After yesterday’s wet day, today was sunny and bright with a clear blue sky.  We packed up slowly in Foster and left at 10am.  On the way out of the caravan park we met a man who has cycled across Australia and around New Zealand.  It was great to chat about cycle touring.  We had a quick look around Foster then cycled along a quiet country road to Toora.  Both Foster and Toora seem like desirable places for downshifters, or sea changers as they are called here.  We had morning tea in a classic old tea shop in Toora and chatted to the Dutch owner (still celebrating the new king) who introduced us to the old ladies and everyone else who came in.  All were amazed at our planned trip.

After Toora we had no choice but to cycle on the South Gippsland Highway (A440) which wasn’t too busy but did have commercial traffic and no verge.  Luckily we only had 10km to bike on the highway to Welshpool, a pretty little town with nice old oak trees.  We then headed 5km to historic Port Welshpool which boasts the third longest wooden jetty in Australia.  We’ve heard claims like this a lot, eg the largest desalination plant in the Southern Hemisphere.  Let’s face it, nobody lives in the Southern Hemisphere, and having the third longest wood jetty is bronze medal claim.

The Long Jetty Caravan Park is the nicest, quietest place we’ve stayed and we have a site with a great view.

Tomorrow we plan another shortish day to Yarram.  The two short days work well as they set us up for a push to Sale over the weekend.

Highlights of the day:  biking along a quiet country road, and a great camp site.

It poured with rain.  We got up at 7am and packed up before it started raining.  We were on the road before 9am and the first 30 minutes were nice but then the clouds started looking very dark.  The first 30km was on C roads which were reasonably quiet but with little verge.  Biking in the pouring rain, we got looks from drivers that ranged from “are you mad” to “good on you, keep it up”.  The family that gave us big waves as we biked up a hill in the rain made us smile and spurred us on.

The second half of the ride was on another rail trail.  The trail past through spectacular forest and was a nice gentle way to make it over a range of hills.  The only downside of the trail was the sand and mud covered everything and gunked up our gears and brakes.

When we got to Foster there was flooding and some cars had water up to their bumpers.  We checked into a cabin as the grass looked very wet and it was still raining.  We’ve spent most of the afternoon washing, drying and cleaning the bikes and gear.  It will be nice to sleep in a bed too.

Today was a very successful test of our gear.  We’ve spent months talking, reviewing and buying gear including new Ground Effect jackets, MacPac over trousers for Jen and new Daddy Longlegs for Will, polypro, beanies etc etc (Dave, remember the first Daddy Longlegs in New Plymouth?).   It all worked well and we were warm and mostly dry.  The key equipment is the Ortlieb panniers which have a roll top and are waterproof.

A plan is coming together for the next few days biking and we are considering heading to Port Welshpool tomorrow and maybe spending 2 nights with a day off.

Highlight: The wave from cars in the pouring rain and the superb rain trail, whoops, rail trail.