Wednesday. August 14.

Day 18.             Rest Day in Ceduna

It had to come. The rain. Around 7 am there was heavy rain that lasted for along time. Not a day that I would have liked to set out for150 km or more. Weren't we lucky that it was a Rest Day. The wind was blowing from the wrong direction also. Thank your lucky stars.

In the Information Centre I saw the forecast for the week. Today was the baddie with showers and unfriendly winds as far as we were concerned. Tomorrow back to sunny and 0% chance of precipitation and tailwinds. However this evening at briefing an update wasn't as favourable as regards the direction of the winds. We'll take what comes.

First thing this morning I attended to a number of issues- I had to locate a lost pen ( found it in last night's restaurant) and I saved all images from the last 2+ weeks to a memory stick. Relieved to have that done. Less chance that I delete them with the touch of a finger. 

I cycled out along the walking/ cycling path to Thevenard, the port of Ceduna. It's a 3.6 km stretch along the coast ending at Pinky's Point. Not many on the path. At the viewing platform I had a great view of the grain silos.  Not much happening today at the jetty but I believe it is a busy port with gypsum, salt, grain and mineral sand. Grain isn't arriving at the moment but those silos carry an amount that is regularly called on. Gypsum comes four times a day by train and is stockpiled. Mineral sand is drawn here by road train from mines about 70 km from Ceduna. From here that sand is brought to Geraldton ( WA ) and refined into zincor, rutile, ilmenite and titanium oxide. Then exported to Asia for further refinement

Being the Oyster capital, I had to taste the fare and headed to the Ceduna Oyster Bar on the approach to town from the Nullarbor. John served me with half a dozen oysters and coffee and informed me of the mining activities of the area. I signed into the visitors book with my comments as Gaeilge. He assured me that quite a number of Irish pass the way and call in.

Back on town I had another visit to Foodland to stock up for breakfasts and lunches on the next section. No sign of Fiona. This time I brought my two plastic bags and saved myself 20 c.

The bike needed a cleaning of the chain and frame. It has been performing admirably over the last two and a half weeks much to my satisfaction. It will have an interesting story to tell by the end of this.

I made a number of Australian phone calls to arrange things for September. More will need to be made before I cross over into Victoria. 

I decided to cook in for lunch and enjoyed a beautiful dish of pasta, sour cream, chives and tuna. Just the order for a cyclist. Also I hard-boiled half a dozen of eggs ( free range) for use over the next few days. I'm not wasting away on this trip.

Afternoon I wandered up town ( hardly worth taking the bike) to drop onto a few shops and information centre. Picked up a few odds and ends that I needed. The town is basically one street with palm trees and soft music emanating from all directions. 

Relaxation was the essence of the day and such a glorious place to spend it. Not too many attractions to demand attention. 

This evening we celebrated with a half- way BBQ her on Foreshore. Kathryn and Collis pulled out all the stops and with the assistance of Ben, Annie and Mark, put up a splendid array of food. We sat around ( with headlights) and enjoyed firsts and seconds and in some cases, thirds. Lamb, chicken burgers, shark, King Edward, sausages, prawns and all types of salads were consumed. And it was well washed down.

With a relatively long day tomorrow, and a forecast that's uncertain, all went off to bed immediately afterwards. I hoped for a bit of a sing- song or a few yarns but that's not the way down here.

A good rest day and now we set off into the second half of the Trip to Melbourne.

Hope all the Leaving Cert results go well. It has been on my mind during the day.

........and thank God for a lovely day.