A straight run on a magnificent bitumen highway to arrive at Laverton at 15:30. Apparently the road was built as part of the Posiedon nickel boom of the 1970’s. The miners wanted a railway but Charlie Court apparently would only help with a road.

Laverton has a nice welcoming statement of a grassed roundabout with lush gum trees and flowering bouganvillea and a hundred metres further on the Explorers Museum and Tourist Information.
A statue of a cycling prospector in the centre of town reminds us that cycling was the quickest and sometimes most paracticall way of getting around untracked bush in the late 17800s aand earl 1900s.
Fences and barbed wire around a lot of public and private buildings point to a town where isolation, cultural differdifferences, historical abuses and lack of jobs have built up major social problems.
Fruit cake.that I have found makes a very serviceable lunch for long distance cyclists. Lots of calories in a mix of starch, oil and sultanas. A much quicker solution to lunch than pulling out the Trangia, firing it up and taking 15 mins to boil sphagetti and coffee. Works for me, so far.

In to the pleasant and well appointed caravan park, get the code to the automatic gate and settle in for the night.

Still can’t find the riding gloves so bare hands it is.

Robyn, aka the support crew, sorted out the last bank required documents back at home base so nothing left for me to do but chat to fellow campers. A travelling trio had very English accents but apparently had been working in Australia as long as I have and have certainly travelled over a lot more of it than me. Nice to talk to you guy and girls.

Tomorrow off on the Great Central Road.
Apparently 10 km of bitumen out of town then the truth will hit.

A little apprehensive but hopefully will settle in to it once the lights disappear behind.

Loading up with 6 litres of water to get to Cosmo Newberry, then full load of 18 litres out from there. I hope the Limestone Bore is still working because that will make the 300 km to Tjulkala (?) easier to manage.

So, off line for three days until Tjulkala.

Farewell folks.