July 20, 2024
Cycle day 63 - Merredin to Southern Cross
Cycle day 63 - Merredin to Southern Cross = 110km. 4896km cycle toured so far on this trip.
Southern Cross Caravan Park - unpowered site = $16
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Cold morning today 5 degrees and since the tent is out in the open our tent was wet with dew and even condensation inside the inner tent! Up and off this morning at 7.15am and we hoped that we would make Southern Cross which was 110km away. Neil was optimistic as he had read Elders with regard to the winds and according to him we will have a crosswind to start and a tailwind to end but I guessed that we would have a cross wind for most of the ride and a cross tailwind to finish ... I was right as there is no way the wind would be different between 2 towns that are 100km apart - in Victoria yes, here no!
So it took us a little longer to do the 110km compared to yesterday plus there was alot more gradual climbing today compared to yesterday so that added to the slow going.
Very early in our ride we had the Indian Pacific pass us - it was so quick and it just popped out amongst the trees and this was the best photo I could get of it.
Not alot of local traffic today but alot of trucks and since the traffic was light they found it very easy to overtake us even after 40km where we lost at least half of our shoulder width. Most trucks where haulage trucks going the opposite way to us. One of the many pullovers we had to do today as we couldn't decide if it was hot or cold to have so many layers on - Neil finds a rusted bolt cutter!
You can see in the photo below how our shoulder is now half the width of yesterdays shoulder
And the road conditions for vehicles has become almost like Victoria, NSW and Qld roads - damaged patches and pot holes-the pot holes aren't big as you can only plant pansies in them unlike back in the east where you can plant fruit trees in them!
We were tired by the time we got here and we had already done our shopping in Merredin yesterday as the IGA in Southern Cross closes at 12.30pm on Saturdays and is closed Sundays! The campground is cheap for unpowered and has a great camp kitchen. The tenting area is not exactly attractive but it has trees to camp under for a little shelter from dew.
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Tomorrow is a bush camp and our north westerly winds are staying with us tomorrow and Monday. We can't quite make Kalgoorlie before the rain on Tuesday so we will settle for Coolgardie by end of Monday. So 190km to Coolgardie.
Today's ride: 110 km (68 miles)
Total: 4,896 km (3,040 miles)
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