Day 14 - Broadford to Melbourne

30 Oct

Today started with a bit of fog when we woke at about 6.30 am!

After getting dressed we made our way across the road to the local cafe/service station to pick up an egg and bacon roll and fruit juice for breakfast.

We were on our way at 8.05am and the fog had cleaned….Ellio’s turn to navigate…. We started in the wrong direction but after a short time we realised the error and made amends.

The ride to Wandong was through lovely country and the road was very good with the sun shining and birds singing….a wonderful day!

After coffee and cakes at Wandong it was again good riding to the outskirts of Melbourne but the traffic was building up. A reasonable road shoulder made it reasonably safe but for a couple of clowns yelling at us and honking.

On reaching the outer suburbs we made our way to the Darebin Creek Trail for most of the ride home.

We stopped on the trail for a sandwich lunch near Thomastown and met some lovely people having a bbq waiting for their disabled son to join them..unfortunately he had to cancel.

We had another stop for afternoon tea at “Stephen Seymour’s coffee shop” which was a good break!

The rest of the ride was interrupted with trail flooding where the Yarra and Darebin creek met and through the flood plain near the Burke rd bridge

We finally made it home to Kenmare st at 3.15 pm in the sun!

It was the end of a magnificent and challenging ride from Sydney to Melbourne

We have covered 1136 kms and climbed 10,443 metres

Our only mishaps were the rain preventing us from doing the leg from Wagga to Albury and one puncture!

We had some challenging days with the weather but overcame them with typical Aussie and Kiwi determination.

Special thanks must go to Chris for organising the navigation and keeping both Ellio and I honest to use navigation rather than our gut feel. Also for teaching us new tricks on our Garmin's and using cycle.travel.

Also special thanks to Ellio for joining the ride from Albury…. He had a great time.

The initial reaction on finishing the ride and having a tea at Kenmare st was joy in completing the challenge. I am sure we will all reflect on the achievements we made on our journey and savour the special moments we had.

Well done Chris and Ellio for your special friendship!