I Need a Fly Net

The wind blew from the south.  I decided to ride south, so that when I got tired and turned around the wind could push me back home.

On the southern edge of Wallaroo I met a dilemma: the road left the sea and went inland, burdened with grain trucks going to the silos.  Alternatively, a track led to the beach to bypass private land, but this particular beach was push-your-bike territory.

Thinking...

I guess I'll push my bike now.

The pushing didn't last long.  In no time at all I was back up onto firm ground and the little track along the top of the escarpment led me to the Wallaroo Powder Magazine which provided a fine spot to stop and have a snack.

The original magazine, whose foundations are still visible, was built in 1867 after some members of the community expressed concern about the relaxed practice of storing the explosives for the Wallaroo Mine 'between a dwelling house and the blacksmith's shop' before taking them to the mine site. 

Off I went along a sweet little track that meandered along, sometimes with a view of the sea, sometimes down amongst the dunes. 

Most of the time it was pleasantly ride-able.

As long as I was careful with the sand...

Whoops!

Sometimes I walked.

Eventually I reached my left-hand bend where the wind ceased being a battering ram and became instead a friendly hand at my back.  I positively zoomed along, dodging corrugations and potholes with barely the need to pedal.  The only drawback was all the flies that had previously hidden from the wind on my back and now decided to take up residence on my face, in my eyes, up my nose... I weaved all over the road, steering with one hand while furiously waving flies away with the other.

Tailwind territory.  Shame about the flies.

Coming back into Wallaroo I was most excited to stumble across the brand new rail trail which goes all the way to Moonta and is on my must-ride-while-in-Wallaroo list.  When the wind is blowing the right way, of course.  And when I've found my fly net.

New bicycle infrastructure and improvised partial fly protection.  I tried putting it over my eyes as well but that didn't work too well.

The wind blew me all the way through Wallaroo and back around the Marina, past the Kitchen, etc, etc back to my front door. And all before midday too, which was a good thing because I really needed to do some laundry while the sun was shining.

I found a new wildflower.

It grows in abundance in the open spaces around Wallaroo.  Time to go do some more wild-flower identification.  I'll let you know what I find out.