I headed off from Middle Beach at about 9am after chatting to Kel and Al who were curious about my bike and setup.
Today I could really start to appreciate my electronic mapping and GPS setup which allowed me to follow the route north along the country back roads and lanes which I had marked out the night before, in an effort to avoid the Port Wakefield Road/Princes Hwy. Having GPS (which uses satellite and not phone signal) and very detailed maps, means that I always know exactly where I am and removes the stress of getting lost. Some of the roads/lanes were through unlocked farm gates but due to the age of the maps there was one road/lane which was non existent so I retreated to the Port Wakefield Road/Princes Hwy for about 10 kms into the tiny town of Dublin for some lunch. I bought a fly net at the general store as the flies had been driving me crazy for 2 days. Coming into town I noticed how big the flies get here! Thanks to Sarah there I learned about a free camping area 10kms away on the foreshore at Port Parham.
Jean-Marc who`s been touring the world on his bicycle for three and a half years, rolled into town so we chatted for a while before I met Robert who owns a Bob trailer and lives in Warragul in Victoria where I went to secondary school. Shortly after, Peter a local cyclist, decided to join me for part of the way to Port Parham and on the way we passed the Dublin cemetery which apparently starred in the film `Red Dog`.
The free camping areas are heavily used by travellers in caravans and motor homes so the free camping at Port Parham was quite busy but close to the beach.
Before cooking dinner I headed up to the Social Club, the only business in town, to ask about access to a road I could see on the map running alongside the nearby Proofing Range used by the Department of Defence for weapons testing. However I was told that the road was inside 10 foot high fence with a locked gate so the only alternative was to take the North Parham dirt road back to the Port Wakefield Road/Princes Highway and follow it into Port Wakefield. Today I also met Cath who`d driven down from Darwin.
