The group was ecstatic to be woken up at 5:30am. In fact, so thrilled were they that many people were still in bed as the 6:30am van departure time arrived. This led to the silly situation of me packing the van while people were getting stuff out. I suppose it's fortunate that I don't have an Aussie drivers license, because I would have driven off and left them to it. Mechanics are not known for their love of people who bludge into the front of the queue and then don't show up. Like us, as it turns out.
We got the mechanics place at about 8:30am, then spent half an hour unpacking the van. All over their car park... Not that it mattered, they were not ready for the van until about 10am. We start the beans cooking for dinner and talk a bit. Beth can be disconcerting, she seems to be a womens' community type hippy in a lot of ways, not so used to dealing with men. Maybe it's just me, but it does seem to affect the way she relates to John in particular. She gets in close and makes eye contact a lot, which to me seems like an invasion of personal space. But Beth also knows John from before the ride (most of us know few if any others), so there's that too.
We packed a bit of gear onto the trike and trailer for the stall, then rode into town. The van is in a light industrial area 5kms out of town, and there's a little hill between the two. The trailer is a bit too toed in to be easy to pull. Must have had a knock on the way up, it's been used as a roof rack since Sydney. Not bad for a bike trailer - it survives two spare wheels, 4 or 5 bikes and a bit of misc gear on a daily basis.
The "action" is just us riding round town being ignored. It's very quiet, with hardly any traffic or pedestrians and I don't think anyone notices us. The stall almost dies when we discover that everyone is inside the mall and we're not allowed there. We park outside the mall by the post office and plan to move if asked. The trike and trailer is good like that, it's basically an instant stall.
I shop and eat. Mostly shop. There are two bike shops in town, and both look OK but lack the necessary parts for us. Erin needs a new bottom bracket but can't find a sealed one that fits (odd bike). So her existing one gets "fixed" (regreased) and we hope for the best. The scary part is that her BB is better than some others on the ride, especially Tali's, but the owners don't care about the efficiency or damage. Such is life.
We are due to pick up the van at about 5pm. But Beth comes out to the stall to say that we're having a meeting in the cafe in the mall. So I wander in, to be told that the plan has changed and we're now staying in town. Unfortunately Chris has already left. I arrive after "we, the group" has made this decision, so I say "you can't do that, it's not consensus since I dissent". And piss off back to the mechanics to get the van out before they close for the night.
On the way I find Jonas, which save me having to drive the van illegally. We hastily pack the van while the guys watch us, but mid- pack Beth rings to say we're staying at the camping ground nearby for the night. This puts me in a tricky position - I can tell Beth to shove it, we're following the agreed plan, and she won't be able to get out here fast enough to tell Jonas otherwise. I don't have to tell Jonas anything, he still thinks we're going to the river. 30kms downwind (and it's a solid wind) is hardly out of the question at 4pm, for any of the group. But I decide otherwise, and tell Jonas of the new plan. We pay for the Alan repairs, and drive back into town.