Day 11 - Beyond Kingston to Miningie - 90 km, 296 m - Ride total 966 km

A staggered start it was for the team this morning and as my bike was one of the three already on the truck from yesterday, I was the first bike off the rack and on the track ahead of Peter and Elio who hadn't travelled as far as I did yesterday, so they remained about 9 km behind me all day. With the head start that I had and a good back wind that we all had I remained in front right through to Miningie our accommodation for the night. I was very pleased with the time it took me to do the 90 km's, cutting it out in around 3:25 with an average speed of 26.2 kph showing on my Garmin. There was also 296 metres of climbing which was made up from the many low "Sandhills" that we had to ride up - I think the steepest of which only got to a 2% gradient.

Today was also another day where we got to see wildlife, we had to slow in the car to avoid the two "Roos'" and a deer, then a short while later while I was on the bike I saw a hind and a fawn along with a "Wombat". Unfortunately, the Wombat was quite dead and in the middle of the Road - a Wombat all the same, so I'll still count it as being seen.

The scenery changed the further along we travelled. There were many "Lakes" (some with water and some very dry) alongside the highway - none of them appeared very deep and all of them looked very much like they were very susceptible to drying right out and not having an outlet - the dry lake beds that I saw all looked very salty as did the vegetation growing on the edge of the Lakes. Again, they had an inherent beauty and with the blue sky and white sandhills in the distant they looked quite unique - however proved very difficult to photograph.

I was very pleased to see the "5 km to Miningie" sign appear and rode into to town to find the bakery - I saw the bakery sign so parked my bike adjacent gathered my breath and then went into the Bakery - First impression was not good as there was very little selection and when i asked if the muffins were fresh the honest answer I got was no, they're frozen! So decision made, "No thanks" and out I wen to find somewhere better. I hadn't gone more than one shop along when I saw there off the road and set back the "Meningie Bakery"! I was barking up the wrong tree earlier and had the Cafe that was near to the bakery!

I let Peter know where to come and bought some food for my lunch, Peter arrived and once he'd finished his lunch, we both head on the extra km or so to the Lakeside Motel where our accommodation was booked. Peter goes in to sort out the accommodation and I wait with the bikes - "All sorted, four rooms, two per room" Peter says, coming back with four keys. We open the first room and see one double bed, we open the second, third and fourth and see the same! As I've said before, we're all open minded, accepting men with no prejudices and while that is true and we are happy to share a room with anyone of biking buddies we do however draw the line at sharing a bed with them - yes I know we are so old fashioned but do bear in mind we were all born in the middle years of the last century!

Peter and I immediately had spied our back up plan once we found out there were no other rooms available at this Motel - that was to take the duvet and create a second bed on the floor, that was if our first put right plan did not come to fruition. That was to pop back down the road to the other Motel in town and see if they had rooms available - fortunately they did have a family room available that Peter booked and our problem was solved - no drama.

All up another great day on the road and probably most memorable for the good time I made in cutting out the 90 km's.