Now that I've managed to break free of my long and unexpected break in Adelaide, I'm back on the road and heading north (before I had been heading mostly west).
With my new bearings, I find that I've left behind the city-to-town transitionary period I experienced on my way from Melbourne to Adelaide and have now entered the town-to-village transition.
In other words, things are becoming more rural.
Before setting out on this adventure, I was looking forward to this particular time on the road: fewer people, more open space, fewer opportunities to be struck by a vehicle, and more opportunities to see wildlife.
However, what I failed to account for (and what nobody told me) was that as a part of this package was having to deal with flies.
Yes, flies.
I'm not an entomologist, so maybe someone can help me out here, but these Australian flies appear to be unlike any other I've encountered.
They are small, hideous, persistent, and annoying as hell. Basically, they're evil.
Simply shaking (or more likely flailing) whichever part of you the fly has chosen to land on does little to phase it.
Unless you've made a deliberate and targeted effort to remove a fly from its perch (where it's most certainly vomiting digestive fluid through its mouthparts and onto your person), it will simply stay put and continue its imposition.
I dare say these are worse than my old enemy the mosquito.
It seems that no matter how selectively I choose my rests, within seconds of stopping I'm already the target of half a dozen flies.
Within a minute that number has typically grown to “countless”.
It's like there's one hiding somewhere on my bike who calls out to everyone in the area whenever and wherever I decide to take a breather or eat something.
The party normally takes place on the salt-encrusted faces of my shirt, but that doesn't stop them from also assaulting my ears, nose, and eyes.
I shake them off and pedal off as quickly as I can, but despite exhausting my sprint over and over again, they somehow manage to keep up.
And they're always flying right behind and over my head.
Despite my now being the innocent and undeserving victim of these demon spawn, I manage to make it to the township (aka village) or Mallala where I set up my tent and quickly retreat to safety.
It looks like there's (more) rain on the horizon; hopefully, this at least helps to combat the insect epidemic.
- START: Adelaide, South Australia
- END: Mallala, South Australia
- DAY'S DISTANCE: 40.54 mi / 65.24 km
- TOTAL DISTANCE: 542.74 mi / 873.24 km