Day: 145.83km
Ride Time: 6hours 28minutes
This morning I was up nice an early around 6:00. I had all my gear packed pretty quick, yet for some reason I still managed to leave around 08:30. 08:30 always seems to be the time I usually take off in the morning. I really need to work on this, as due to the hotter weather I really need to leave at the crack of dawn. I don't want the same thing happening as last week to me again. Previously the way I overcame challenges was by pushing through them, I'm now at a point where I need to strategically plan through them.
The ride to Port Hedland was around 150km. It started out ok, as I chucked on some U2 and managed to kill an hour or two until the album finished. I'm really starting to have trouble killing the time whilst riding. I'm in desperate need of some educational podcasts or something similar to numb the boredom. At the start of my trip I justified the ride time as an opening to the world around me, particularly by forming an environmental connection. I had no qualms in observing the environment around me for the 6 or 7 hours ride time throughout the day. I am now at a point where I feel lacking on an academic scale. One of the reasons for this is mostly due to the fact I'm commencing a Masters program in two months and I haven't even had a good look at the direction I want to go with it. The only academically focused information I am learning is from my books of Darwin and the environmental updates I receive over the Internet. I am always disappointed as at the end of a hard days riding I am usually to buggered to read Darwin anyway. These are certainly a few pleasures I look forward to when returning.
Once pulling into Pt Hedland I was absolutely buggered. My heart was beating very erratically, giving me great concern for my health. I really felt like I was about to drop. The weather took it out of me and a slight headwind held me back. I also had to over come a small bridge when getting into town, which took it even more out of me. I finished my last water bottle 5km before town and this made the last 5km unbearable. I had reserves but I didn't want to pull over and take all my equipment off for 5 more km's of riding.
I pulled straight into the woolworths and bought an 8pack of icypoles, a litre of yogurt, a litre of soft drink and a litre of nudie drink. I was quite surprised it all came to $7. I found a cool spot to sit down and finished everything off within half an hour. I was lucky the woolworths was here, otherwise I would of spent a fortune at a cafe or roadhouse. Whilst sitting down I looked at my glasses and realised I had a thick crust of salt over them. I also had this thick crust all over my face, a result of a lot of sweat. I saved an icypole for a female salesperson I had bumped into in Karratha, giving her great surprise when giving tapping her on the shoulder!
After this I went through my phone and got in touch with a guy I met at a roadhouse around 1000km ago. He had given me his number and said to call him when I'm in Port Hedland. I informed him roughly on the date I'd arrive so I was hoping he would be fine with me contacting him now. Turns out he was. He was more than fine with me staying at his house for a night, which means I can be in some good company again and also save a bit of money on a tent site.
I contacted the local caravan park because I had a tyre sent there a few weeks ago. I ordered it on the Internet and it was sent over from NSW. I phoned the caravan a few times in the last week and it still hadn't arrived. I was a bit nervous for this, as I realised I'd either have to hang around a few days more till it came, or otherwise buy a poorer quality one here for double the price. To my great fortune the tyre had arrived today.
My friend in Pt Hedland actually lives in South Hedland. This was annoying, as I had ridden past it, doing an extra ten Km's to Pt Hedland. He offered to come down and pick me up, which I was more then happy for him to do. On the way back to his we stopped off and picked up the tyre at the caravan park.
This fella and his partner have a nice house and two beautiful Staffordshire bull terriers. I'm looking forward to another cosy sleep. My friend here has said there is no troubles with me changing over the tyres and carrying out a few other maintenance checks tomorrow. He said I could stay an extra night, which I am more then keen to take use of before I head for the long road up to Broome!
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