Day 3 Bush Camp to another Bush Camp 97 km further on

Set out early with a plan for breakfast at Goldwire Rest stop. It arrived quicker than I expected after 10 km. Muesli in the shelter at a proper table and seat! There were lots of "Crusties" who had stopped there overnight so I was glad to stopped earlier yesterday and had a peaceful night, Tony who gave me water yesterday was there and he filled up a 5 litre container for me. Chatting with his wife for 30 minutes meant I lost much of the benefit of getting on the road early.

 Not much to see on this stretch of road, I am surprised by the lack of roadkill. All day I only saw 2 dead kangaroos. There are lots of tyre snakes! They look like snakes until you get close enough to see they strips of shredded truck tyres. I reach my planned destination Stanley Rest Stop at 11.45 am and set myself up for lunch under picnic shelter.

Lunch at Stanley Rest Stop

Lots of Crusties here too! (All talking crap). 2 minutes noodles and some wraps with Kraft Blue Cheese. Who’d have thought that the cheese we used to make toasties with in our childhood would become a touring staple because it doesn’t require refrigeration. After lunch I rolled the camp mattress and pillow and settled to read and nap in the heat of the day.

At 3.00 pm I packed up and got back on my bike. I want to be in Sandfire tomorrow for lunch so doing an extra 25 km would mean a 75 km morning. In the end I called it quits at 4.30 pm. Finding a good campsite was difficult. My criteria is for flat ground out of sight of the road. I ended up just of the road behind a tree but easily seen from the road while it was still light.

Proof that I could be seen came when a car pulled up and some young girls asked if I was ok for water. The Aussie girl driver and her two European backpacker companions then gave me some fresh fruit, some green salad and a beer.

A great way to end the day. Lucky for them they didn’t arrive 30 minutes later when I was giving myself a sponge bath! Another magnificent night under a million stars! Of course when the moon rises about 8.00 pm it chases away most of the stars but I have fallen asleep by then. Later in the night when I woke the moon had illuminated all around. Not quite daylight but very bright.