Driving out of Port Augusta this morning, the town came to a sudden halt and we were hit by the sight of the Aussie Outback. Today is April Fools Day and we were trying to think up a trick to play on the riders. At morning tea Collis told the riders that there was a change in riding plan today and instead of 135 kms they would be riding 177 kms to Pimba. He mucked it up by saying the weather was going to change and they would have southerly winds to help them. So everyone virtually just said yeah OK, except Kirsten who whistled at the distance. He then had to tell them it wasn’t true and was an april fools joke- it fell a little flat.
We couldn’t actually find the morning tea rest area so chose a cleared area next to the railway line. Kirsten arrived late for morning tea as she had a slow leak. Mark talked her into changing the tyre and he actually did the change for her. They rode off together but didn’t get further than a km down the road before the same tube was flat again. Mark came back and got us and they changed the tyre and the tube. This put them a fair way behind the rest of the group so I went ahead and Collis stayed behind to keep an eye on them.
Lunch was at a rest area around the 92 km mark and everything was going along smoothly now. The group was fairly well staying within cooee of each other and helping each other out in a full on head wind. Lew is struggling a bit today but was determined to keep riding.
Collis and I picked a camp spot around the 135 km mark in amongst the sand hills and trees. Not a huge choice around this area as not always a lot of coverage. As we pulled up Collis pointed out these huge holes in the sand and put in my head that they contained trap door spiders. When Annie arrived he told her to watch out for them even though I told him not to mention any of this to her as it would freak her out. Theo and Jane came in close together but it was awhile before I noticed Theo had some injuries on his R) side. He had run into Jane’s back wheel and went down into the middle of the road. Lucky no traffic at the time. No adverse damage and appears to be all superficial grazes- he was a lucky boy. Lew was helped in by Mark and Gareth as he was intermittently walking and riding.
Dinner tonight was a sausage casserole followed by bread & butter pudding with cream. It was enjoyed by all and only a small amount of casserole left and no pudding left over. Lovely night around the campfire although it was quite a humid night. Sunset was quite good but difficult to photograph and no stars due to cloud cover. Lew warned everyone to take their riding shoes into the tents with them as the bush rats have a habit of dragging off shoes if left out.
So in my mind I had trapdoor spiders crawling all over our awning and bush rats trying to climb up the inside of the truck all night long. Not much sleep had by me especially with all the trucks going past throughout the night as well.
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