On the way to Clairview, I met Brian, who is cycling to raise money for the children of Tibet. His website is www.brian4tibet.com.

The banging and clanging of construction on the roof of my pub woke me at about 0745. I left at 0830 to stock up on provisions, call my mom, and fill my water containers. I started heading south at about five minutes to ten.

I had a strong headwind right from the start, and the sky was cloudy. A tiny bit of sprinkles fell on me for a few minutes, and I was wishing for a bit more rain.

I was headed for Clairview, where I knew there would be a pub and a camp ground. Just about 12 km outside of Sarina, I met a guy on a bike, towing a trailer, who was headed the opposite direction! This was the second biker I’d met, and the first with a trailer. His, too, was manufactured by B.O.B. We stopped and chatted at length about our respective cycling trips.

Brian, in his 40s, is from the UK originally, but he has been living in Australia for more than 16 years. He’s on a 10-13 month ride to raise money for the people of Tibet. He has Tibetan prayer flags and a “Free Tibet” sign on his trailer. If you want to read about his charity or find out where he is now, go to his website at www.brian4tibet.com.

Other than my encounter with Brian, here was nothing very eventful about the ride. On the way, I passed a couple of small gas stations and stopped at them for cold drinks.

Clairview consists of a few buildings right along the beach, and I stopped for the evening at Clairview Beach Caravan Park. The nice woman there gave me a $4 discount, and I ended up paying $6 for showers and a tent site. In camp, I met Bill, a nice old man with a great personality. He was just the sweetest thing. I guess he’d been living there for a number of months and was widowed some years back.

I showered and sat down at the pub to chat with the locals. I had my journal with me so I could get caught up, and I asked one of the guys the name of the caravan park. He told me, and then he added, “It’s a nudist colony.” Hahaha. That was a good one, and he had the whole crowd (4 people?) laughing.

I turned in early, just as the sun went down, and I watched as little lizards darted from the bushes on my right out to the field on my left. I actually had a tough time falling asleep, partly because sweet old Bill had left his light on for me thinking I might need to move my tent under his awning if it started to rain, and partly because of all the ants on my tarp and the birds jumping around in the trees. That Bill is so sweet, and he refers to me as “Love” and “Lovey,” in classic Australian fashion. Meanwhile, my other neighbor played really great old country-and-western music, and I finally fell asleep.

Mileage: 92 km
Weather: Fair/Strong Headwind
End Location: Clairview

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