Day 1 Broome to Goldwire Rest Area 155 kms

Woken by the alarm this morning after a pretty restless nights sleep. We've had a lovely rest period in Broome but it is once again time to move on.

We met most of the riders down at the town beach last night for Stairway to the Moon- it was a super moon. This ride we have Theo, Annie, Georg, Peter S, Chris, Ben, Joan, Woody and Mark. A small group but we should have some fun along the way.

Left Broome around 7.30 this morning with Mark getting himself a lift to Roebuck roadhouse. Morning tea was gluten free rock cakes (homemade) and almond slice (also homemade) and Carolyn, Theo's wife made us some biscuits which will be kept for tomorrow's morning tea.
We have rode through the Roebuck Plain today and have been lucky with the wind. Usually it's a head wind on this road but there is a big low further down the coast and apparently this will cause north easterly winds. I think I'm becoming an expert with these wind patterns. Lots of cloud cover today which is keeping the temperatures down but the humidity is high.
There is huge amounts of water across the plains and some on the roads. This is the result of the large rainfall Broome had s few weeks ago. It is raining heavily down the coast and hopefully we may miss it.

Lunch was at the 90 km mark on the side of the road and we are ahead of time. It's not even midday yet and most have finished lunch.
Joan has been becoming hypnotised by the red earth so Mark has told her to look at the wild flowers to keep her awake. Some lovely ones out today.
All into camp by mid afternoon and a really nice camp site with toilets, tables and fire places. Ben has taken on the position of fire meister for this leg and he had arrived an hour before anyone else, picked us a table and had started collecting firewood. Lucky he had as it started to rain just before we arrived and he was able to keep the collected wood dry. The rain continued for about an hour but not too heavy. We were able to keep the riders baggage dry but not them- free shower. Quickly got out the clothesline so they could dry off.
I was very pleased that I had been able to pre-cook the chilli con carne (both vegetarian and meat) and golden syrup dumplings. This meant that we just had to heat it up and cook the rice. Easy! Mark shared a bottle of red and Collis shared a bottle of white. All very civilised for a bush camp.
Chris, Theo and Annie did the dishes tonight and this was very much appreciated. Ben, Annie and I had a game of 500 and it was promising to start with until Ben ended up winning once AGAIN. Collis and I went for a walk and when we came back nearly everyone was in bed, it was 8.30.
Rain periods during the night but not for too long.