Thursday 11th October - Three States in a Day

Thursday 11^th October

Sunrise at Berri over the River Darling

Leaving South Australia......

...and arriving in Victoria, land of the smooth hard shoulder!

As well as arable fields there are vineyards a plenty.

Out of the saddle, fighting the headwind

Ground art outside an orange farm. The smell off orange blossom is one of the smells of the trip. 

The smell of rotting kangaroo is more often encountered though.

Late afternoon bird watching in arid lands near the river.

Got up early to follow our guide (who was taking another couple out today) to see Chestnut Quail Thrush an attractive but skulking bird. We had good views and so set off on our way to the start point just beyond the Dunlop Tyre Arch but we decided to have a look for some introduced Koalas in a caravan park in Renmark on the way. Despite lots of help from the staff we drew a blank.

It was not until 9.30am that I start and by then the headwind is pretty strong but at least the sun has come out, so hopefully it will warm up the current cold temperature. Despite the sun I need my gillet and arm warmers and in fact they stay on until the end.

The journey is a little dull but on passing the border into Victoria from South Australia the road surface becomes smoother and the shoulder is wider and surfaced as well as the main road. I can ride on the shoulder most of the time so cope well with the traffic. It is pretty straight road east through arable farm land and not very interesting with no intermediate towns. We did see a lot of Emus including one flock (or with a flightless bird should it be a herd?) of 38 birds in a field quite close to the road (until I stop to take a photo, which causes them to stampede away from me.

As we get to Mildura, Mandy peels off to book into the motel which is rather smart and part of a golf club. I carry on along the route through Mildura, over the River Darling and turn towards Balranald on the Sturt Highway to get a few extra kilometres in to reduce tomorrows ride. As I cross the river I enter New South Wales, the third state I’ve ridden in today. It is probably the only place you can do this as the other places three states are close are in the outback. Sadly the road surface is not as good in New South Wales as it was in Victoria.

Just as I decide to stop for the day, Mandy arrives to pick me up. We drive back and do some good birdwatching near a botanic gardens over the river from Mildura. We see some good birds including Rainbow Bee Eater, Brown Tree Creeper and Superb Fairy Wren plus a host of parrots. As usual we’ve stayed out so late we have to grab some shopping and something to eat and our relaxing afternoons disappears.

137.38 km today in 5 hours 54 minutes – an average of 23.2 kph. Total so far 3163.24 km