Day 27 Gawler to Wellington 120 kms

Woke to rain again this morning which appears to be fairly persistent today. It kept drizzling all morning but it didn't get any heavier than that. Still very annoying and cold. Those that camped last night will have to dry out their tents tonight. Collis had a small mishap last night when he was settling the car for the night, he bumped into another car and knocked off his car decorations. The man was very understanding and is not going to pursue it but we checked with him again this morning just to confirm this.
It is going to be a longish day today with lots of hills, wind, rain and cold. I'm really looking forward to it- not. Those that normally ride together seemed to have split up this morning. Theo was riding on his own and Paul and Richard were a fair way apart as well. The groups were split also with one half getting into morning tea at 9.30 and the other half coming in dribs and drabs between 10 and 11. Peter got lost very early in the day and ended up riding at the back of the pack with the last rider. Annie was no where to be found on the route at all, she had said she would take a few different roads but we should see her near to Palmer, but we didn't. I tried to contact her but her phone was off and she eventually sent a text to say she was close by. Ben told some of them that he was going to the whispering wall but forgot to mention anything to us and we hadn't seen him all morning either. He also had his phone off and we were waiting for him to turn up, he eventually tried to ring after I texted him and then I rang him back. He had gone on ahead and was at Murray Bridge already so he was going to ride onto Wellington. At last we were able to leave Palmer and try to catch the earlier ones at Murray Bridge for lunch.
When we get to Murray Bridge, we find the early group had decided not to wait for us and were no where to be found. I went for a walk down the local shops and come across Chris, John, Theo and Jim in a coffee shop (that's 4 accounted for) then Mark and Kirsten were spotted riding out of town (so there is another 2). With Ben on the road to Wellington it gives us 7 found and 8 to wait for. Richard was the first in, followed by Annie (troubled by magpies swooping in the park) and Paul, then Lorraine and Pat, and closely followed by Peter and the tail rider eventually riding in. Georg was nowhere to be found now but he does this often and we didn't expect him to wait around, hopefully he will be at Wellington when we get there.
The rain stopped at lunch time and for awhile they had a nice tailwind which eventually turned into a headwind for the last 10 kms. Five plus us are camping tonight. I think the others have all piked out and will spend the rest of the trip in cabins (I don't blame them as it is what I would do if I was on my own).