Day 20
Tuesday 4th March
Nullarbor Roadhouse – Border Village
186kms
6am start. Jump in for a quick shower, pack everything up. I still had a bag of dry biscuits in my bag so we ate those, and a piece of bread with peanut butter for brekkie. Not really the nutrition we need for a 180km ride, but that’s all we had.
We rode in the dark until the sun came up behind us, and slowly convinced us that it was time to pull over and throw on some sunscreen. The second the sun kicks into gear the flies decided to get really friendly, and don’t want to leave you alone. Especially around the facial area, up the nose, and around the eyeballs.
The road was now quite flat, and we were riding along the Great Southern Bight. A cliff face that drops to the ocean and runs for kilometres along the southern coast. It was so refreshing to see the water. We pulled up at a lookout and sat for a while mesmerised at the coastline. It was hard to build the motivation to ride again, but we kept going until we got hungry around midday.
We found a shelter with a picnic table under it, and turned off to cook some pasta for lunch. The wind was so strong, and the flies were intense. I struggled to light the stove in the wind but managed to get it burning to cook some food. We ate a bit, and then laid down for a snooze. The flies were so crazy. If you stay still your face just ends up covered in them, until you’re so irritated that you shake and shiver and make funny noises until you get them off.
Harv had a small mesh bag that he kept some bike things in, so he pulled it over his head to seek shelter from the flies. My tent fly is made of mesh, so I laid down on the stones, and crawled into the tent to get away from them. It was hard to sleep, but we got a little bit.
We had 100kms to go to get to the Western Australia border. We had the option of camping somewhere the night half way, or we keep moving to get to the border, where there would hopefully be a roadhouse open, and we could get some food.
The water was boiled again, and I was throwing up the remains of a tuna can in my mouth mixed with hot water. Not a good feeling. Soon the most amazing sunset happened, and the stars slowly showed up in the night sky. There are so many stars out in the desert. Its truly inspirational to be out amongst those stars. Such a beautiful sight, but hard to look at while your trying to ride a bike.
Harv and I joked about the things we wanted to eat, hoping that the roadhouse would be 24 hours. It was a long ride, and the help of a couple of Powerbars got us through.
5kms from town the Border Village sign got us all excited when we noticed that the servo is 24hours. We turned up and could hardly decide what to buy. Harv ate a few fried goods, and bought a bag of jellybeans, and then joined me for a burger with the lot, followed by an ice cream.
While setting up camp for the night my stomach began to feel really bloated, and all of a sudden I was off to the toilet. The food I just ate seemed to go straight through me. We made the decision to sleep well that night, and hang around the next day to wash the bike clothes, have a swim in the pool, and relax a bit.
After a couple more toilet missions, it was into the tent for some sleep.
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