Ok, so we woke up, and as we are going today, we wanted to get up early and ride before the wind picked up and it got too hot. So I grab my watch to check the time, 6:15am! Cool, then I check my phone, 7:15am! What the hell? Check the IPad, same as phone! Then I check my bike computer, 4:45am! Now come on people, what is the right time? Well, finally I realise that Day Light Saving has started here in South Australia, so now we have lost another hour and it is 7:15am. So much for early start, and the sun has only just come up.
Rob and Max were up and getting organised, so we got to it, into breakfast and onto loading up. The other two waited patiently for us, and we got rolling at 9:20am. We headed out of town on the Sceale Bay Road, which has recently been sealed, and was full of rolling hills and great views. It wasn't long before we came across our first Bobtail Lizard that needed saving. Max quickly stopped, and chatted to the little guy, who just licked his fingers, and looked up expectantly, waiting for Max to pick him up and place him gently in the bushes. No hissing, no weeing or pooing. Very nice experience.
Patiently waiting for team Wiljen. Sorry guys.
Off and cruising on the new road.
"Hello little Bobbie, you're in trouble. Come on little Bobbie, off to the bushes."
The lizard looks pretty happy with Max. His little legs were tired anyway.
As a peloton, we didn't do very well, as we all rode at different paces, and all stopped at different times for different reasons. Max would pull over and talk to Bobbies, Rob would stop and take a photo, Will would stop for a toilet break, or to read a tourist board, and I just stopped with whoever was close. We lost Max at one point, as he stopped to take some photos, and then the three of us turned off into Sceales Bay. We pulled into a car park with a shelter, table and a toilet, and had a couple of bananas, and a rest to wait for Max. After half an hour, he hadn't showed, so we guessed he turned left off towards Baird Bay.
Photo stoppage.....
Some other stoppage.....
Sceales Bay stoppage.....
Sceales Bay. Nice lunch spot. Used to be a shack town and getting bigger.
So we carried on, and this is where the road was no longer sealed. It had just started to be graded, but it was firm, if not a little bumpy. No loose gravel, though, which made me confident. Some bigger hills to deal with, but nothing drastic. I had to do one in second gear, because as we were getting up some good momentum, we came around a bend just before we started the climb, and this giant male Roo, bounced out from under a shrub, straight in front of Will. We slammed on the brakes, and watched it confidently change direction and disappear back into the bush where he'd come from. Bugger, no momentum left, we started the climb in 6th gear. It was a bit slow going, but by the time we got to the top, I had only eaten one fly.
The Northern end of Baird Bay.
I'm almost there, round, round, up down.....teeth closed.....ugh flies!
About 15kms along this road, we came to Calca, an old town, that had an old ruined house, and a church in pristine condition. It was here we had to turn off to Baird Bay, and as Rob, Will and I took the turn, we spotted Max just up the road. He must have stopped at Calca for his lunch, and just headed off again. Ripper, the posse was back together for the last 15kms. There was a long incline, for about 3kms, Freeman Hill, which gave us some awesome views across the bay. Then we rolled down to the local cemetery and had a squizz at that before pushing on to Baird Bay. Max shot ahead, and the three of us just tried to find a smooth spot on the edge of the hard middle and loose side.
The old house had a bit of graffiti..."New Owner, Jesus!". Good one.
The old church at Calca, in great nick.
Getting to the top of Freeman Hill, before a nice down hill to the bay.
Check out the photo bombing blowie.
The old cemetery only had a few family names, Freeman, Cash and a couple of others.
Baird Bay has about 23 houses, a camp ground (just a cleared parking bay with a rotunda, BBQ and an Echo toilet), and an Echo Tourism joint, that does boat trips to snorkel with the Sea Lions. We're all doing that tomorrow. We rode down to the Echo Joint (Baird Bay Ocean Eco Experience and accommodation), to see if there was a better place to camp, and spoke to Alan. He is the owner, and has been here for 24yrs. They were closed, there was nowhere better to camp, but he sold us some ice creams, cool drinks, and gave us some fresh water. (Only salty bore water at the camp ground). Thanks Al!
Baird Bay township to the right, and Rob and I are going to check out the camping.
Our campground from the look out.
A rare Rob photo. What an amazing guy! 63 yrs old and whips us all every day.
After a bit of a rest, we all did our things, Max had a swim, Rob went walk about, and Will and I sorted our tent and gear. After a while, a van and a car turned up, and out jumped some dodgy looking dudes. On first impressions, it was like little Alabama, Ma and Pa Kettle, the dopey son and the daughter with her Slovakian husband. Max and Rob had planned to sleep on the floor of the rotunda, but now they couldn't. So while Rob was away, we moved all his gear over to where we had ours. It all wasn't so bad, after chatting to them all, they were a really nice family (if not a little different), on a weekend break. Sally and Uri, were very positive about our adventures, and very funny guys, Ma, was very nice and shared wine with us, Pa was actually Uncle Mick, who was quiet but nice, and Zack was Sally's' younger brother.
Another amazing sunset.....
After dinner, we all talked and laughed, and went to bed. It wasn't the disaster we had been concerned about at all. It's what happens when you let it.
So we are sorted for tomorrow, back at the campground, and about to cook dinner. It was an interesting day with the other two, and very different riding styles. I'm looking forward to the Sea Lions, just not getting in the 14C water. Brrrrr.
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