Shortly after reaching the other side, the road joins the main Highway 1 which goes around the entire Australian continent. Despite being a major route, this section is actually very quiet, because most of the road traffic between Melbourne and Adelaide uses a more direct route further inland.
The distances between towns are a major factor to be taken into account when touring this region by bicycle. There are no longer any services at Policeman's Point, so between Meningie and Salt Creek there's 59kms without any food or water, and another 85kms between Salt Creek and Kingston.
Furthermore, yesterday's clouds had vanished and there was nothing but unbroken hot sunshine all day, with the forecast over 35C and set to continue for a few days.
Alongside the highway were many large salt lakes, apart from that there was not much to see before reaching the town of Meningie.
Meningie is a nice little town, with a pleasant setting on the shores of Lake Albert, part of the large system of inland water leading to the mouth of the mighty River Murray. I had a good lunch at a bakery and stocked up with plenty of water to see me through the next 60kms or so to Salt Creek.
After Meningie the road follows a long stretch of coastline through a region known as the Coorong
- a 140km strip of coastal dunes separated from the mainland by a narrow lagoon. It's a conservation area, uninhabited and unspoilt, and a haven for wildlife.
Here are some views taken from Parnka Point, reached via a very rough 4km dirt road off the main route. Inevitably the bad surface caused a puncture to the rear tyre, but it was worth the detour nevertheless:
I encountered another cycle tourist, coming from the opposite direction, and we stopped and chatted for a while. He was Canadian, riding a Surly Long Haul Trucker, a very robust machine which was heavily laden with large panniers front and rear. He'd set off from Sydney 4 weeks ago, and was on his way to Perth via the Nullarbor. It's always nice to meet other cycle tourists on the road, it doesn't happen often in this country.
Around 5pm, after a long struggle against a very hot headwind, I reached Salt Creek. All this place has is a road house and this monument to Australia's first (and unfruitful) oil well excavation which happened here in the 1850s:
The roadhouse has some cabins which provide adequate accommodation, which is fortunate because there's nothing else before Kingston, another 90 or so kms onward. Having checked in and had a much needed shower, I set off on a walk around a nearby nature trail along Salt Creek. With nobody else around it was wonderfully peaceful and it was great to watch the sun gradually setting over the wetlands.
The roadhouse had a pretty good menu, mainly consisting of fish and I had an excellent mullet burger with loads of salad and fries washed down with a very cold beer.
Distance ridden today 117kms, giving a total so far of 228kms.
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