David's Journal Entry
Today we had another great start, as we were up and out by 7.30am, although the bore water we had filtered from the tanks in the rest area was both warm and strangely sweet. Thankfully, Mike had some electrolyte powder which gave it a moderately more palatable, lemony tang. As the sun crept higher and the bottles warmed the flavour came to resemble a warm lemon iced tea. 

We covered 130km today, riding until near sunset and encountering plenty of naysayers. "You've chosen the wrong time of year", "You should have gone South to North", "Don't go through X, it's dangerous", "You won't be able to get food in Y". Ultimately we have little choice now about our route, but at every turn thus far people like these have been wrong. North to South means no sun in our eyes, we will see tomorrow how safe (or otherwise) Elliot actually is, and whether there is food there (surely it would be a strange town not to have any). Many other fellow travellers have a more positive outlook and seem to think, like us, that all will be okay.   

The kindness of strangers is one of the great joys of travelling by bike. The simple pleasure derived from being offered a kettle of hot water today at lunchtime courtesy of some 'grey nomads' is hard to fathom. Some folks talk of road angels and the idea that the road provides. Such thoughts seem somewhat fanciful to me, but perhaps I am too prosaic. In any event, as we pushed into the afternoon with dwindling resources and a hankering for something calorific and salt-laden Mike spotted a sliver of cardboard taped to a post, faintly marked with encouragement to "Keep pedeling" (sic). It's fair to say after riding 700+km through slowly changing landscapes at a modest pace, one tends to notice oddities more readily than one would in 'the real world'. So naturally we stopped to find out more. We were rewarded with directions to a surprise snack in the form of a tube of crisps secreted under a nearby bush.

Our final destination was a very pretty rest area, with excellent views. Sleep was assured, not least because tomorrow is likely to be a big day on the bikes, as we have 250km to cover over the next two days. 

What I learned

Some people are inclined to find reasons not to do things / criticise / throw up barriers. Listening to them is valuable, sometimes, but one has to consider whether their input is based on experience or whether they are acting (or indeed not acting) out of unjustified fear.