Day 3 Merredin to Southern Cross 108 kms

The noisiest night ever last night with freight trains streaming through the campsite (or at least it felt like that), road trains racing each other out the front and Collis snoring all the way through it. Some of us got very little sleep, where others got 8 to 9 hours. We all tried to stay in bed after 6 am but being awake usually means toilet time so I may as well get dressed while I'm up and about. Now I may as well have a cup of tea and breakfast. Nearly everyone was up and about by 6.15am. I tried!!!
Today, history was made. Woody was on the road by 7.30 am and riding in the middle of the pack. John and Ben were the last to leave but soon caught the rest of them. The group were riding together in close formation today and it was lovely to see and easy to follow them. We had 3 or 4 peloton going today. Poor old Ben seems to have caught the cold that has been floating around and his chest is very congested. He is finding it hard to cycle but he won't come off the bike.
The group came into morning tea and lunch virtually all together. It was a cold, crisp morning but ended up a lovely winters afternoon. The scenery was mainly wheat fields and the start of the salmon gums. The salmon gums up north were more of a golden color but here they are more pinky color. They are my favorite gum tree with the white gums a close second.
The caravan park we chose looked pretty run down and old but once we settled in it turned out to be lovely and clean with some pretty good facilities.

The recreation room was taken over by us and we got the fire going which kept us warm as well as some were able to cook their steaks on top. Collis, Annie and I headed off down to the Railway Hotel for dinner and got the biggest meals ever, so much so Collis was unable to finish them all off once Annie and I stopped. John had some great news from home but I better not say what it is as I'm not sure if the news has gone any further yet. Watch this spot.