The rain is coming (25/4/14)

I woke up really early today, ate breakfast, packed up my things and on the way out of the campsite I stopped at the group from yesterday who'd boiled some water for me to say goodbye. We wished each other a good journey and I left. After filling up at the roadhouse I started my journey at precisely 7.50am. This was my earliest start yet and had potential for kangaroo issues so I took it easy on the road. Plus the sky was grey overhead so the roads might be wet in places from any rain that might have already fallen. Just outside Carnarvon I passed a tourist sign pointing to a place called Rocky Pool. I'd seen the sign on the way up but didn't have time to stop then so pulled over to check on Google maps how far it was off the road. As I was checking though it started to rain. There is one advantage to having a large flat area all around you as you can see the weather front, that might be approaching, very clearly. The rain looked like it was coming down really heavy from where I had come and was heading this way. I decided not to stop at Rocky Pool after all so jumped on the bike and quickly carried on my journey. Just as I was getting into Carnarvon for a fuel fill up the rain really started coming down. After filling up I sheltered under the petrol station till it passed and then continued on the road. I didn't have much in the way of waterproof gear but at least it was still warm when it wasn't raining despite the cloud so I had some chance of drying out. Just south of Carnarvon I hit another patch of rain which wasn't surprising as I was watching about four dark patches unleashing their fury on the land all around me before hand. The rain had slowed the returning holiday makers and so I eventually caught up with about three cars pulling caravans up ahead. They didn't cause many issues for me to overtake them and I was soon in front of them. As I rode though a set of headlights, that had also overtaken them, was approaching me fast. It turned out to be a red car, don't know what type, and it seemed that wherever it was going it wanted to get there fast no matter what. I deduced this from the gap, or serious lack of one, that it decided to leave between my rear tyre and its front bumper. I was doing the speed limit so stuck to it as we were now approaching another vehicle. The gaps in the traffic coming the other way were intermittent and the up and down road reduced visibility ahead so I used this to my advantage. The driver behind was getting on my tits so I decided to leave a gap between me and the car in front that was too small for the twat behind to fill and just too big for him to try and overtake the both of us. It worked beautifully. For the next 100km or so my game kept me entertained and annoyed the driver no end. As we neared my next fuel stop, at Billabong roadhouse, I seized my opportunity to overtake the car in front just before a huge queue of traffic went the other way. I was able to put a bit of distance between me and the nob head and got to Billabong without them catching up. Perfect. Smug looks all round. Whilst I was filling up I got chatting to the guy on the opposite side of the pump. Turns out he was a pomm. So I asked him where he was from.

"London"
"Where abouts?"
"North West"
"Go on"
"Harrow"
"Get out"
"Yeah my parents still live there"
"Where?"
"Canons Park"
"Oh my god"

I'm at a fuel station in the middle of Oz and I meet someone who used to live in Canons Park. Unbelievable. He doesn't regret moving here one bit. The guy finishes before me and waves goodbye as he leaves. The rain is starting to approach from behind me again so I get back on the bike quickly and carry on, after paying of course. I manage to stay ahead of the rain for the rest of my journey and eventually get to Northampton about 2.30pm in the sun. I tried calling Sandra and Geoff but my phone had no reception so I gave up and got on the bike to ride the last few kilometres to Horrocks. I'd been to Horrocks as a child, about 8 years old, with my family and was hoping to recognise some bits on the way there. But nothing I saw on the way rang any bells. This wasn't good if I couldn't find their beach-house in amongst the other beach dwellings. I finally got to the coast and rode slowly along the road by the beach and fortunately recognised my uncle's car in the distance up one of the side tracks. I'd completely chanced upon it. As I arrived they both came out to greet me. It was great to see them again and I was glad to get here to spend a few days relaxing before my ride back to Perth. After a big hug from my aunt I unloaded my bike and got all my belongings into the house. I dived straight into the shower. Apart from my swim in the pools at Karijini I hadn't had any degree of cleaning for the last two and a half days so I was now unsure whether it was my tan I could see on my body or a layer of dirt. The colour of the water in the shower answered my question. That shower was bliss and I felt thoroughly refreshed afterwards. I settled down for a beer and told Sandra and Geoff about my last few days. The rain eventually caught me up but gave way to a pretty good sunset so we went down to the beach to enjoy that before heading back for dinner. Friday night footie was on so over some more beers we all watched that. Before we went to bed my uncle told us to come outside as the sky was completely clear now and the stars could be seen. I went out to stargaze for a while but unfortunately didn't see any more shooting stars and as the temperature had dropped quite a lot I was also getting cold. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in front of the TV but I my eyes were getting heavy from the days journeying so I eventually took the hint from my body and went to bed.