11/04/17 Burra to Goolwa 275kms

We had a great nights sleep at Burra, this time the sheep in the Ag school yard were well settled and quiet. We had a very light sprinkle of rain just at bedtime, and a cold night, but we were warm and cozy. Waking up to nice sunshine and a softer breeze, we took our time having cereal and coffee and chatting more with Terry and Ian. Another couple of older travellers, were hanging around Burra and doing some sight seeing, and gave us lots of tips on camping, where to go and what NOT to do in Victoria. There was another couple in their 80’s, travelling around in an old ute with a canopy, and just plonking their stretchers out and setting up a tarp for privacy. Lovely couple and really happy. Bruce was a god laugh and full of fun stories.

Heading east out of Burra, only for about 15kms, then turning onto the Worlds End Highway, we wanted to check out a free camping spot we’d been told about twice now. It is called Worlds End, and is situated on the Burra creek, 20kms from town. It was actually pretty good, and definitely worth remembering.

Beckie and the storm trooper at Worlds End. Weirdo’s…!

We carried on this highway, which took us through to Eudunda. It was a very pleasant ride, cool, but clear and sunny. Lovely hills and farms, and we really enjoyed some of the old abandoned buildings. A toilet stop in Eudunda, tempted us for a bakery stop also, so we indulged in a pie and a small iced coffee. A nice break in a cute old town. Next, onto Kapunda, Tenunda and Williamstown for our lunch stop. So we’d ridden through the Barossa Wine region, past zillions of wineries, and not stopped to taste any.

Williamstown had all these Scarecrows around town. Not sure what it’s all about.

After our “Will’s favourite rolls” (ham cheese tomato), we reset our old school GPS, oh yeah, Destiny GPS had carked it, so we’d gone semi old school, and written out instructions from google maps, to get us to Williamstown. During lunch, we updated our instructions to get us through to Strathalbyn, and then it was straight forward to Goolwa. In the Adelaide Hills area, it got a bit confusing, and we had to stop to check the phone and google maps, a couple of times. Just as we were getting to the really difficult part around Mount Barker, Destiny the GPS revived herself, just long enough to get us on through the very tricky, bigger centre, and on the road to Strathalbyn. Then she carked it again. Good job old girl.

It was a very pretty ride through the Adelaide hills, and then onto Goolwa. It was getting cooler and a bit windier, so we were happy to get to town and headed straight for the wharf to meet Rob. The famous (maybe infamous) Aussie cyclist had ridden from Canberra to Goolwa following the Murray, and it was a happy reunion with a beer. As we caught up over a beer, a rain shower was approaching, so we all mounted up, on our different “cycles”, and took off for the caravan park. Rob nearly beat us, as he doesn’t need to put on jackets, gloves, and helmets. Just as we got there, my gear selector pedal came off, and was dangling like a broken finger…….holy shit Will, I can’t change gear, what is this crazy thing doing? It also started to rain at that point too.

Hello Rob, great to see you again. Not much has changed.

Will quickly checked my gear selector and screwed it back on, enough to get to our tent site, and as soon as we’d booked in for two nights, the receptionist closed up shop, said see ya, and the rain stopped. Okay! After a quick recky, we selected our spots, and got set up. Will went shopping, and we enjoyed a great night, drinking too much red wine and eating left overs, catching up properly with Rob.

The Easter moon is nearly here. This is Rob’s number 2 bike set up. Nifty little trailer.

A good day’s ride, and we are relaxing into this adventure nicely. Easter is coming, and we are dreading it. Busy roads, busy camping areas, and limited shopping hours. But, what can you do? Just be prepared for anything I guess.

12/04/17 Goolwa

Our first rest day, so good going, so far. We haven’t done any proper washing since Norseman, so that was my first priority. Washing on, and we relaxed with a coffee, with Rob, and just chilled out. Rob was in no hurry to be doing much either, as this was the end of his ride for now. None of us had any supplies for breakfast, so we eventually headed into town for a treat. A proper breakfast with real coffee. Even though it was almost lunch time, we sat in the Main Street, in the sun, and enjoyed the food and company.

