Friday 22nd Feb Portland to Mount Gambier

We had a good night although there were thunderstorms over the sea most of the night. At dusk lots of birds flocked to the trees in the site. Once the sun was down the incredible noise they made eased. The lightning however must have disturbed them because every flash then created screeching in their wake.
We were on the road for 8.30 and we packed frozen bottles of water we had placed in the camp kitchen. It was 66K to Nelson and we did not want to get caught out without water.
The wind was on our backs again although it was just a breeze having reduced a lot from yesterday. The going was undulating and our six gears could cope easily.
We arrived in Nelson which was on the coast at the mouth of a river estuary. We visited the tourist information and the kiosk which sold a few food basics. It was only 2pm and we had a decision to make about whether to go further or to stop at the camp site in Nelson. In the end we decided that as cloud had come over and it had cooled a little for the middle of the day, then we would carry on. It was about 33km to Mount Gambier and some of it up hill. After cycling on from Nelson for 4km we crossed over from the state of Victoria into South Australia. At this time there is a formal time change of 30 minutes. So Tony was ahead of me on the road but 30 minutes behind me as he was in South Australia and I was still in Victoria.As soon as we crossed we lost the metre wide hard shoulder on the road which in Victoria we had used as a cycle lane. This pushed us out into the narrow road sharing it with logging trucks and lorries with massive trailers. We hope this is not typical of a South Australia State road!
It started to rain and thunder just as we got to Mt Gambier and the wind changed direction to a head on strong wind . We managed to find shelter before doing the last 2 or 3 km to the campsite. Wow we managed an all time best today on the Bromptons of 104 km. Ready for a sleep now after our meal and a shower in our en suite
bathroom next to our tent. Our exclusive use bathroom is bigger than our tent!!
Photo one our tent with en-suite
Photo two resting in the shade at Nelson