesday 7 October 2014

Australia 2014 - (13) Eyre Peninsula

My night in the Franklin Harbour Hotel in Cowell was riotous – honestly, you’d think they’d never seen a woman before. There were about three groups of men scattered about the bar in various states of inebriation and no sooner had one lot come up and quizzed me about who I was and where I was going, the next lot would do the same thing. Eventually, I retired to my room for some peace and quiet.

Next morning I was on the road for 10 am and in Tumby Bay by midday. Walshy came and met me at the harbour and took me round to his place to dump my stuff before taking me for lunch at the Seabreeze Hotel. After a short nap he then took me on a tour of the local area in his 4WD. My goodness it’s beautiful – white sandy beaches lapped by azure and petrol blue seas on one side then huge swathes of wheat and barley fields stretching inland until the land begins to rise giving way to sheep farms. He took me from coast to fields to flocks.

On the way back we stopped in to see a couple of Walshy’s friends, one of which had a huge Honda Goldwing onto which he attaches a small caravan contained within a trailer which he tows along behind him. Whilst I marvelled at the scale and luxury of it all, I don’t think they could quite believe how I was travelling.

That evening Walshy cooked dinner for me and I showed him my Postie Bike Challenge photos. He is one of those guys that it’s really easy to be around and when it came to bedtime, I felt quite sad at having to retreat to my room. Walshy was such a gentleman he never even tried to persuade me otherwise.

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Today I left Tumby Bay and continued down the Eyre Peninsula to Port Lincoln, then took the road up the west coast northwards with the intention of rejoining the Eyre Highway. I got as far as Streaky Bay where I’m camping tonight and watching the total eclipse of the moon – a “red moon”, they call it as, after the eclipse, the moon glows red from the sun's reflection.