A change of plan at dinner (yes, another one) had us heading for either Mulwala or Yarrawonga today. Either way it meant we hadd 100kms to travel so we needed to be up early and away before both the heat and wind got up.
We did pretty good getting on the road by about 7:10am. Rather than follow the main highway out of town we chose the scenic route around the river, only to notice after about a kilometer that river was flowing the wrong way! Oh dear, another slight directional lapse but at least it only cost us a couple of clicks.
The riding in the morning air was perfect and the heat of the day was still hours away. We made great time to our first stop at Howlong and cruised into the bakery before 9am. 30kms down, 70 to go.
We decided to take the Victorian side of the Murray from Howlong to Corowa, the distance was a little shorter and the route more direct. The road initially wasnt that good with no side lane at all. We hugged the white line as best we could and most of the vehicles gave us plenty of
room. We hit Corowa at about 11am, 63kms covered and 37km to go. The scenery today hasnt been anything spectacular. Lots of flat farmland after a few initial out of Albury. We both thought it was a bit early for lunch so after a brief stop we headed back out on the road.
By this time the temperature was starting to heat up, and what had started as a gentle breeze had a little stronger - we were going to have to really work the last leg into Mulwala.
About 20kms short of Mulwala I started to get fatigued. I struggled on for a while with Jeff taking the lead but eventually had to stop for lunch on the side of the road. The bottle of warm coke Jeff bought the night before (and I was carrying) never tasted so good. Not so good was the jar of peanut butter that broke in Jeffs pannier - there goes my peanut butter sandwich for lunch.
After lunch I was fuelled up and we rode the final 15kms into Mulwala. Lake Mulwala is a huge body of water, and just like Eildon has dead trees jutting
upwards across much of it. We pulled up to the lake under the shade of willow trees, lay on the grass and started looking for somewhere to stay for the night. The Yarrawonga Riverland Caravan Park was the option selected and was about 3kms out of town.
Google Maps suggested 2 routes. A straight forward one via the main roads (my selection) and a meandering one following paths. Jeff wanted to take the scenic route. We ended up in the scrub on paths thick with dirt catching out tyres. We eventually had to bail and head back to the main road. I threatened to Google Maps from his phone, but I should know better than to let Ray Charles pick our routes. At least the cabin is spacious and quite luxurious.
Travelmates near