Real breakie, first one for us all. Usually we’re all on bird seed.

Then, we all made our way to the supermarket, did shopping, and headed back to camp. That was the bulk of our day, but Rob had to get his trophy shot of the Mouth of the Murray, so took off to get that. A couple of hours later, he called from the local brewery to invite us for a pint or two. Will was keen, but my stupid dick leg was being painful, so I just relaxed at camp.

The local Brewery. Nice little drop.

A nice BBQ with another cycle tourer, who had also done the same ride as Rob, and heading for Adelaide, and a lovely older couple, who were walking from Murray Bridge to Adelaide, raising awareness and money for Cystic Fibrosis. More red wine, and another great day. This is tough isn’t it?

13/04/17 Goolwa to Meningie 130kms

He he he he, not a very big day hey? But we realised, we have a couple of days up our sleeve, as we make our way to Geelong. It’s only 600kms or so, and we have 6 days. Anyway, we’d planned to ride to Robe, then Mount Gambier on Saturday, but hey, this is nice.

It was a freezing cold night, full moon, bright skies, and when we got up (bloody hell, it’s almost 8am), everything was wet. So we had coffee, ate nuts and berries, and basically, were sloth-like in our packing speed. The other cyclist departed about 9.30am, as he was trying to pack up dry too, and by the time we got on our bikes, it was quarter to eleven. Oh dear, this is not good, hey?

Great little device for filtering water. You can actually drink through it, straight from a river or creek.

Never mind! Rob gave us a rundown of his route from Wellington, some nice quiet back roads, and we headed off to find them. See ya Rob, hope we catch you in Melbourne. The first turn, onto Winery road, we overshot a bit and had to do a quick U-wee, and get on it. It was great! A bit windy, no traffic, and surrounded by vines as far as the eye could see. We were supposed to get on a gravel road, through to Milang, but as Destiny was kaput, we missed it, but still enjoyed the sealed road through to the little fishing village on Lake Alexandrina. The Murray river flows into this lake, then to the ocean. This lake also leads off to form the Coorrong.

Milan get looks really nice, had a small neat caravan park and a good bakery.

A brief stop for photos, Destiny springs to life to order us onward, and we trickled along enjoying this gorgeous day. Before long, we were coming to a river, so Will said from the GPS, and as we got closer, we realised, it was Wellington, and there was a traffic jam. Hey, what is this? At a nearby petrol station we decided to top up our fuel, and see if the vehicles moved on, and they didn’t, the line just got longer. Will went in to pay, and asked the nice Indian dude what was up. He said it was a ferry, and we should just ride to the front and get on. So we did. Past a long line of caravans, who were all giving us varying degrees of stink eye. Tough titties, you lot, if you want to get through these things quick like us, travel with less shit!

Beautiful day for a cruise through this surprising wine region.

A fun, short ferry ride, then off again. We turned onto a more major road, not the A, but the B, and headed towards Meningie. Sue, the walking lady, had said it was a lovely little place, and as we rode in, we agreed. Very pretty, situated on Lake Albert. We decided to have lunch, and found a barbecue area, that overlooked the lake, with lots of birds, and settled in for our HCT rolls. Right there, was a caravan park, that looked really nice, grassy camp sites overlooking this nice lake, next to this BBQ area; we talked ourselves into staying. Will walked up to the reception to see if we could, returning with the positive for one night only, so we decided to head for Mt Gambier tomorrow. I rang ahead and booked for two nights. It’s Will’s Birthday tomorrow and Good Friday, so we’ll trickle off there, see some sights on the way, and hole up for a bit of Easter. Sounds like a plan.

A fun ferry ride. Felt a little bad, but enjoyed the ride.

Lunch stop turned into stay over, really nice spot….until the Easter rush came in.