Trans Oceania 2014 - Coober Pedy to The Twins Rest Area | Saturday, November 15 - 128km

What a change in climate! It rained a little overnight and this morning was cool and overcast with a high probability of rain! I headed out of the luxury apartment to the campground for breakfast before climbing on board the van to the lunch stop for a 64km ride to camp.

We made a short stop at the "Coober Pedy Truck" sign, previously featured, and I noticed a mural behind it.

The sky was menacing but the cool weather was quite refreshing for cycling although it did eventually rain heavily and there was a swirling cross wind to contend with.

Some water tank art caught my eye so I pulled in to the rest stop for a look.

I continued on, stopping for the occasional photo, and reached tonight's bare camping area as gale force winds were swirling around, which they continued to do for many hours. The crew tried to get a kite flying but without much success..

I did get the tent pitched against all the odds and sat and watched for hours as it bent into all sorts of shapes and threatened to unpeg itself. I thought I might go in and set up the mattress. Thankfully, I put my hand down on the ground sheet and got pricked by a thorn meaning I would have to relocate when the wind abated. In the meantime, the gang hung aroung "the bar" and we had a nice dinner of pasta with sausages in a meat and tomato sauce and beans.

Chris, pictured above, helped me find a non-thorny spot and we relocated the tent despite the wind still blowing. I inflated the mattress and hoped that I had patched all the previous holes! I walked down to "the bar" at sunset and found Aussie Bob in hi makeshift swag and Joachim looking for another sunset shot.

Bernice was cleaning all the red dust out of her tent before settling in for the night.

 

The mattress held up quite well although I suspect there is still one small hole to find. The wind eventually died down and, although it was quite cold, I slept in my riding gear in the sleeping bag and got through the night..