Day Four Tallangatta to Corowa 100 kms.

Good sleep last night by most of us but Carmen actually woke up hungry after trying to eat the veal meal last night and then she was serenaded by Mark's snoring efforts and another mysterious snorer. Apparently they were not in sink with each other. Mark says the other snorer is Jacquei but she didn't think she snored so who knows!! I have my own personal snorer so I don't hear much else around the camp at night.

The group mostly rode the bike path to Wodonga today, coming off (onto the road)in parts where the path was pretty rough and not maintained. Apparently a lovely ride around the Hume Weir and across some old railway bridges. We, of course, stuck to the road and had a couple of log trucks up our bottom for some scary sections. A large wombat went to walk out in front of us at one stage, but quickly turned around and raced back into the bush. I hope it survived today. Morning tea at McDonalds.
Collis then elected Robbo as the ride leader to get the group out of Wodonga and not spend too much time on the Highway. He lasted 2 kms before he spied a Subway restaurant and he abandoned his followers for the taste of a roll. Mark had taken his own route and beat the group (of now 5) to the turnoff to Old Barnawatha Road, so he led them for a short while but then got a fair way ahead. We ended up stopping short for the lunch stop as the road was a little confusing. 6 of the group had a relaxing lunch in the shade of a big gum tree enjoying the infamous boston bun bought originally for morning tea. They headed off before there was any sign of their neglectful leader. Collis and I waited around for Robbo to arrive. A truck pulled up to inform us that one of our mob were down on the last corner asking directions to Corowa, so we knew he was still alive and hadn't been squashed by his foot long roll.
Robbo arrives in a little bit of distress as he was a little unsure of the directions. I saw him writing them down diligently when in McDonalds so I'm not too sure what he had done with them. Anyway he made it to lunch, although he had already eaten well. His blood sugars were low so he had the remaining pieces of the boston bun. We had to leave him with further directions whilst we drove up the road to see how Jim was going. Jen had rung to say Jim had a flat  tyre but was taking an awful long time to catch up with them. We found Jim who informs us that he had actually had 3 flats but all was good after using the big pump and was on his way. Mark was going to try a couple of wineries and then he rode in through Wahgunyah.
We are all in town by 4 pm but still no sign of Robbo. We found him, he was in Rutherglen, having missed the turnoff onto the Up River Road. He then visited a winery before heading back here with a beer in hand. His blood sugars were really low at this stage so we had to get some food into him pretty quickly. The girls stayed at camp and cooked. The boys went to the pub, Bill had a pizza and Collis & I went for Turkish. Rest day tomorrow.

Day Three Jingellic to Tallangatta 90 kms

It was a cold night last night getting down to 6 degrees overnight. Fancy forgetting my thermals especially after the trip across the Nullarbor. Anyway we all stayed warm and cosy in our beds. The rain seems to have left us, not that we got very much, and the farmers wouldn't have even noticed any effects from the little bit we got. It is pretty green still up around here in the Upper Murray region but I'm sure it will get browner as we go. There were quite a few possums around last night so all boxes were made secure.

Bill didn't enjoy his first night in the tent and is looking forward to getting back into his 'real' bed tonight- he's discussing the pro's & cons of camping with a wise old cow. The BBQ last night was very nice and we invited a couple of French cyclists, who arrived into camp late, to join us. They managed to clean up all plates. Their English wasn't great but they were able to get their messages across and we discovered they are cheese makers in France. Yummy.
The group had a few hills to climb today but the gradients were pretty even and not all that difficult. There were lots of lovely downhills along with the climbs. The scenery was fantastic again, lots of water views, lots of wild fruit trees to raid and even a big fat wombat crossed our paths. It is mainly cow country and we saw huge long horn cows with young very hairy calves.

