Esperance to Norseman

I took the bike over to get the new chain and back wheel. It took them a couple of hours. When I loaded it up to leave Esperance I noticed the chain was taught. They put the chain on but didn't set the tension. Honestly is there a bike shop on the planet that can do anything right? If I'd ridden it for a long time like that the best case scenario would be that it snaps and wraps around the front sprocket, causing a shit load of damage. Worst case is it snaps and locks the back wheel, potentially killing me.

I set the tension, wasting another half hour, then left. I've entered the Great Western Woodlands. I didn't know it existed until today. It is the largest temperate forest on earth, almost as big as England. The trees weren't towering monsters. Most of them today were gimlet trees, which branch off near the ground, so an individual tree kind of looks like it's 5 trees. At least they did at 110km/h.

I'm now at Norseman. It is named after the horse that discovered gold here in 1894. It pawed at the ground and got a nugget of gold stuck in its hoof. Further investigations revealed a significant gold reef. Since then 100 tonnes of gold have been mined here.

Tomorrow I'll be starting across the Nullarbor. Nullarbor of course is an Aboriginal word that directly translates as "this word is Latin". In Latin it means "No trees". I expect it to take 3-6 days before I reach Ceduna and will be without internet in that time. There is half a chance I'll do it in 2 days.

This photo is from out near Hyden. I like it.