Day 110 Route Beachport to Mount Gambier
When I woke up at Beachport I felt no urgency about my day’s riding, as I needed to wait in Mount Gambier until the Post Office opened on the Monday to collect my repaired phone anyway, and there was only 100km to cover in 2 days. However, with the weather so unpleasant, I eventually did decide to push on and get it all over and done with in the one day.
I left Beachport late, after the wind – still blowing as strongly from the south as it had done all night – had dried out my tent from an 8am rain shower. I had a pasty for breakfast, not a proper Cornish pasty, mind you, made with lard and crimped down the middle, but a not-too-bad version of the usual filo one you get these days, and some kind of a hybrid apricot Danish/ iced cream finger bun thing-a-me, plus iced coffee and the Weekend Australian newspaper. This meant a 10.30 departure into driving rain and a stiff breeze. The intention was to make for Southend, a settlement at the southern extremity of Rivoli Bay on which Beachport is also situated at the extreme northern end; my logic being that Southend would be protected by its headland from this southern gale, which might even blow itself out today, and then I’d have an easy 50km ride into Mount Gambier tomorrow (Sunday).
But no, the wind was worse even than yesterday – stronger at 35km/h and more directly into my face – and the rain showers kept up for the 25km to Southend, (the last 6 of which need to be retraced to get back out onto the main road again). I’m sure Southend might be pleasant enough in good weather, but it rained the whole 5 minutes I was there, and I formed a negative impression of it. It had that decrepit air about it that I don’t think will improve with the weather. I noticed the beachside holiday apartments for rent are called Costa Plenti – hahaha – an inside joke, perhaps? No vacancy, either.
So off I was back on the road again. I stopped under a shelter at the quaint little village of Rendelsham and noticed that the rear wheel was coming loose again, and that the rear tyre was going flat, and duly rectified same. It was only 20km to Millicent, where I charged up for 3 hours at the Information Office using their power. The batteries had completely drained inside 40km – my worst result yet, and that was with a lot of hard-slogging in SPORT and TOUR modes to try to conserve them, too. The wind only got stronger while I was waiting in the cosy office in Millicent and I departed from there with head winds peaking at maybe 45km/h. I stopped once at a service station for a battered sav, KitKat and Iced Coffee, and a bit of wind respite, and then hammered on into Mount Gambier. I was continually fretting about battery levels and jumping between modes to try and eke out the mileage, and crawled into Mount Gambier on the last kilometer of indicated range, and with aching legs – I probably would have been better off stopping again for another recharge.
I checked in to the grandly-named but not-so-grand Grand Central Motel in the CBD of Mount Gambier for 2 nights at $80/night, and then promptly went over and pigged out on the sumptuous salad bar at Macs Hotel while my roast pork was coming ($15 plus $7 per pint of beer x 2).
