Day12 Madura to Eucla 182 kms

Collis advised them all, last night at the briefing,to leave by 7 am this morning. He was then walking around in a panic that they were all going to leave when he had told them to. Go figure!! Woody was one of the first to leave around 6.45 am along with Pat and Lorraine and closely followed by Annie. This all spurred Collis into action early and he started packing before he had even finished his first coffee for the morning. They were only riding 47 kms to morning tea today and they had a roaring tail wind so there was every chance they would get there before us. We eventually got on the road around 8.15 am and he threatened to drive at 100 kms/hour. I sat there and kept quiet so as not to distract him but he only got up to 90 kms/hour.

We were on the Madura plains this morning and I had read that the acacia trees were protected from pastoralists and anyone else as they are a hardwood that is used to make musical instruments. They should be a sight when they are all in flower. This plain was once part of the sea bed and is littered with shells and fossils of shells. Then the land rose up and the sea receded to the cliffs.
We made it to morning tea and they were all standing at the entrance to the rest area looking like they had been abandoned. We were 5 minutes past the expected due time.Woody and the 2 Irishmen had decided not to wait but to keep going. We caught up to them further down the road and gave them biscuits and water supply.
We passed a number of Royal Flying Doctors airstrips which surprised me that they were so close together. I would have thought they would have to be a hundred or so kms apart to make them worthwhile. We got to the lunch spot which was Mundrabilla Roadhouse at 114 kms. This had been a bit of a push for everyone as the weather has improved to the point that we had 32 degrees today. The riders (and us) are no longer used to the warmer weather and they were drinking alot more water than they had been doing. Everyone appreciated the great meal selection at the roadhouse after the recent isolation experienced. Everyone is running out of food variety and we all seem to be down to tuna, chicken and salmon tins.

Peter came into lunch reporting that he had been accosted by a mad driver who was complaining about the way our cyclists were riding. The guy stopped his car in the middle of the highway and jumped out swearing and waving his arms about. Peter took a couple of photos but without his glasses on so he missed all the vital information. Anyway a grey nomad witnessed the carry on so we may report him anyway.
Afternoon tea was at a rest area at 145 kms. Everyone had cheered up a bit by this time although they were tired. When we went to pick up our road sign we found someone had defaced our road sign with "F...ing Cyclists on the road". They had written the word on both sides with permanent marker. It was all a bit disturbing to think someone took the time and effort, while we were so close by, to do this. It all felt a little too personal. We will definately report it to the police now.
We decided it would be a good idea to alert the cyclists that some nutter is out there and to take care over the last few kms. As we were passing the "younger" group we were telling them to watch out; through the window of the car. Then Mark decided to jump on and draft for a short period but a car was coming up behind us so we had to speed up and move away. The car coming was a police car with lights flashing. We were pulled over and asked why we were driving on the wrong side of the road. Collis quickly responded with that we were passing the cyclists. It eventuated that they had had a couple of reports about cyclists riding 3 and 4 abreast, which is illegal, so we went on to tell them about the interactions we had with one particular driver today. The police knew exactly who we were talking about and stated they had given him 3 tickets today for various infringements and he may have either done the graffitti or arranged it to be done in some way. The police were able to give us a hand washing solution that took off the offending words from the sign, even though it is still visible because we know it's there.
Saw another blue tongue sunning on the road again today but not much other wild life. It was a delight to spot the cross above Eucla and the shifting white sands in the distance. About half the group upgraded and the rest of us are camping. Quite a few of the riders went to the roadhouse for dinner and it was a really nice meal. I had fish parmiagana which I had never had before (or heard of before) and it was really quite nice and a huge serving.