We camped overnight in open ground for the first time in a while. Grass type open ground. The plan is that we pack up then wait for David to arrive and see what happens. We will split up, some going to see the springs with David and some fixing bikes with Darren. I fix bikes, on the "those that can, do" theory.
They have a pile of dead bikes here, apparently most from the dump at Tom Price. We manage to fix four of them up to ridable, which makes the kids happy. Darren tells us a heap of useful stuff, and tries to persuade us to visit Jigalong. Jigalong is both the centre of organised anti-uranium activism in the WA aboriginal population, and the main current risk from the nuclear industry. Apparently it's about 100km of dirt road from Newman, so we can decide when we get there.
Left for Tom Price quite late, and had a slow leak in one front tyre to slow me down a bit more. It's also uphill in places. So it was a bit of a slow ride into Tom Price. The "hill" was pretty gentle and would not evoke comment in most places. But out here it's "the big hill" to get up to "the highest town in WA". Be impressed.
We stay in another camping ground so that people can wash and stuff, but the group want to spend more rest days here. It seems as if people have lost enthusiasm for riding, or perhaps it's just that they have slackened off now that we've cut a big chunk of riding out. So we're going to have another rest day here tomorrow.
The steering broke in Paraburdoo, kids are pretty hard on gear, especially that lot. There were twin girls about 10 years old who seem to never have felt the lack of anything, especially their own way. They were not good about staying within sight, and from the sound of it had a fight over the trike at some stage. Anyway, the plate that connects the cross bar to the pivot under the seat has had its support broken, so now the handlebars tilt forward rather easily. By bending the plate, so enough of that and the plate will break. I get a nice man in town to weld it up.