Betten On Bike: DAY 98 - 16TH JULY 2013 - SALT CREEK TO MT GAMBIER

Day 98– 16h July 2013 - Salt Creek to Mt Gambier

Another grey cloudy cold drizzling morning just when we thought we were ahead of the bad weather – not so I’m afraid. Walter was, as always, keen to go – and I must say I admire him for this burning drive to fulfill his dream / his job which sometimes must be hard because, for quite a few days now the mornings have been rainy and not too inviting for cycling.

Cycling Stats: 240 kms (yes that is 240 !!!)

Cycling Average: 33.7 kms per hour

Walter met another cyclist Ollie on the road he told me - a young 27 year old who was cycling from Melbourne to Adelaide and he was towing a small trailer behind him. I didn’t see him as I took a side tour to see The Granites at Long Beach and I had time to stop in at Chinamans’ Well – very interesting as it was this region which formed part of the long overland walk that the Chinese made to get try to get rich in The Gold Fields and you could see where they had chipped out 3 well lids from the limestone – one had cracked whilst being carted 900metres and you could view other cut-outs where they had engineered other circles being carved out – ingenious really and a display of tenacity and determination.

We met in Kingston S.E. for morning tea which was around 85 kms from Salt Creek – I had a little time to wait and so walked back to have a better look at The Big Lobster and it was huge – quite ironic really that the size had been specified in feet but constructed in metres so it had actually been built three times larger than originally planned – it was meant to create a tourist attraction which it has.

Walter was a machine today – it was mainly flat country – farming country lots of sheep, cattle and grain country – very pleasant to cycle & drive through.

Mt Gambier is a big city so I popped into The Lady Nelson Information Centre to get a map and to find what the best caravan park would be – the friendly lady there advised The Central City Caravan Park and so I headed there (or thought I was) but ended up at Blue Lake which I admit was very scenic. Walter called me and I said yes we should meet at this caravan park. I checked the map and arrived there to find Walter outside the reception and he told me he had also had a bit of difficulty finding it.

Late for us in arriving & still laundry to do & luckily dinner was heated up tomato tuna pasta with vegetables.