A final hiccup leaving Kulin when a final check showed that my wallet was still at my lodgings. Note; when changing from street clothes to riding knicks, there are no pockets in the knicks so the wallet will look for a home – home is not the laundry sink, home is the handlebar bag!
Sandra saw me off with a final instruction to make sure to see the Tin Horse Highway. Strangely the Tin Horse Highway starts with a banged up Cessna 150 on a pole. After that there are Clothes Horses, Show Ponies, Draft Horses and etc until the Jillakin Rock turnoff 15 km later.

Despite being a forester, and Jillakin Rock being the eastern most stand of jarrah in the wheatbelt I didn’t go in – put off by a wonky back wheel with only 35 of its 36 spokes intact, the prospect of several kilometres of rough corrugated gravel road and the reputation of the place for the size and ferocity of its Caltrop goathead burrs. Just didn’t feel up to adding a couple of hours to an already precarious day of riding with the added joy of repairing a puncture on top. Next time.

The ride to Hyden was absolutely straight forward. To the point of seeing the next 10 km of road descending this plain to rise up the other side, where the following 15 km of road could be seen lying in wait, in a straight line to the horizon.

At the halfway point the road turned north and went up a 5 km hill and then down again. Fueled by a chocolate bar from Sandra at Kulin, in through Kalgarrin (a drinking fountain in the main street but no open shops or signs of life) then the last 16 km to Hyden, out the other side for 3 km to Wave Rock caravan park.

Got in about 16:30, tired but relieved that the wheel made it without the wobble getting worse.

A final phone call to Robyn at home to send on a chain whip and Shimano cassette tool and settle in to see what Australia Post can manage.