Day 108: Rest day

September 12, 2022

My morning started with Passmore Cycles at 9am when they opened.

This is the bike shop that Phil from Walpole called and asked if they could do a bit more work on my bike.

Stuart is the owner of the shop. I left my bike with him for 2 hours.

I went and had a coffee at a cafe and then went to the information centre. This is where the Munda Biddi Trail ends.

There is a log book inside and I made my final entry thanking everyone for the trail. I would have bought a sticker for my bike but they didn't have any.

I bought a patch and glued it to my handle bar bag.

Next to the centre was a statue of Mokare 'A man of peace.'

A plaque states he played a role in the peaceful coexistence between Noongar people and the first European settlers.

I returned to Passmore Cycles and Stuart had almost fixed my bike. He had some difficulty due to the shielded cable.

A shielded wire has a wire in the centre, surrounded by plastic (shielded). A second wire is wrapped around the plastic, and then there is the outer plastic layer.

This is a poor choice of wire design for my bicycle and I don't understand why Koga (my bike brand) used it.

Anyways, in my absence Stuart realised he didn't have the appropriate electrical connectors to fix my bike.

Stuart runs the shop himself so he called a friend to watch the shop while he went out and bought the connectors.

Soldering wasn't ideal and he suggested I use some brush-on electrical tape.

Stuart refused to accept any payment for his time stating he didn't do a perfect job. He would have preferred to have my bike for the whole day and completely rewire it.

Stuart didn't have any brush-on electrical tape so I went down the road and bought some and applied it to my bike.

It now works fine and I shouldn't have anymore problems with it. I returned to the bike shop and gave the remainder gluey tape stuff to Stuart so he could use it on other bikes.

Stuart is one of many people that have helped me with their kindness. I find it heart warming stuff.

A few weeks ago when it was very cold at night, I asked Serena to send me some thermal pants. And a new pump.

She sent them express post to the Donnybrook Post Office. For some unknown reason, it was rejected in WA, and then returned to Canberra.

She then sent it to a parcel locker in central Albany. It stayed there for a couple days and was then sent to a post office a few kms from the town centre.

Australia post has been less than perfect on my trip. I recommend to not use parcel lockers. It's best to send stuff express post, care of a post office and they should retain it for a couple of weeks at least. It's just one of those logistical issues about travelling for so long.

I think I've previously mentioned my interest in displaying flags on my bike. Ideally I would like to have the Australian flag, the Aboriginal flag, the Torres Strait Islands flag and the diversity flag. It's hard to represent a few different groups when my flag pole is only so big.

Today I bought an Australian flag and have placed it at half mast on my bike to mourn the passing of the Queen.

I was unable to buy an Aboriginal flag in Albany. I called two local Aboriginal corporations without success.

Harold Thomas designed the Aboriginal flag in the 70's and earlier this year he gave the Commonwealth the rights to it. Since then there has been some uncertainty for shops that wish to sell the flag for fear of copyright infractions.

Today I've ordered some flags online and we'll see if they arrive while I'm on the way home.

Tomorrow it's meant to rain. I'm not sure what I'll do. I may have another rest day.

I asked at the information centre and I called the Aboriginal centres. There are no tours available. This is because of reduced staffing levels due to COVID19.

After lunch I saw this great artwork by the docks.

This afternoon a new friend Tony played some tunes.

Today's ride: 15 km (9 miles)
Total: 5,853 km (3,635 miles)

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