First day of March and rain all day. It rained literally the whole day. I couldn't believe this, I have been expecting very hot and dry days across the Nullabor but have been experiencing somewhat chilly southerly winds and strong rains.
Today was the biggest challenge I've had on this trip. I felt heavy this morning but had this feeling to keep going. I knew if I kept going for about 160km I'd be at a roadhouse where I could then refuel before taking on the longest straight road in the world.
When I left this morning I had to ride up a relatively steep hill. I had to climb it coming out of my tent site, I tell you it wasn't the most pleasant thing first thing in the morning. As I got to the top of the hill I had a couple of Wedgetail eagles circling me. At the start I thought nothing of this as I have been riding the last four or so days with them. This seemed a lot different though. One of the eagles started coming incredibly close. As I was going slow up the hill he was coming closer and closer to me. As I nearly made the top of the hill the eagle dropped about 2 meters within a matter of seconds. He was literally on top of my head with his claws right out. I shit my self, to put it bluntly. I took off my hat and started waiving it all over the place. I was weaving all over the road trying to get him away yet he was still coming at me. I decided to fly back down the hill, steering all over the road and waiving my hat in the air. I was very lucky no cars were coming as I was doing this. During this process I managed to lose my headphones for my music player. Very annoyed as I now don't have this luxury for the rest of the Nullabor, unless I spend 30$ or so in a servo, which I don't think I'll be doing. I managed to find a bloke at the roadhouse who drove his car up the hill next to me so to deter the eagle. Easily the most intimidating moment of my trip so far.
The next 160km felt like forever. Eventually I pulled into my desired stop. It was pouring this whole ride. Very heavy rain fall aided by semi-flooded roads. I'd get even more wet when riding through flooded roads. Every time a road train drives past me its like I'm having a shower with extreme heavy pressure. My body and all my bike gets slammed with so much water it's as if I've dumped by a big wave.
I was unbelievably relieved to pull into this roadhouse. I had no chance of setting my tenet up in the bush. It was flooded everywhere. I was cold, all my skin wrinkled from the 7hours odd covered in water. If I had of slept in the bush my tent would get full of water even the possibility of snakes entering in. I would have later there shivering all night in a wet sleeping bag. I was so relieved to pull into the roadhouse. Once I hopped off the bike I started shaking from coldness. I think from the riding my body maintained a good temperature and once hoping off my body must have been shocked and went into state of coldness. I put my rain jacket on but as I was so wet I was struggling to warm up. I sat in the roadhouse for a good two hours just trying to get warm.
The roadhouse has budget rooms, which in my current state seemed very tempting. I thought this would be a good chance to dry my things and have a descent sleep. Once hearing that the rooms cost $70 I realised they weren't really budget and then opted instead for my tent. This was difficult as I then I had to scan for a dry area to set up, whilst still raining heavily. I thankfully found something that's semi-sheltered and can now stay relatively dry.
Tomorrow I'll assess the weather and decide whether to have a day off or keep going. The next 190km is along the longest straight road in Australia!!
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