Saturday, October 27, 2007

DAY 22: Day 3 off in Esperance

Sat 27 Oct 07
cold wet and windy

I had originally planned to leave here today to continue towards Norseman, however (1) the boil, although a little reduced this morning, is still too big / uncomfortable to ride with and (2) the weather is awful - driving rain and hailstones from the NW, which would be in my face with little shelter on the road. In any case I wanted to get checked out again at the hospital to seek a proper solution if poss. I saw a doctor right away again and he thought lancing was still not an option and prescribed a 3-week penycillin course. After this business was dispensed with he quizzed me about the trip and described in some detail some places in the Nullabor that I might look at while passing through. I was instersted to learn about his rescued dingo pet which he took on 7 years ago after finding it being maltreated. This extra day will hopefully see an improvement in the boil added to the prospect of better weather tomorrow. The prescription cost $25.95 (£10). I still haven’t been asked to sign up to Medicare, the Oz health service, as expected - the hospital just verified that UK had a reciprocal health agreement.
As I left the hospital the heavens opened in so I had to dodge in a cafe while it went on. I had planned a coach tour to see the wider area, but the hospital appointments had added too much uncertainty to be able to book.
2100 hours:
What a freezing cold day - never crept above 10 deg C or so, unbelieveable! Thunderstorm, hailstones - the locals say it was better than this all winter and here we are summer approaching. I'm a bit concerned that my plans to head off to Norseman tomorrow may be scuppered, unless there's a sudden change overnight. The forecast is still for tailwinds north so fingers crossed - still pretty cold for next few days though. There are 2 log stoves going in the lounge here at the YHA so everyone's in here keeping warm - even more sociable than usual.
An American guy, Tom, arrived by bike today having ridden the 180 km from Ravensthorpe to here by 1300!! He did have a good tailwind but even so, that's fast. We may ride together tomorrow if I can keep up with him (and if the weather improves).
I think george is probably away on the Nullabor by now, but maybe we'll meet up later somewhere. There are quite a few similarly mad travellers cycling the same way!
No pics today as I haven't even been out!