Betten On Bike: DAY 85 - 3RD JULY 2013 - MADURA ROADHOUSE TO EUCLA

Day 85 – 3rd July 2013 - Madura Roadhouse to Eucla (in WA and only 12 kms to South Australian border)

Cycling Stats: 182 kms

Cycling Average: 33.8 kms per hour

Up at 6.30am. We were keen to have some photos with all the cyclists together which had been discussed yesterday afternoon. The film crew recorded an interview with Shane Crawford & Paul, the cyclist from Singapore about Paul’s adventures in Australia. I think it was well done – the guys had a great rapport and I am sure it will be on 'The Footy Show' on TV – witty and good natured banter – I think Paul handled it well as he was questioned in detail about how he rides and some cheeky questions about how to photograph kangaroos – good TV and I believe very entertaining. Walter had the opportunity to talk to both Shane and Mitch Anderson and enjoyed sharing some experiences of both his and their times on the road.

It is rather windy and it appears Shane is in for a testing time with a strong headwind as he is heading west. As Walter, Paul and Danielle and Deb are heading east they should be experiencing a very favorable tail wind but and in this region there is never any certainty as the wind conditions are so difficult to predict and very changeable.

I left 45 minutes later and passed the girls then Paul and around 20kms later caught Walter and he was smiling so it must be going well !

The Rural Flying Doctors Service have allocated sections of the highway as landing strips in the case of emergency and in today’s journey I saw at least 5 signs showing that the road could be used as a landing strip. The road is painted with thick broad stripes at both ends of each runway section which no doubt makes the ‘runway’ easily visibly for the pilot should an emergency landing be required.

There is quite a bit of traffic on The Eyre Highway, more than I expected – large road trains, oversized trucks & lorries but here they are limited to around 35 metres whereas in N T and Northern W A they were legally allowed to be 56.3 metres. There are also lots of campervans, caravans, cars travelling this route. Though strangely sometimes there can be several minutes before any vehicle is seen – so some very quiet stretches..

Walter is enjoying a good day of cycling although he tells me he is tired after cycling 5 quite big days of around 180 kms each and he is looking forward to tomorrow’s rest day.

Tomorrow night Paul, De & Danielle will arrive at Eucla so we will catch up with them then on how their rides are going.

I arrive in Eucla and it is like an oasis. I top up the fuel and spend some time talking to the friendly young guy who is the service station attendant and he gives me some information on what we can do tomorrow. He also informs me that the real border crossing into South Australia and when we need to be rid of our fresh fruit & vegetables, is at Ceduna so we can slow done and eat our fruit & veges at a more leisurely pace as we have another 3 days or so before we get to Cedune.

We are camping at The Eucla Camping Ground and our site is pretty awesome as we look out over the Great Australian Bight. Thank you Eucla for kindly allowing us to stay for free and free coffee & muffins for Walter – very friendly folk !!!