Perth to Adelaide - day 12 - Esperance

After the sun went down last night at my hidden campsite, the mozzie swarm attacked. Dealing with insects that bite is sadly not my strength...whilst I dont get freaked out (too much) by snakes and spiders, mozzies and sandflys tend to dine well on me and I am Afraid. So, I did the manly thing and hid in the tent!

Whenever I moved or switched on my torch, I could here them buzz with excitement and the pitter patter of insects against the tent sounded like a shower of rain. Lets just say any toilet stops went on hold...all night. Lessons learnt: don't camp near flooded farmland!!

Despite that I slept very well, albiet, cross legged. But in the morning, I was completely covered in bites and they clearly targetted the hand holding the defensive bedding.  There was also a heavy dew so everything was wet....best way to warm up? Hmmm how about some cycling?

20km up the road was the Munglinup roadhouse where I grabbed a coffee and a toasted sandwhich. This was the only supply point all day so I took a best guess at how much water I'd need to get to Esperance, then headed East.

Thanks to nice weather and 2 massive days riding perviously, today I only needed to cover 130km to hit Esperance. The sun was out, just, and it was still and cool so I decided to do the 130km in one big hit, and get to town hopefully  around early afternoon. A good plan but the legs were now heavy from the previous days so I was a bit off pace, and was getting through a bit more water than planned. It was also really dissapointing not to see any stunt Kangaroos jumping over a cow!

As I got closer to Esperance a sea breeze headwind cropped up, the lightest of winds and my pace dropped a bit...but it was just tired legs that was the issue. Some relief came in the form of encouragement  as I hit the edge of town: a bloke in a railway service vehicle saw me coming and wound his window down yelling out 'jeez you've done alright mate'...he must have passed me earlier. And it felt bloody good to hit this town...a major milestone...game is ON folks.

So good to get to Esperance...first impressions: what a town! Full of character, natural beauty and warm people. I am staying indoors and have just laundered my clothing after a 12 day stint on the road...what a luxury! And so now its time to get ready for the next leg of the trip...

Distance: 130km