Arrived into Tallangatta mid afternoon so most headed straight for the bakery with Mark checking out the 2 hotels. The local supermarket got plenty of business as well before we all headed down to The Victorian Hotel for our evening meal. The chicken schnitzel wasn't too bad (a little dry) but the veal apparently tasted like it had been cooked a couple of times. We shared the dining room with the local rotary club so gathered a bit of information about the local community while we ate dinner. New owner at the hotel (female) who according to Mark, has owned the pub for 5 months only. Good on her for giving it a go.
Early to bed by most of us although Mark wasn't back before I went to bed and I was the last to crawl in at around '9.30pm'. Warmer tonight.

Day Two Tintaldra to Jingellic 30 kms

What a night last night. The wind howled through the camp site for an hour and then it poured with rain for about another hour. A friend on FB described it as "we are no longer in Kansas Toto". She lives in Albury so they must have had the same weather as us. Needless to say we didn't have a restful night's sleep. I won't tell you what time we went to bed but it was pretty early.
It was a late start today as we only had 30 kms to Jingellic. Robbo headed off to a communion service in Walwa but planned to meet up with the group at the 16 km mark to show them the local monolith and get a group photo. Meeting time was planned for 1/4 to 10. The monolith was supposed to be one and a half times bigger than Uluru but most of it was underground. Collis and I came upon the monolith at the 10 km mark but there were no cyclists around so we go on further. We find them waiting patiently (hehe) at the 16 km mark but no sign of Robbo. You can't see the monolith from here and they weren't interested in riding back 6 kms to see it. We waited around until 10.30 but no sign of Robbo so we decide to head to Walwa for morning tea. We took a group photo for Robbo anyway with our pretend monoliths.

It was a very nice morning tea at Walwa general store and Robbo had got held up at church so that was why he was running late. From there we had another 6 kms to our destination, Jingellic.
Jingellic is a lovely campground on the banks of the River Murray. It is a free campground but the showers are $4.00 for 4 minutes and not always hot and then Jacquei (who was first in) found the ladies had no water. She informed the hotel and then had a cold shower in the mens.

 Very relaxed afternoon in the pub, then down to the river for a walk and some had a snooze in their tents. Tonight we are having our meat trays (won by myself and Jen) for dinner which the boys are currently cooking. Jacquei and I have done a couple of salads and Carmen supplied some squash and tomatoes that someone gave her on the side of the road yesterday. A feast!!!

Day One Tintaldra to Tintaldra 80 kms

What a lovely day today has been. The weather has been perfect for riding. We had a very pink/orange sky this morning and we have waited all day for the change in the weather. We ended up with a lovely cloud cover which kept the heat down for the first day of our ride.
It was an optional ride so Mark and Robbo chose not to ride this part of the course. Jim was riding, he was still coming from Thredbo today. Bill and the girls (Kate, Carmen, Jen and Jacquei) took off as a group and headed for the hills. The views were sensational.

The group hit the climbs head on and conquered the mountains without a problem. We caught up with Jim at Khancoban- we waited around for him after morning tea as we knew he was close by. The group enjoyed the downhill rides but they were slightly disappointed that they were unable to get over 70 kms/hour. The beer at the end of the day was very much appreciated. A shower was also enjoyable.
Everyone still had enough energy to go for a small walk around "town" before dinner.
The caravan park catered a great roast dinner with bread & butter pudding for us. It was delicious and much easier than me having to cook a BBQ for the group, which was the original plan.

All over a very pleasant day. Nice bonding day of the group today.

The day before the start

10 pm: Sitting here in the camp kitchen with Collis & Robbo. All the girls have just headed off to bed. Bill has gone off to his cabin and his luxury accommodation (Bill does not enjoy camping due to a bad back). Mark, who arrived late this afternoon, has disappeared into the dark with his bottle of wine under his arm, I'm not sure where he has gone. The crickets are chirping (which means it should be hot tomorrow), the cows are bleating louder than ever tonight but at least no car noises.

