June 14th - Foster to Bengworden

Nigel says...... Set off from Foster on our first full days cycling. Anticipating a 163 km (100 miler). It was a cold start at 0730 hrs. I had to put on my Cardinal Wolsey hat to keep warm, but the sun rose really quickly and we generally had a really good flat run through. Gordon suffered because he was not able to send his make up and platform shoe collection back to Brisbane, it being a public holiday here in Australia and had to work hard to drag it along. We did meander along, eating carrot cake in Yarrum etc, with the result we found ourselves underestimating the distance to be covered and cycling in the dark to reach Mark and Lindy's place in Bengworden. I thought we did ok and rather enjoyed the adventure. The advantage is that we covered 177 kms (111 miles), in theory making tomorrow shorter.

We were really well looked after by Mark and Lindy - thanks to both of them for their hospitality, advice and support. Mark came out to look for us in the dark and marked the end of his drive so we would not cycle past it. Gordon's sense of humour would not have appreciated that!!

A few thoughts and impressions:

• Cycling at dawn in Australia is the best time to be on the road.






• Australia appears to have quite a number of very long straight roads.






• There are a lot of milk tankers - some are not well driven.






• Three most useful pieces of kit today were: head torch, camelback, ipod.






• Tune of the day: Mambo No 5!!!

Gordon says ...

Jesus Christ! We set off nearly two hours late from the Motel - Nigel wanted a cooked breakfast - and then it turns out Captain Map has miscalculated the distance we have to peddle - so we ended up plodding through the dark for hours, in the middle of nowhere - whereupon my torch failed, which didn't seem to stop Nigel disappearing off into the darkness. (Nigel did bring a GSP, after much nagging from me, but he appears to be using it as a door-stop).

Trust me, that wasn't the worst of it. Nigel 'sang' for much of the day. Imagine a tone-deaf sergeant-major yelling random lines from bad songs (... footloose .... footloose ...). Several times, I felt like peddling under a truck.

Wonderful hospitality when we finally arrived (see above)