Last Night

Well here we are, the last night of our trip. We left Hay yesterday morning feeling tired and woozy, although not as bad as some of our fellow race goers. The evening storm the night before had cleansed the air and although we were still covered in a thin layer of dust (we hadn't yet showered) we layered up our clothes, wrapped scarves round our necks and headed out of new south wales.

Our destination was Shepparton, where Jeremy's paternal grandparents live, 250km away. The road slowly changed from absolute flatness to mostly flat. Paddocks became smaller, no longer stretching out of view. Agriculture became more evident and the fruit orchards started again. All the way the roads were softened by what I think is called fly away grass. Detached tops of grass like plants about the size of an out spread hand floated in mass along the tarmac. The wind was quite strong and blew these yellow armies in formation along the highways. I liked them, Jeremy's sinuses did not. Poor Jeremy has suffered from hay fever throughout this trip but yesterday was the worst. He was constantly stopping to blow his nose or wipe the sniffles.

This is now our second night in the comfort of grandparent endulgence. Two big delicious dinners, a lovely big bed and a lake view, bliss. Yet I still look forward to arriving in daylesford tomorrow. Our new residence awaits. We've only spent about three nights in our new house so it'll be good to get settled in properly and feel grounded. Hopefully we'll be able to cope staying put after all of this.

We also need to find a new owner for good old Norman. It was always part of the deal, to sell the bike at the end. We can't afford not to. So, if you're in the daylesford/ Geelong/ Melbourne area and looking for an extremely reliable motorbike that can take you on a trip of a lifetime let us know. We can't recommend him enough!

Riverland

After a lovely rest day of doing very little in Burra yesterday we slowly packed up our things this morning, said goodbye to the friendly people we'd met in the campsite and headed east.

We rode for a while with the wind which was quite strong and made us feel like we were floating because there was not so much wind resistance . It was a lovely feeling. The landscape was soft rolling hills with tall yellow grass meadows on either side. We saw three shingle backed lizards making their slow straight walk from one side of the road to the other. Their funny sausage shaped body with a stumpy tail and thick scales down their backs, ignoring us, just keeping their mind on their task. We also saw our first snake of the trip on this road. Unfortunately we killed it. Jeremy tried to dodge it but saw it too late and didn't manage to swerve enough. I looked back and it was writhing, poor thing. Sorry snake.

We had brunch in a place called Morgan which is a gateway town to the Murray riverlands. We rolled onto the ferry and so crossed the Murray for the second time in this trip. Immediately after we crossed the water the country changed again. The river is big and wandering and used for irrigating the many orchards and vineyards in the area. We were flanked by large fields of orange trees, carpeted by their dropped fruit. It was clear that a big storm had passed through the area in the last couple of days. As well as the lost fruit there were fallen branches all along the sides of the roads, whole trees uprooted and even a fruit farmers honesty shelter upended. Was this the same storm we outran a few days ago? If so it must have gained intensity !

Again today we ran the gauntlet with a grey mass of clouds and again with little consequence. Bridget and Jeremy 2, weather nil! Although I think tonight it's getting it's own back in a different form. It's hot! We've been for a dip twice today in the little swimming pool here in Peringa caravan park. But the relief has worn off and we're lying in our tent sweltering and listening to the crickets in the field beyond and trucks driving into the hot night on the road behind.

Tomorrow we head for Mildura, it's only about 150km. We're taking it all a bit slower now, today we only drove 200. I'm glad the big slogs are over, now we can just potter along. Riding on the back of a bike has become such a normal thing to do now, I can't even imagine being scared of it like I was before we set out on this adventure. The only thing I'd change is my helmet, I think I need a small instead of an extra small. My forehead is always numb and burning by the end of the days traveling. It's a shame because I still think its a very pretty helmet, even when covered in splattered insects.

Update. It's been 10 mins since I wrote this post. The tent is now cool and gusty. I hope all branches that were loose came off last week, the trees above us sound shook up. The crickets have gone to bed or have been blown away and the wind is louder than the trucks on the road. Ah Australia. You keep us on our toes!