Day 11: Melrose to Quorn

Listening to the wind howling all night, and waking to a damp and windy day, did not bode well. However, it turned out perfect. The light rain kept the flies away and the 50 kph wind was at our backs for most of the day.

The only hard bit was the steep hill at 50 kms, which also was very rocky and into the wind. We walked the two kms up it and then it was downhill with the wind at our backs all the way into Quorn.

I have increased my land speed record to 53 kph, it may have been more but I was too afraid to take my eyes off the dirt road at that speed, for even half a second. We spotted emus just out of Melrose and kangaroos who hopped along beside us for quite a while, not exactly to accompany us, but to escape those evil people on bikes. No snakes today, only a skink who wobbled out of sight.

We had hoped to go to Emily's Emporium for dinner tonight, on the recommendation of  the store owner in Hallett. We noticed that it was open as we passed by, so stopped to book. Unfortunately they don't open on Friday nights. So we had a coffee and took in the sights. It was an old department store, with shelves to the high pressed metal ceilings. Reminded me of the Winton store which is still trading as an emporium.

The wind is still blowing, which is good, as we managed to wash and dry our smelly clothes in two hours. The temperature is dropping, so it will be a very cold walk to the pub for dinner. I tried to talk Ray into staying in and having cheese and biscuits, but he wants to eat up big for our long  85 km ride tomorrow. I reckon he only wants to do these bike rides so he can eat as much as he likes.

Only two more days of riding.
 

Square bales this time, but it looks like we are going to get p***ed in from a great height.

Who said cows were not creative.

 

There is really a lot of nothing out there.

This has got tp be the toughest grass species in Australia. I have no idea what it is (maybe someone could tell me below) but consider what it has to put up with. Very little rain, extremes in temperature (it has been 3 - 38 deg just in the last few days) completely crap soil which is hard as a rock. But it still grows. Looks like we need some in our garden.

Brenda said there were a lot of flies on my back. Ha! there were at least twice as many on her back.

This road goes up at about 15 deg. The tyres cannot grip and you cannot go up unless you have avery low gear which I do not have thanks to our local bike show who thoughtfully replaced my 36 tooth rear gear with a 30 tooth without telling me. When i discovered the problem it was too late. Thanks a million for that, I obviously did not check.

Ah, downhill on a reasonable road.

We arrived in Quorn and there was a pathetic old guy living in the back shed. Silly old bastard.