Day 34 - Port Lincoln to Melrose
Heading for the hills to head home, I'm leaving the coast to checkout the high country of South Australia .
Quick Stats
- 5 hours on bike
- 418 km
- 12665 km total
I'm not sure if it was the hearty meal or the cold air, but I slept nearly twelve hours last night.
Finally dragging myself out of bed at 9, I go for a walk along the foreshore for breakfast.
Initially passed over for British settlement to establish a state capital in 1836, Port Lincoln grew nonetheless in the 1800s thanks to fishing, sealing and whaling. It's now the Eyre Peninsula's primary hub, surrounded by surprisingly fertile agriculture.
Breakfast done, I pack up and head off. The weather has not improved today, the Southerly continues to bring in cold air, even the occassional sighting of the sun can't seem to offset it. My bikes air temp gauge doesn't manage to get above 12°C.
My plan is to get off the Eyre Peninsula, and the coast altogether, today and reach somewhere in the Southern Flinders Ranges.
Before leaving Lincoln though, I pop in to see the lookout. I then set off up the east coast.
The coastline along here holds far less Brown Signs than the west coast, there's seemingly some nice calm white beaches along here, but not a lot of interesting coast cutout by wild oceans like the unprotected west.
They do seem to like painting silos here though, and they're unimaginably large. This becomes my waypoints for the ride today, the first in Tumby Bay, the second in Cowell.
It's barely been two hours riding, but I'm cold and wet and opt to stop here for a hot meal.
Cowell sits on a massive harbour with an entrance so narrow they thought it was a lake for nearly forty years. The region, like around so much of the south west of WA, is covered in yellow from the winter Canola crop.
Onto Whyalla, I've had enough of the chilling ocean breeze, I pop in to see the beach and head straight out. It's apparently the only known cuttlefish breeding ground and you can swim with them May to July, maybe another time.
They also have an operational steel works and process iron ore from the nearby Iron Knob, classic.
The Wikipedia page for Whyalla has had a big overhaul since I last read it many years ago, it's claim to fame used be a Guinness World Record for the longest ever session of pinball. Oh how history is lost to time.
It's not getting any warmer, I book a room in a pub inland at Melrose and make a beeline.
The wind picks up drastically as I pass the top of the Bight at Port Augusta, it's not at all surprising there is an enormous wind farm across the open country here.
The last hour the southern Flinders Ranges have been looming. There are two very fun roads that cut through the north-south running ranges. I opt for Horrocks Pass.
A short, but extremely satisfying twisty road presents through the range. Somewhere on the right there is Mt Remarkable, I'm sleeping at the base of it tonight.
Pulling into the pub, it's 10°C and raining. 3°C overnight. I don't think I'll be in any rush tomorrow.
