Day 6 Pardoo Roadhouse to Degrey River 71 km

Left Pardoo RS around 8.00 am and had ideal cycling conditions for most of the morning. Covered 50 km by 11.00 am and then found some shade for a rest break. No need to push myself as I am now only 90 km from Port Hedland.

Need some big tyre levers for these tyres! 

Today was some of the most desolate country I have seen. It reminded me of old western movies where the Red Indians would line the hilltops watching the cavalry rode into the canyon below. I liked the contrast between the deep red earth and the fresh green eucalypts at Pardoo River. No water there now but there must be impressive flow when it runs. The bridge had significant engineering to withstand the force and there was signs all around showing has previous flow had carved through the rocky terrain.

Discovered I had run out of 2 minutes noodles so I cooked some pasta with a chicken stock cube and pretended it was Mee Goreng. Failure really but it did the job. Also finished off the cheese.

After lunch it was pretty hot so when I reached Degrey Rest Stop I pulled into the picnic shelter. Discovered there was free wifi so I was able to begin updating the blog and check email and Facebook. I decided to stay for a while and read. I was planning another 20 km but couldn’t decide to leave.

Maggie Bennett came and invited me for a cup of tea with her husband John. They were interested in my trip. Had a wonderful afternoon chatting and then joined them for dinner. Moroccan Lamb with cous cous and veggies was way better than my planned lentils and rice.

Maggie gave me some goodies to travel with in the morning. Some fruitcake, a couple mandarins, a small tub of mango in juice (magnificent) and a muesli bar.