After a freezing cloudless night in Forbes, the heavy dew was still settling as I broke camp. While I was methodically going about packing my tent and belongings, a truck driver who had been staying in one of the cabins wandered over for a look-see and a bit of a chat.

“I rode a bike once until I fell off,”  he said

“It happens ” I replied

“So where you from and where ya going?

“I’m from Melbourne and heading North”

“I could do something like that too you know, The only trouble is my Father was overprotective. Made me kind of scared of life, but I’m not naturally a timid man.”

Me either, I said turning slightly side on in case I had to square up with this bloke.

As pleasant as this early morning encounter session was, that dew was settling on me now. I was cold and wet and needed to head off just to warm up. I made busy hoping my man would take the hint.

“So you sound like a level-headed bloke, can I ask you something?” The compliment before the question should have been a giveaway.

“Sure” I tried to act interested.

“I have this friend right…” another bad sign, “Anyway another friend of ours just discovered he keeps his own piss in bottles. Had 109 of them, is that normal?”

At this point, I knew we were talking about him and I’m pretty sure he knew I knew we were talking about him.

“Who’s to say, sounds like your friend’s just working through some issues, people do worse ” he lightened up at my reply. He said it had been great to chat with me, reached out and shook my hand then left. After a surgical-inspired scrub of the offending hand, I was off too.

It was mostly uphill from Forbes to Parkes which makes sense if you’re looking to choose between the two as to where to place your massive radio telescope. Lots of loose gravel and no verge in places and more roadworks called for increased effort and concentration.

Arriving at the Parkes Information Center I took in the Elvis Exhibition. Parkes has its own  Elvis Festival every year and they hold the world’s record for the most number of Elvis’, or is that Elvi in one place at the one time. I purchased a postcard to send to my Mother and of course, I said to the shop assistant “Thank you, Thank you very much “

The actual dish is around 30 km out of town in the direction that I’m headed tomorrow so rather than ride out and back and out again tomorrow, I took a half day off to service the bike and explore the town.

Enjoying Tea & toast at  the Alexander cafe in Parkes, I overheard a guy saying to his doe-eyed admirer “Levitation is easy, it’s just like breathing in your head.” Glad we got that one cleared up I thought to myself