Had an 8am start and headed out with directions that put me onto a cycle path to Gawler a town on the northern fringe of Adelaide. A nice 25 km warm up then a leisurely stop at Gawler for a big cooked breakfast.
headed out on the route to Clare – but in the end never quite made it – finished my day at an historic pub at Auburn ….”The Rising Sun”
the ride climbs slowly – steadily upwards 1- 2%gradient – unfortunately the wind was on the nose and strong at about 25 – 30 km hour. this made for a slow ride and I did not get to my final stopping place till 3.30pm – big day on the bike all for 99.9 Kms on the garmin gps

Great road safety banner on the road – only in aus – I think Kerikeri would be too Pc to allow this one to be erected. And just how do Cocks drive?
Well it turned out to be a day for birds – a beautiful parrot briefly has a sleep on my handlebar bag before flying off- can u see the wind ruffling his/her beautiful plumage?

The birds were not finished though – had a most unusual experience- I started to hear what sounded like small explosions – like a slug gun- kept looking for what it was – thought someone was taking pot shots at me. Eventually discovered that a bird was attacking me from behind. Suspect a magpie but not sure and was unwilling to look up too much in case I got injured. I have no idea how these sounds are generated- magpies have attacked at home at about this season – but never with these unusual sound effects. Perhaps some dear reader will know about this.

Staying at this historic pub tonight “the rising sun hotel” built in 1850!!!! Managed to slip my bike inside the room. life is good.

I was going to tell you the altitude of Auburn – but non of the locals have a clue- amazing what people living here do not know about there own patch.