Canola fields as far as the eye can see

With yesterday’s traffic on the Stuart Highway I decided I would rather wake up in the cold and try my luck at riding in the darkness of the early morning to get a break from the trucks.  Up at 4.30am and straight on the road to head 120km’s to Port Wakefield.  The first two hours there was hardly anything on the road and the conditions were ideal with just a slight chill in the air at 5 degrees.  I stopped 70km’s into the ride for a second breakfast at Snowtown, and then again pushed on towards our destination.

As the morning lightened up the country side just beamed with beauty.  I have never seen anything like the amount of rolling green hills.  For as far as the eye could see was green crops with a splash of yellow canola fields to add some colour.  Most of the ride was on gentle rolling hills with the occasional leg burner.  I only have one more day until I reach Adelaide to see my family who are flying in tomorrow.

Thank you to all those who are spreading the word about the charity.  I have been monitoring the 1000 club, and noting the amount of new members on the facebook site.  I hope that this continues to grow and the interest builds as we move towards the 1 million dollar mark.

Regards, Craig

Stormy morning

 

Smelter plant

 

Almost there

 

Canola field

 

Canola plant

True flowers

 

Relaxed 3B crew

It’s raining, it’s pouring

Open cut mine

Old quarry

Craig & his band of merry men!

We spent yesterday afternoon exploring the town of Leonra and found that a ghost town existed 2km’s south. The town used to be the main mining centre and has now been left with building still intact. You can walk through the premises which still have furnishings and it is quite amazing that these things haven’t been taken or vandalised. There is also a large open cut mine still being worked which is for gold.

So much for the hot dry outback. Today was the first wet and miserable day since around Brisbane on Day 8. The rain started coming down at 2am in Leonora and was followed by a 15 knot westerly that blew all morning and through the rest of the day.

I started this morning at 5.30am and due to the cloud cover we didn’t get below 12 degrees so I started stripping off clothing within the first half an hour. It didn’t take long for the rain to start and it came down in intervals all morning until reaching Menzies around 9am. We had planned to camp out in the bush about 50km’s south of Menzies but due to the weather conditions I decided to push on to Kalgoorlie for the comforts of a hot shower and fresh food supplies. I remained wet most of the day and the closer I got to Kalgoorlie the colder it got. I was happy to finish the day cycling 235km’s in total.

Tomorrow we have three media commitments in Kalgoorlie and one with Steve Price on 2UE mid morning. The local triathlon club in Kalgoorlie is also hosting a night, which will be followed by a breakfast with sponsors “Active Tree Services”.

Craig