SOUTHERN CROSS TO COOLGARDIE - DAY 4

Today, 20th August and Day 4 of the ride is our longest day to date at 186km. We were roused from our sleep at 5.45am and lost no time in packing up the hall and having our breakfast in readiness to get on the bikes. We set out under an almost cloudless sky but that changed as the morning progressed and by lunch time it was threatening to rain. In spite of the threats, we arrived in Coolgardie dry and considering the distance we had travelled, in remarkably good heart and physical condition. The wind had been kind to the riders for most of the day, blowing them along or from the back and side at the same time. This helped in gaining the 28km/hr average speed with speeds up to almost 50km/hr on basically flat roads. There is not much that can be called a hill in this part of the world!

We were passed by a wide load this afternoon. There are many overlength and overwidth vehicles that travel the country roads of WA, and this one was exceptional in our experience.
Tomorrow we will be travelling to Norseman, distance of something like 160km. The team is looking forward to a rest day, although a rest day in Norseman is not too exciting and anything to write home about! From Norseman, one can travel north to Coolgardie/Kalgoorlie/Boulder or south to Esperance. The town in the middle does not have all that much to offer. The ABC series “A River Somewhere” talks in one of its episodes, of towns that refer to themselves as being a “gateway” to somewhere – they have very little to offer of themselves – Norseman is one of those!