Distance 65km
Well it was a good day and a bad day. Wilpena Pound campsite was good, great showers, and I managed to charge up some electronics. Daylight savings ended, so I woke up at 6am rather than 7am. The morning was cold, and I dragged out some more clothes. I had breakfast, packed and headed to the visitor centre to pay for the camping. Then I bought some water at the store, and some more snacks I then headed off down the highway. I really zoomed along on the highway, the wind was behind me. I went so well I missed the turnoff to the Mawson trail detour to Rawnsley Bluff. The Mawson trail rejoins the highway, so I only missed a bit. I then turned off along the Moralana Scenic route. I stopped for lunch about 15km in. There was a bit of traffic, but I went for long periods seeing nobody.
Then a ping, and I had broken another spoke. I pulled off under a tree. This spoke was more complicated, as it was the drive side of the wheel, and that meant I had to remove the rear cassette. I had brought a tool, but was missing the other tools I needed like a chain whip, and a very large spanner. I stuffed around for a while, but with a rock and a fold up screwdriver I got it off. I replaced the spoke with one that is a little too short. I got going and a few KMs down the road a local stopped in a ute to see how I was going. He even offered to carry me and the bike is his ute to the highway. I said I would be OK, and it was about 6km to the highway, and then 3km into Merna Mora. It was close to sunset, and I was riding right into the sun. I arrived at Merna Mora Homestead, and went to get water bottles from my front panniers to find, one of my front panniers had fallen off. I don’t know where I have lost it but it could be 15km back. I feel rather dumb having lost a front pannier and not noticed it, although they are hidden under the tent. So tomorrow I will have to back track to see if I can find it. Mostly it had food.
Nice campsite here, good showers, and rainwater, although I don’t have as many bottles to fill.
