After a good night's sleep, I woke around 5am to pack up the bag and have a cup of tea as the lunch van was heading out at 5.45 before breakfast to flag the first half of the route. The sun rose through the mist and there was a bit of dew on the ground.
Thankfully we had a much needed toilet break on the way to the lunch spot which was at 67km near One Tree Hill, just through a busy intersection. Doug and Mike set out a nice lunch, which we started on as breakfast, and then the wait was on for the riders.
All the omens were there. A sign to Dead Man's Pass along the way, loads of cars and motorbikes zooming through the busy intersection which had at least two floral tributes on it.
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| Thanks to fellow rider Joachim Loffel for the pic |
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It was not long before we had a phone call from Dara, who rode from the lunch spot, that a motorbike had gone off the road into a tree about 6km from our spot. Almost immediately, a procession of police cars, ambulances and a fire truck passed us by and a helicopter hovered above. Cars coming from that direction stopped to tell us that there had been an accident and the road was blocked off. Notwithstanding, five or six riders had set off and did not return and we received word about 90 minutes later that the road was open. Here's a photo from tonight's TV news:
Our chef Mark rode sweep today and swapped out with Doug once all were accounted for. It was then time to head to Adelaide with a grim reminder along the way.. No doubt there will be one new red one erected near Kersbrook.
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| Doug posted this on Facebook from the road after lunch! |
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It was a nice winding road along a reservoir and, once we hit the outskirts of Adelaide, we were definitely out of rural and into urban, albeit a strange demarcation line between the lawyer and the vet!
I had pre-booked a two bedroom cabin at Brownhill Creek Tourist Park and sub-let my second bedroom to Canadian Bob Tessier as my regular roomie John Waterhouse is meeting up with his wife in Adelaide after 3 months on the road from Sumatra. Once settled in, I took the bike through historic Mitcham to Mitcham Square Shopping Centre, about 2.5km away, and had lunch at Michel's before buying supplies to get me through.
I cycled back to the Park and, when Bob's pizza arrived at 6pm, I set out and devoured my dinner of Cofin Bay oysters with a squeeze of lemon and a mango - delicious!
My balance is still a little off but no signs of nausea so far.. Hopefully I will sleep well and cycle into Adelaide CBD tomorrow for a look around.
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