Our first stop was at North Albany Senior High Schoole (NASHS for those in the know). There, the ride was officially launched by the Mayor of Albany along with various other dignatries including representatives from Youth Focus and the local indigineous people. Oh, and about 400 kids. An old friend (Narelle - who is living in Albany now) was there to greet us as well.
We were presented with a message stick (to be handed to the aboriginal representative in Perth) and a blessing stone to take with us on the ride. These were apparently carried in the past by the aboriginal tribes when they were carrying messages between peoples.
We left the high school escorted by police (which was excellent - if only we had that type of traffic-stopping power on all our rides) and accompanied by 40-odd kids.
We stopped about 5 km out of town to restock our water bottles and have a short comfort break. After that it was on to Denmark. The road was nice - barely a hill in sight and we had the wind at our backs the whole way.
The only bad thing here was a bit of road works about halfway between Albany and Denmark. Just as we got there they had watered down the road which meant that our bikes (and us!) got covered in sticky, wet mud. Nice. And washing doesn't appear to take the brown out. Oh well.
We had another short stop about 16 km before Denmark to refuel before heading into town where we stopped at the Denmark High School. There we had morning tea and attended the assembly to chat to the year 8, 9 and 10s.
Out of Denmark after that and on our way to Walpole. The road got a bit hillier and the wind swung around to be a southerly which was sometimes in our face and sometimes off to the side. And the temperature climbed into the mid thirties so it was thirsty work. But the pace was good and we got to Walpole without too many issues.
Casualties for the day: two flat tyres, a couple of chain incidents and one split rim - no idea what happened there but we have spare wheels with us so no big deal.
Unusual sightings: a streaker and a "superman" type complete with red cape but lacking the required blue tights.
Last night at dinner we were introduced to the fines system in full. It turns out that fines are not limited to events that have occurred on the ride itself. In fact, you can be fined for events all the way back to birth or for things that are not related to you in any way - a good example being the global financial crisis (yes, someone was fined for that). Last night I got off pretty lightly (except for a fine regarding how Anna had to basically hit me over the head to let me know that there was some romantic interest) while Anna was fined heavily for wearing long socks - despite her protests as to how Euro-cool they are (I don't agree).
Tonight promises to hurt our wallets more. But it is all in good fun.