Mundrabilla to Eucla

What a Difference a Day Makes: Mundrabilla to Eucla

If you are as old as me you will probably have associations with that phrase which go beyond banality to soar with the stars ... stars of Rhythm and Blues, that is. If you don't know where I'm coming from, here's the first verse of that great Temptations classic ...

What a difference a day makes

Twenty-four little hours

Brought the sun and the flowers

Where there used to be rain

The transition from having the Mundrabilla blues where we slogged through the rain into a headwind for 115 kilometres to skipping along for a mere 66 kilometres on dry, smooth roads with a tailwind was wonderful and those lovely lyrics sprung to mind. A bit schmoozy but quite delicious nonetheless ...

It was actually a bit before my time, but, back in my childhood, during indoor Sunday afternoons in the depth of our dark Canadian winters,  TV was full of reruns of movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's. What could be bad about that?

Once again, I did not take a single photo today during the ride. There wasn't anything that really stood out, except for an upturned car wreck, which did tempt me when I looked back over my shoulder and saw some wonderful graffiti in the form of a cartoon character portrayed as a cactus sprayed on the side. However, I just couldn't bring myself to give up the spin I was enjoying (if you're a cyclist reading this, you know the feeling!), so that image is just stencilled into a collection of synapses somewhere deep inside my brain rather than recorded as another collection of digital data.

The caravan park here at Eucla is a lovely surprise after the wet, muddy stretches of dirt we've seen a the last few roadhouses. There is no grass, but it's dry with lots of nice little camping niches tucked away between trees. Here's our tent tucked into one of those niches, with our bikes snuggled away behind ...

Cosy Eucla campsite

With our short half day on the bikes behind us we were all able to get a few little things done. All the riders did some laundry, I replaced both Di's tubes: the front one because it had a slow leak that needed pumping up every morning; the rear because the valve was problematic. I've kept them both in reserve in case we need them down the track.

Jim was doing a bit of maintenance ...

Man at work

... when he discovered that his back tyre had delaminated ...

Delaminated tyre

As I said earlier, Eucla is a lovely spot. It's poised just up off the coastal plain with views down to the ocean ...

The sea, the sea!

Clear skies augur well for tomorrow

Collis spent some time taking stock and sorting things out ...

Getting it all together

... before he joined Kathy for some late afternoon relaxation ...

Take it easy, take it easy, don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy!

Collis wanted to make sure that I'd gotten their good sides. I reckon I have. What do you think? 

We all feel nicely refreshed and are about to chow down. Tomorrow will be about twice as far down the road as today was, but it is cool and clear so it looks like a good day of riding lies ahead. Now, here's hoping for another tailwind!