Day 1 - Devonport to Deloraine 45.51km

Overnight the wind picked up which meant the smoke from the wild fires blew over Devonport. For me was very unpleasant I woke up with a soar dry throat. Apart from that all was well. Got up at 6.30 and pottered around for too long, ended up leaving at 9. Think it's going to take a while to get in a routine again. The road out followed the river and was very pleasant and relatively flat. Started getting hilly about the 15km mark but more undulating which was fine. At the moment Iam following the route in my Cycle Australia book so it has the gradients in it. When I got to Kimberly I knew there was a pretty tough climb of 2.1km. Before I took it on I had a bit of a rest in the shade. The book described it as a very steep climb. It was! I had to walk up some of it, it was a relief to get to the top. I was making good time although getting concerned as I had almost drunk all of my water and didn't really have the right snacks to keep me going. When just the other side of Dunorlan the screw that holds my seat onto the stem snapped!!! I stood there looking at it for a while to see if I could fix it myself. Two options, ride the remaining 18km with no seat or ask someone for help. So I knocked on the door of the house just 10m from where it happened. Luckily Gordon was able to help me out. He welded a bolt onto a screw to make a fixing that worked pretty well. Also gave me a nice cold drink and then offered me a lift into town to see if we couldn't find a replacement part. I thought about it for a while and decided to accept the offer as it was getting late and smokey again. So got another screw at the hardware shop and then Gordon gave me a guided tour around town and dropped me at the campsite. So happy he was behind the door I knocked on, a great bloke. Got my tent up as quickly as I could so I could get on and eat something didn't even have a shower first. Then met Bec and Jenny who's blog I had been following since they left Hobart last week. Thebicyclepedlar.wordpress.com which was pretty exciting. Later hung out with Misty and Cortney an American couple and Tim from Australia and Ena from Germany one couple heading to the east coast the other down  the Central Plateau. Tomorrow I will check out Deloraine.