Hi Everybody,

Today was again an epic day. I met the wind obviously, I met the sun again, I met several times the rain and to finish I took the ferry. Additionally my GPS data had worked only for half day as the battery had been left me alone. I thought yesterday that I had enough but the day was very long. We put our alarm at 4h40 and I left with the wind at 5h50. I reached Tintinara at 16h40 after almost 8h cycling. The rain obliged me few times to stop as the wet road is quite dangerous especially when you have some narrow roads and some huge trucks.

To leave from Adelaide without taking the different highways or the main roads I have done a track but it was very physical again. I took the Chandlers Hill road during few km. As the name said by itself, I had suffered immediately but thankfully for me the weather was cold. Nevertheless I wore my shirt, and two sweeters as usual since 2 days. The differential of the temperature with Pimba, there were 3 days ago was incredible. My body takes some times to realize what’s happening.

The road that I took to join after 100 km the Duke Highway, the main road to Melbourne was really narrow. The first 100 km was difficult. The road was so narrow sometime that against me I decided unfortunately but not more than 10 km to use the car. The road was really dangerous as it was wet and moreover the cars drove very fast. Concerning to the Duke Highway, I have to be aware as this road is also not easy. There is only one lane and I have impression that the number of trucks is so much more than cars. With the strong wind as today coming from my right, I have to be careful as I can lose the control of my bike at any time especially when a truck overtakes me.

We stopped several times due to the rain. The first time was after only 37 min I stopped for 20 min. When I restarted it was not very pleasant and I tried to stay concentrate on the road. As I told you I took the Chandlers Hill road and after a while I crossed the McLaren Vale. If the Barossa Valley that I have already spoken to you, this is the most visited wine region, only 40 min south of Adelaide. The gorgeous vineyards around have a Tuscan haze, rippling down to a calm coastline that’s similarly Ligurian. The second time was at 8h40, only at 2 km to Paris Creek. It was raining strongly. Have a look on my pictures taken today.

We crossed as well Strathalbyn on my way to go to Wellington. Strathalbyn was established in 1839 by scottish immigrants. Many of the old streets-capes and buildings have been preserved.

At 10h30, I had to stop again due to the rain. I was in the direction of Wellington. I restarted at 11 am to reach finally Wellington at 11h34 after doing a bite more than 100 km already. My dad took some petrol and I needed to stop to have a break. At 11h44, the rain was there for 5 min. To join the main road, the Duke Highway, we obliged to take the ferry to cross a river. It was so funny and the guy who managed his boat was nice. I took two pictures of him. After this, I bicycle for 10 km to reach at the end the Duke Highway to go to Tintinara, my final destination of the day.

Australian highways are very strange. In fact, this main road has only one lane and the speed limit is 130 km/h. As I told you before, I have impression to cross more trucks than cars. Today was dangerous as the wind was strong.

At the end, I arrived at 16h40 after almost 11 hours journey. I’m quite exhausted now especially due to the strong wind. It was not so pleasant to ride today unfortunately. I hope tomorrow will be better.

See you soon.