I sleep well for a change but have to get up at the crack of dawn. Adelaide is where I need to be for a new tyre and it's about 900k ride away so unfortunately it's an early start to a very long day.
It's really cool for a change and not long down the road I pull over to put on over-pants and stuff the thermal liner into my jacket. It's not warming up. I even have the heated grips going.
The landscape leaving Coober Pedy looks like the surface of the moon and in the distance you can see the big diggers and buckets creating all the tailing piles.
The road south has an excellent surface but the tyre is all ripped up and wearing fast so I'm having to ride at 90kph to try and make it last to Adelaide.
First stop along the way is Glendambo Roadhouse. Like every stop, fuel up, a quick snack, then back on the road.
Not long after leaving Glendambo I pass by Lake Hart and can't work out why the water looks so different. A short stop at a rest area overlooking the lake and I see it's a salt lake with just a bit of water off in the distance. For a moment, I thought I was looking out over Lake Eyre but a quick check of the Atlas showed how wrong I was. The area around here is littered with salt lakes either side of the highway for many miles to come.
The moonscape type landscape continues to the outskirts of Port Augusta where (you guessed it) I fuel up the bike and put my head down to feast, only this time I've found a McDonalds so it's cappuccino and a burger and out with the road maps and research Adelaide's accommodation on the tablet.
An hour later and it's on the road again and suddenly I'm riding through green fields and glimpses of coastline. Such a radical departure from the dry, barren scenery of the past 2 weeks.
It wasn't until Port Augusta that I ran into a bit of traffic and it's been the same way since leaving there. The highway is alive with speed cameras (fixed & mobile) and they have signs that indicate the cameras are linked to give an average speed across distance.
The road into Adelaide seems to be endless with plenty of traffic. As it turns out I arrive late in the afternoon during peak hour and go in search of a motel on the other side of town but with my bladder bursting at the seams I wind up pulling into the first Comfort Inn I find along the way, check in, and make a b-line for the room. It's been a long day and I'm ready for a feed and bed.
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| Today's route. (out of the desert, past salt lakes, and on to greener pastures) |
