Cycle day 30 - bushcamp to Sandfire Roadhouse - Far too much luggage

May 31, 2024

Cycle day 30 - bushcamp to Sandfire Roadhouse

Bushcamp to Sandfire Roadhouse = 87km. 2243km cycle toured so far on this trip.

Weather is sunny again just with a little bit of cloud and the temperature is also warmer at 27 degrees. This morning at around 3.30am it was about 17 degrees. The winds were strong (about 20km per hour) and blowing from the east south east so a cross wind for most with the occassional push from behind pending which way the road was going!

Unpowered site at Sandfire Roadhouse = $25 per night (here for 2 nights)

It is good to do the first 40km early in the morning as we hardly had any wind to contend with. By 8am the wind had started and slowly became stronger and stronger throughout the ride. Our only positive about this that it wasn't a headwind! But it was a strong crosswind. Most was done with a little shelter from the trees/shrubs on the side of the road but about 15km before Sandfire roadhouse we had to cross an open plain and it was blowing from our left and across us, sometimes pushing us in the middle of the lane. We also don't have a shoulder - we sort of lost it just at the end of day 2. You only get a shoulder when you go through a floodway and they are becoming rare!

For most traffic today and today was a heavy traffic day unbeknownst to us as it is a public holiday on Monday so naturally everyone takes an extra day, loads up the fishing boat with a gazillion bottles of beer and 1 litre of water and gets on the road and drives 500km to a secret spot only they know about to catch some fish! Anyway most are ok with the no shoulder and every now and then I just won't get of the road as it is just too much of a bother for me to change down my gears, unclick my cleats and slowly drive the bike off the road (as it is a drop) especially if one is oncoming and I can hear the car behind me has made NO effort to slow down to alter that gap between us - so I just don't get off and lucky I didn't move over as the car was towing an oversized boat and it would have for sure tried to squeeze through like they all do - instead the driver had to slow right down to my speed, let the oncoming car pass and then overtake me! But that is rare to occur - most will alter their speed to create a gap difference.

So Sandfire roadhouse finally appeared and we were shocked at the entrance of this roadhouse as it was busy!

It was complete and utter chaos there. We quickly parked the bikes out of everyones way - just for our own safety as I am not sure if anyone was paying attention as to what anyone else was doing.

While waiting for Neil I was just watching everything and the park pet started walking around and heading towards the chaos at the petrol bowsers

but he soon cottoned on that it wasn't safe for him either!

In amongst everything and very wisely parked on the other side of the road was this massive road train with all this hay

Crikey that is alot of hay - going north. We had one pass us going south the other day.

Quite a good price for an unpowered site and they are sectioned so we are between 2 lovely Frangipani trees and will have shade for most of the day tomorrow.

Yip the local peacock found a peaceful sanctuary behind the unpowered section in amongs these massive Mango trees

Local pet seeking shade amongst the massive Mango trees which are behind the unpowered site

There is also another pet over the fence...

Plus there is an EV charging station actually in the park - which is odd having this govt sponsored one in the park itself rather than like the others which are on public land

A WA government initiative- this charging station is like the others

The camp kitchen is basic, clean and good as it has a toaster and jug, air fryer, microwave and sink. The laundry is only $2 per wash so we will do a load tomorrow as all our clothes stink from the rain the other day.

We are looking forward to this rest day as we felt we didn't feel quite rested.

An update on Neils roadkill Exped self inflating mat - he found 8 holes. Fingers crossed he has found them all and will now start the process of covering them with what were puncture repair self sticky pads but they were useless for that so they became part of the self inflating mat repair kit.

Today's ride: 87 km (54 miles)
Total: 2,243 km (1,393 miles)

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