Mar 23: Finally Some Warmth!

For the first time in days, I was warm last night in my tent! I would even go so far as to say I was sweating! I enjoyed every moment of it! It wasn’t even too cold when I set out today. Funny little aside, I didn’t think there were any trash cans at the camping ground. As I left this morning with my bag of trash on the rear rack, I noticed there were trash cans on the side of the toilet block. It just shows how tired I was last night when I arrived, because they were clearly in plain view! I went back and dumped my trash. Also, the name of the lake is Meadowbank, not Meadowbrooke.

Sunrise over Lake Meadowbank

 

 

Right out of the gate I had two back-to-back climbs. The first was longer and steeper than the second. The legs were warmed up quickly! Things evened out for most of the rest of the day.

Nice view of farmland

 

 

I went through plenty of small towns. One was even called Plenty! The first was Ellensdale. I stopped at the local Post Office and had a hot chocolate and a lemon bar thing. A gentleman came in to get his mail. He said I must have been born in November. I said no, but he was close! He said he knew it was November because of the scorpion (Scorpio) on the back of my vest (it’s the Castelli logo). Charlie, the postmaster, even knew the capital of Washington is Olympia! Clever guys! While I was enjoying my snack, Charlie came outside and told me a story of how he rain out of gas on the Nullarbor. He had to leave his wife and son with the car, and hitchhike to the next gas station to get a jerry can of gas, then hitchhike back. Apparently, it was quite warm. I’ve been told to not underestimate the heat on the Nullarbor. Must have been scary for his wife and son.

 

Before I left, Charlie gave me the low-down on the road to New Norfolk. He was pretty spot-on. I was supposed to go to Mt. Field National Park today. Instead I decided to skip it and go on to New Norfolk. It allowed me to do more today, then have less into Hobart tomorrow. I should only have about 32km to go tomorrow. 

 

I stopped in Bushy Park for a break and some food. I’ve found the toasted sandwiches to be good to eat when I still have more riding to go. I also had a small hot chips. The chips servings are quite large! I couldn’t eat all of them yesterday, and I couldn’t eat all today either. I think some people must make a meal of them.

 

I followed the signs to the caravan park in New Norfolk. It’s awesome that even the main road directional signs tell you which way to the caravan parks! The caretaker wasn’t at her office, but another lady tracked her down for me. It’s $15 for an unpowered site. There are quite a few caravans here. I finally washed my hair after 10 days. That means I got here early enough AND it is warm!

 

When I went to open my rear pannier, I got this little surprise. Good thing I’m not afraid of spiders! I shooed him a good distance away from my tent. I have no idea when or where he joined me on my bike tour.

He’s a big fella don’t ya think!

 

 I didn’t see any live wildlife today, just the usual umpteen dead wallabies and possums. Oh, and I saw two dead snakes (my favorite kind).

Derwent River (goes all the way into Hobart)