Melbourne to Sydney: Day 6

While going the usual motions of packing this morning the power went out for an hour. The forecast was for heavy rain and I was expecting a similar effort to yesterday with hills, but a bit further to pedal.

For the first hour on the bike it was great riding, with light rain and cool temperatures helping. And the lush rain forest on either side was awesome to ride though.

 

At the tiny village of Genoa I tried the only place there, an old hotel, for a hot drink. I could not have been more out of place and found it very amusing. 2 old fella locals were enjoying their 11am beer and talking about the various merits of shotgun vs rifle for getting the fox that got 3 of his chooks early that morning.

The instant coffee in a polythene cup still tasted pretty good after the hills I must say!

And then leaving Genoa...came the rain. It poured. It rained like it does in The 'Nam...and I should know...I've been there (man).

In all seriousness...a couple of times it was a case of pulling over because I couldn't see the road, and nothing could see me despite my gash fluoro jacket and lights. I also picked up my 2nd puncture of the trip here, and was struggling to keep water out of the tire when switching the new tube on. A motorist pulled over to check I was OK which was very kind. In fact all day there were honks of the encouragement from passing cars - definitely helped keep me moving!

Crossing into NSW felt good...my 2nd state border crossing in Aus by bike. Shame there was no sign though, or maybe I just couldn't see it!

Just before Eden there is a final cluster of steep hill sections and the last 5km seemed to drag on forever. Probably because I was down to walking pace by that point! But job done, passed half way on the trip and will take a day off tomorrow and spent some time maintaining the bike and having a good look round.

Total Distance: 111km
Elevation: 1442m