We woke up to another beautiful crystal clear morning in Port Welshpool.  The weather forecast wasn’t so nice with gale winds forecast for the afternoon.  A severe warning was issued by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for Gippsland and a fire ban was issued for the day due to the high winds.  Obviously it didn’t sound like a good day to bike but we thought we’d get the cycling over before the wind picked up.

We packed up and hit the road and after a little excursion getting lost due to Google Maps taking us down a non-existent road (probably a paper road), we cycled along quiet country roads.  Things conspired against us and Will’s pedal started playing up.  He’s not happy with Racers Edge in Wanaka as the pedal is brand new.

We reached the highway and cycled 16.5km to Alberton then hopped on another lovely rail trail.  It was nice to be off the road as we saw the stupidest driving manoeuvre to date when a truck coming towards us decided to use our lane to overtake cars.  Luckily there was a verge for us to take evasive action but it showed his attitude towards cyclists.

We cycled the short distance from Alberton to Yarram on the rail trail and checked into a nice caravan park.  We like Yarram as it has lots of services though we expect most people don’t stop here as there is nothing in particular to draw tourists.  Cycle tourists have a different view of towns than car tourists.  Yarram reminds us a wee bit of Oamaru though without the limestone buildings.

On the list of things that went wrong yesterday, the camera stopped working and more worryingly Will’s phone misbehaved.  It wouldn’t shut down, some apps wouldn’t work, then sometimes it wouldn’t start up.

Overnight the storm arrived with a little bit of rain and a lot of wind.  It was nice being snug in the tent listening to the storm.  By morning it has mostly cleared although there is still wind and the odd shower.  Luckily we’d planned to two nights here.  That gave us time to find a spare peddle, Will fixed the phone by doing a factory reset, the camera started working by itself, and we celebrated by eating lots of food and lazing around reading.

Staying in Yarram is part of a plan for the next week.  We will bike from Yaram to Sale tomorrow, spend a two nights in Sale getting the bikes serviced, then bike to Bairnsdale via the lakes.  We need to be in Bairnsdale by next Thursday because on Friday we store our bikes and gear and catch the train back to Melbourne and fly back to Christchurch for Jennie’s parents 50 wedding anniversary.  We then fly back to Melbourne on Monday and train back to Bairnsdale and start biking again.  Just popping back to NZ for the weekend.  Bairnsdale is the end of the rail line so there is no point biking any faster.

Highlights: Not having to pack up the tent in the morning, relaxing, reading, and for Will, fixing his phone.

Reading: Jen is reading Robert Long’s “Life on Gorge River” and Will is reading “Back Story”, comedian David Mitchell’s autobiography.

Will in Yarram