Friday, October 12, 2018

Friday 12th October - Mildura to Balranald


Friday 12th October

Another Fruitfly restriction border crossed.

 
The first sign that Sydney is less than 1000 km away. Less than 900 now we are in Balranald.

Out on the road. It was not as hot as it looks.

Arriving at the small town of Balranald

The preserved windmill on the edge of town.

Our motel room for the night. Much better than most we had.

Drive the bike out to the Trentham rest area where I finished yesterday.  It is clear but cool and wind is low but increasing. I am hoping to get some distance in before the wind gets to its maximum but when getting ready to start a chatty Aussie comes over to ask what we are up to. He cycles and understands the misery of spending all day tying to punch a way through a strong headwind. He has been ferrying boats back and forth across the country and has recorded very different fuel consumption figures when he travels into the wind compared with a side or tailwind. He also sympathises about the road surfaces and he has had some damage to his towing vehicle due to larger disruptions to the surface causing the trailer to bounce around at relatively low speeds.
Once I get going pace is ok to begin with but the route is not very interesting. Mandy goes back to look around the Botanic Gardens near Midura leaving me to plough on.
Nothing much seen on the route except another fruit fly quarantine line but we have no bananas this time so no big banana eating session today! I also pass the first sign showing a distance to Sydney of less than 1000 km. Just 7 more cycling days left to do.
We met up again after 93km and she follows me on the last 50 km as the wind is getting stronger and the joy is sucked out of the ride. Happily it is a shortish day today and we have a nice motel room on the outskirts to this small town.

143.31 km today in 6 hours 0 minutes – an average of 23.8 kph. Total so far 3306.55 km

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