Christmas in Beachport was really nice. I sat in front of the general store, sipped coffee, messed around on the web and sympathized with everyone who came and foubd the store to be closed. I talked to several of the locals and joined in a search for a missing dog, for a little while, at least.....
By 1700 though, I was thinking it was time to move on. The town of Robe was only 43km away, and even though there was a killer headwind and it was properly cold, it was possibly the easiest 43km to date; no elevation at all. Robe was like Beachport: shut tightly for Christmas day, and I was resigned to meusli for dinner. I was scoping out some campsites when I saw a young couple come around the corner carrying bags of take-out food. A little Q&A got me to a Malaysian restaurant, warm and inviting, open and serving just around the corner. Oddly enough, it was called "Don's Kitchen", so maybe the owner s a convert or something. Three cheers for Muhammadan restaurateurs on Christmas day!
So I had a great meal and two beers and paid the 20% open-on-Christmas surcharge rather willingly. The AUS dollar is cheap nowadays anyway. I swagged out on a deck platform behind the bowling club, right next to the sea, and I listened to the crashing waves all night....
Boxing Day was bright and gorgeous, and I spent it just wandering around Robe and remarking what a wonderful little town it is and how glad I was that I had moved on from Beachport. Good coffee, the ocean, plenty of free wifi, free showers. Kinda hard to beat. I even went swimming in the (cold) ocean, out to the swimming platform and back. Shrinkage!
I regretfully left robe at about 1700 and rode an even >easier< 44km into Kingston, where I would pick up the bus to Adelaide. I spent the better part of the ride calculating mileage, and I realized that if I had gotten started when I got off the ferry in Melbourne, I could have easily cycled the entire way into Adelaide and not have had to take the bus. Oh well; the bus was an experience in itself....
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| Robe: Awesome, huh? |
So I had a great meal and two beers and paid the 20% open-on-Christmas surcharge rather willingly. The AUS dollar is cheap nowadays anyway. I swagged out on a deck platform behind the bowling club, right next to the sea, and I listened to the crashing waves all night....
Boxing Day was bright and gorgeous, and I spent it just wandering around Robe and remarking what a wonderful little town it is and how glad I was that I had moved on from Beachport. Good coffee, the ocean, plenty of free wifi, free showers. Kinda hard to beat. I even went swimming in the (cold) ocean, out to the swimming platform and back. Shrinkage!
I regretfully left robe at about 1700 and rode an even >easier< 44km into Kingston, where I would pick up the bus to Adelaide. I spent the better part of the ride calculating mileage, and I realized that if I had gotten started when I got off the ferry in Melbourne, I could have easily cycled the entire way into Adelaide and not have had to take the bus. Oh well; the bus was an experience in itself....
