6/9/2016 - Tuesday - Exmouth to Coral Bay - 85km

Kicked off from Exmouth in the dark.  I got up at 5:00 am, had breakfast, packed and was ready to go by 6:00.  I wouldn't normally do 150 km in a day, but I thought I'd give it a go.  My backup was to stop at the Ningaloo rd  around the 100 km mark and stealth camp up there.   Got going in the dark, all lights flashing.  A bit of traffic at first then it died off.  I was very happy there was no wind, although the air was heavy making going slow.  Did ok though and had done 40 km in 2 hours.  Also had a bit of cloud cover which kept the temperature down.

Soon after the 40 km mark I saw another cyclist approaching from the other direction so I crossed the road to chat.  It was Anna the English cyclist we had heard about at a few places along the way.  She was going to Exmouth.  She was a lovely girl so I turned my bike around and followed her...no I didn't ...I headed off to Coral Bay.

Simon and Catherine passed me and stopped at around the 53 km mark.  Had a quick chat and they were on their way to Carnavon. Wind had picked up and I now had either a gusty side wind or a headwind.  Speed dropped but I still was making acceptable time and reached the Burkett rd turnoff (85km) at about 11:30.  It had started getting hot so I set up for lunch in the shade of a sign, the only shade around.

While I was eating my gourmet luck of wraps and Kraft cheddar, a motorcyclist Mark pulled up for a chat.  He has been travelling around the dirt roads inland with a group of friends.  He is going to do the river crossing at Yardie Creek and then do the dirt road down to the lighthouse and back to Coral Bay via Ningaloo rd.  Might catch up later.

While we were there some workers Tanya and Peter came up checking the solar powered lights.  As I started off again they offered me a lift which I originally said no to, but then thought "why not?".  Put the bike in the ute and took off.  We were in Coral Bay in an hour or so.

Good place, they are letting me keep my bike in the room.  They know we are close.