Weeeee… rolling into Merredin!

Date: 08-05-2010
Day 91: Merredin, WA
Distance cycled: 108km

If you have had a cold, you would know that recovery is often slow and sluggish. Hence, to make sure that Lukas felt 110% recovered from the cold and that Sue resumed the strength of her iron legs after most hours spent reading in bed and watching DVDs, we had a (brief) trial run riding towards the golf club (about 10km north) and back the day before our due departure. ; ) Our breaths were taken away by some salt lakes glistening in the close to mid-day sunshine that we discovered on the way.

Given the gratifying practice run, we fervently took to the road again on Saturday morning. The ride was predominantly downhill and we rolled more than we had to pedal. From her research, Sue read on more than one occasion that the roads (highways) have no shoulders in South Australia (SA). We also found it partially true in Western Australia (WA) where, in this leg particularly, the shoulders come and go as sporadically as the smooth type of pavement of the roads.

By 3pm, we arrived in Merredin. It took more time than usual for us to find a pad for the night as we looked for options other than tenting. The Visitors Centre was closed due to the weekend. Hence we rode around town to find accommodation within our budget and expectations before we finally rode back to the caravan park located at the east end of the town (where we came from) and got ourselves an on-site van. It was a new and nice experience. The night was chilly though, maybe because we thought we would have been better insulated compared to tenting and did not use our sleeping bags. Nonetheless, it felt good to be able to enjoy a hot cup of tea and warm toast in the morning before we headed off. ;=)

Destinations: [NSW] North Sydney - Heathcote - Coledale - Wollongong - Robertson - Moss Vale - Goulburn - Queanbeyan - Yass - Gundagai - Wagga Wagga - Narrandera - Darlington Point - Hay - Maude - Balranald - Euston - [VIC] Mildura - [SA] Renmark - Barmera - Morgan - Burra - Orroroo - Port Augusta - Kimba - Wudinna - Streaky Bay - Ceduna – Nundroo - Yalata - Nullarbor - Border Village - [WA] Eucla - Balladonia - Kalgoorlie - Coolgardie - Yellowdine - Southern Cross - Merredin