Date written: 2 December 2020
Date posted: 6 December 2020
This post was written by hand in my diary on the road, and entered into the blog when I got home.
This morning I woke up to the nicest morning yet. A beautiful sunrise was shining through the trees and across the river, lighting up a wedge-tailed eagle in her nest in the tree directly above my tent. Compared to the wind of last night it was a beautiful tranquil scene.
I watched as the eagle fended off other birds, and another large bird that I am pretty sure was a Brahminy kite, though it would be far south of its regular range. I made my breakfast of camp eggs and espresso, took my time packing down my tent and loading my bike for the last leg of my trip. By now I’m in sync with the sun, and even here at the Airbnb lodging I am ready to go to sleep with the sun. My mind is at rest and I’m thoroughly relaxed.
I rode through the Torrumbarry Weir, stopping for cold water and some quite rude service at the Holiday Park. I had a picnic lunch with some magpies near the Weir and then headed off again down the River Track. I met a couple out on their mountain bikes, just for the day. We chatted for a little while, they’re up from Melbourne and told me there was a closed off bridge, but easily traversable by carrying the bike. By the time I got to the bridge I saw it was a tough ask: a sharply sloping one-foot-wide gap around the huge concrete barrier. I had to try and lift my very heavy loaded touring bike around the barrier, without putting too much strain on my back. I got past the bridge and then rode for some beautiful kilometres until I got to Baillieu Lagoon. I saw two goannas on two separate occasions, and as my daughter’s name is Anneliese I got some photos and sent them to her dubbed “Goannaliese I and II”.
My partner Danielle and I have a bit of an attachment to a regular camp we call “Our Spot” near Baillieu Lagoon, so I stopped there to take a photo and call Danielle. After this, it was time to rejoin the road and leave the river until Echuca. I rode along the Murray Valley Highway into town, stopping at the historic Port of Echuca for a happy snap and some lunch from the Shamrock Hotel.
I checked into an Airbnb I booked with a kindly host named Anne, and we sat and chatted the afternoon away before I went for some wood-fired pizza dinner at a local Italian restaurant, then retired to bed early with the sunset.
My trip is over, and I’m off to Ballarat via Melbourne on the train first thing in the morning. I’ve had an awesome time and am very keen to come back with Danielle and ride it together.
The stats
Distance ridden
Riding time
Elevation (climbed)
Average speed
Max speed
Temperature
Pedal strokes
On my travels today, I passed through such beautiful country and would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of that land, and pay my respects to their Elders, past and present. I’d like to thank them for looking after the country for more than 80,000 years.
