Sunday March 9, 2014

We had a NW wind for the first 60 kms, which was good enough for us.  It wasn’t a head wind.  We had a tailwind for the last 20 kms.  We did 85 kms in under 4 hours, awesome.

It was a very early start this morning we got up before the sun and the birds (5:30 am).  We were ready to go by 6:30, but it was still dark, we puttered around for 15 minutes and decided to head out with all our lights blazing, it was getting lighter but the sun didn’t fully rise for another 40 minutes.

The first 60 kms we were riding along a very straight, flat road.  We had trees, or shrubs on either side of us for the majority of that distance, which made it relatively cool and good cycling temperatures, but nothing much to look at.  However, being on the road so early we did get to see some wildlife.  We saw 3 emu, crossing the road about 50 metres in front of us.  Unfortunately we were not quick enough to get the cameras out to take photos of them, and it was still a little dark. We also saw our first live kangaroo hopping across the road, a red fox and our first wombat – dead.

The last 25 kms we were in the open coastal area – we still couldn’t see the sea because of the dunes.  A few beef cattle are grown in this area.

We also saw these granite outcroppings.  The area around here is completely flat then these two bumps appear.  I think it looked like an elephant, but maybe the sun was getting too hot.

When we came into Kingston the first thing we did was check out the giant lobster.  It is supposed to be the big attraction in Kingston.  In the early 80\’s a couple of business men thought it would be a good idea to build a giant road side attraction, restaurant and information centre too attract people to Kingston.  All that is left is the giant lobster, a rather expensive large and empty restaurant which had a very limited choice for food and no information centre.  Across the road was a superb little bakery, where we had a lovely lunch.

We had lunch then continued to cycle into downtown Kingston and found the campsite.  A nice, clean site opposite the beach.

We got into the Kingston Caravan Park at 11:30 am.  After setting up the tent and showering we took a walk back into the downtown along the coastal road.  Kingston has a population of about 2,000 with the main industries being fishing, farming and viticulture.

Tomorrow we are taking a rest day and will have a good walk around the Town and take photos of the historic buildings, may be take a ride along the bike path.