Up at 5.30am with plans to leave before breakfast saw us strike out from Adelaide towards Port Augusta with the final destination for the day, the Hilton Motel Port Lincoln nearly 700k's away. Temperatures were predicted in the low 40's and it didn't take long to convince us they were heading that way. We rode almost straight through to Port Augusta through kilometre after kilometre of wheat farms and the biggest wind farm I've ever seen to our left. On the map this appears to be coastal but we only got occasional glimpses of water until we were closer to Port Augusta.
By the time we got there it was stinking hot. Three coffees at the McCafe, some water and fuel next door and we left for Whyalla. While leaving Port Augusta we were struck by the severity of the change in landscape between one side of Spencer Gulf and the other. In the space of ten k's either side of the town we'd gone from beige wheat belt land to bright red soil, deep green bushes and gnarled trees. The transition was immediate and stunning and the signs to Iron Knob gave my son pause to giggle a bit.
We hadn't planned to stop at Whyalla but the heat of the day made a stop for water at the Tourist Information Centre imperative and we took some snaps of the warship parked there. Heading further down the dark red landscape continued with the gulf on our left and mountains on our right. At one point before Cowell you could see a large iron ore mine eating into a mountain. We stopped for lunch at Cowell, where after the local cafe owner got over the shock of the Harleys being parked outside opened up, made good food and we had a nice chat.
We needed fuel there and Heffy found out the hard way what fuel does to a helmet visor after an incident with the auto shutoff on a fuel pump. It literally caved in on itself and the only choice was to chuck it and go bare faced for the rest of the day. I didn't envy that one bit and continued to be glad I choose to wear a full faced helmet.
More hot k's ahead with no relief, but it eventually cooled off a little as we reached the surprisingly large town of Port Lincoln. We booked into the Hilton and the first order of the day was to see if we could find a replacement visor for Heffy's helmet. No luck, but he did manage to score a $90 full faced one. We stopped at Coles for some stuff to wash the bikes, to stock up on bottled water and headed back to the room for a shower.
There was a pub nearby so the three of us went there looking for a drink or two and I had the opportunity to reaffirm my superior skill at Galaga. We then walked up the street and selected an italian restaurant Del Giornos and settled in for yet another feed of oysters and I had the pasta for a change. Amazing food yet again. We've been really lucky to date with restaurants.
Back to the room then, tomorrow's target Nundroo via Ceduna and the forecast tells us it's going to be even hotter.