We went to Cudgewa Hotel as a group for dinner tonight. Carmen and Kate (Carmen's partner who is only with us for a short while) have their car with them so we were all able to travel together. Jim is the only one missing tonight- he chose to ride up from Melbourne unsupported via Mt. Kosciuszko and he has made it to Thredbo- 100 kms tomorrow. Dinner was enjoyed by all and three of the girls finished off with ice cream and topping. To top the night off Jen and I both won a meat platter each. Guess what we will be eating for the next few nights, although we have ordered a roast dinner at the caravan park for tomorrow night. BBQ on the night at Jingellic.
Jen was the first to arrive today around lunchtime. She had arrived in Albury the day before and spent the night with her cousin who drove her around to here. Collis and Jen put her bike together and they did quite a good job. Collis went out for a ride and did about 25 kms- he plans to do a fair bit of riding this trip. Robbo went for another ride- he's been riding the area for nearly a week now. Next to arrive was Carmen and Kate in their car, they had driven up from Melbourne leaving there this morning. Jacquei arrived with her friend James who kindly picked her up in Albury, took her out for lunch and then brought her across. Bill next, who arrived on the 4pm bus having travelled up from Adelaide. Finally Mark around 5.30 pm, so just in time for dinner- Mark has ridden unsupported from Sydney.
Seems to be a nice cohesive group.

It's all coming together.

Thursday 13th March
We have arrived at the starting post and not long after Robbo arrives from a riding expedition.
Apparently he arrived last Friday and has been cruising the surrounding area all week. His first words to Collis were, "We will be changing the route for the ride out to Khancobin as the climbs are too big." As usual Collis just laughed and then said Robbo was probably right. So it looks like the route will be changed already, although I'm not sure how Robbo knew which route Collis had decided on anyway. The area around Tintaldra is all hilly, with very few flat areas so there's not much choice of routes to take. Some riders love the hills, especially the downhills.

Jacquei was flying into Albury today and friends were bringing her across tomorrow. Jim had made it to Bombala last night and still had to tackle Mt Kosciusko so not sure which day he will get in (Friday or Saturday). Carmen is coming up with her friend Kate and they should be arriving tomorrow or Saturday. Bill drove to Adelaide from Sydney and is catching the bus here- he is due tomorrow. Mark left Sydney on Monday and is riding down- he thought it would take him 5 days to get here, so probably tomorrow. I'm not sure how Jenny is getting here but we are expecting to see her tomorrow as well. The last one, Annie, is not sure where she will join us on the trip but she will be coming at some stage (she wants to surprise us).

We have set up our bed in the back of the truck and it felt like I had been doing this for 12 months (the 6 months off the road have just disappeared). The routine has all come back to me already. It is very peaceful while Robbo is off having a shower and washing his cycling clothes and Collis is reading his maps. I have time to think and write. Tomorrow I think I will go for a walk along this great Murray river, I might even go for a canoe if someone will come with me (scared I might get swept down the river).

Jim

Jim arrived from New Zealand on Wednesday and Collis went to pick him up from the airport. Of course Collis isn't anywhere to be seen when Jim arrives at the allocated spot for pick up. Phone call to the mobile and I answer (at work). Because Collis refuses to carry a mobile there is no way I can contact him, so Jim was left hanging although he was alerted that Collis was definitely on his way. A half hour later I try and ring Jim back to check that they had met up and I get a very accented gentleman telling me that Jim had left and he wasn't sure who with. It turns out that Jim had borrowed the parking attendants phone to ring me so now neither of them are contactable. I leave another couple of hours before I ring home and find out that all worked out and what was all the carry on about.
On the way home Collis asks Jim where he is staying and Jim states he hasn't booked but at the Mentone camping ground??? Does he mean the local park? No camp ground in mentone except our small patch of grass in our backyard. Lucky for Jim we have recently set up a lovely little guest room and the bed was all ready for just an occasion.
Jim spent the morning yesterday wandering around Melbourne CBD

Jim is the one without the jacket!

thinking he had missed Collis & Jerry who were at home waiting to go riding with him. Didn't really matter, it just meant we realised we still didn't have Jim's phone number- we better get that before the ride starts. Jerry & Collis still went for a ride.
This morning we said goodbye to Jim for the week as he is riding up to Tintaldra on his own and we plan to meet him there on Friday or Saturday. He's travelling up the coast before riding inland and up over Mt Kosciusko. See you at the start Jim.