Day 19 (Sept 28) - Yarrawonga to Albury - 96k

Any hope I had of having a lovely sunny, wind free run into Albury today were dashed as I looked out my window of the Burke’s Hotel where I had spent an exceptionally delightful night. The wind was blasting rather than merely blowing, and the sky threatened to open up with rain at any time. It was slightly disappointing, but I went about my normal early morning routines. I was showered and mostly packed by 7am, and went downstairs to enjoy the free breakfast. All talk at breakfast was about the fouling weather conditions.

I hit the road at 8:30am, again sad to leave ‘Burkes’ (pictured above). It continues to impress me how wonderfully gracious so many people can be to a perfect stranger like myself. If nothing else, this pilgrimage has helped me to see the goodness in people, and the obvious evidence in every person of aspects of the very image of God.

I wanted to go down to see the Lake (Lake Mulwala) that was too dark the night before when I got into town. The Lake is fed by the Murray River. I must say on a good day it might have been more enjoyable, but the wind was really tearing up the water surface, and making it rather unpleasant just to be a spectator. I took a few quick photos, and decided it was better to get on my way. The Lake is very extensive, spanned by a magnificent bridge, which can be seen in the background of the photo, which features an old ‘paddle’ from, I presume, a former Murray River paddlesteamer.

I headed due east on the Murray Valley Highway, into the blustering wind, of course. Little did I know that today over most of Victoria, a massive storm would descend and wreak massive destruction, especially hail in many places where I had come from in recent days.

I pushed on out of town, accustomed now to not fighting the wind, but certainly not enjoying the conditions. However, it still doesn’t stop me from taking in the beautiful sights that were passing by. I came across this wonderful historic graveyard. It was disbursed over a wide area, but I liked the single grave shot with the beautiful gum as background.

As well as the wind, the road was wet from early morning rain. I don’t like these conditions, and my senses were on full alert. In addition, this country highway had no ‘apron’ on which to safely ride – I was sharing the same lane as the speeding traffic, of which there was a constant stream, especially heavy trucks. I was very much on edge. It is most unpleasant with the constant screaming of trucks and cars as they pass at high speed. It was keeping my otherwise calm senses on full alert. I simply had to trust that every vehicle could see me. Some pass all too close for comfort.

Actually, this blog has been a wonderful source of advice on cycling conditions, and answering the enquiries of people. Some people are asking ‘Kelvin, what is it like to cycle in the same lane as speeding traffic, where you can’t see them and just have to trust that they see you”? Well, these kinds of questions are very good. What I suggest you do is get a simple plastic folding chair, and find a busy single lane road. Put the chair just inside the left hand lane marking, and sit in it with your back to the traffic of course, so that you are occupying the first 18” or so of the lane, with constant speeding passing traffic. Sit there all day, even if it rains, and this will give you some idea of the feeling of what its like to sit on a slow moving bike in the same lane as speeding highway vehicles! Actually, I suggest you don’t do this…..it is only recommended for paid professionals!

I cannot resist a river. They are all magnificent, especially if lined by beautiful gums. I had to keep stopping eventhough it slows the trip, but the record is worth it.

I was heading for the historic town of Rutherglen, some 48k from Yarrawonga. Along the way, I passed through some wonderful examples of pristine Australian bush, and crossed a number of rivers. There were many lovely examples of old growth gum trees, but see what you think of these fascinating beauties. How old would they be? They look like they are about to fight each other!



As Rutherglen got closer, not only was the rain threatening (it had been spitting all morning) but the wine industry became more apparent, again. A lot of wine is grown in Australia these days, actually too much. I understand the market is flooded with cheap Aussie wine. I heard on TV today that it is possible to buy wine cheaper than bottled water. Rutherglen is a wine region. I must say, vineyards are very attractive. There is something mystical and divine about the vineyard.

Several kilometres later, the lovely township of Rutherglen came in to view. The wind was blowing, the rain was ‘spitting’ and of all places to put a welcome sign but on the first real hill I have ridden up for more than two weeks! I stopped anyway, but had to do a hill start to get going again.



I stayed for coffee at Rutherglen, and shared it with two other road cyclists about my age. They were extremely friendly, offering me advice about ‘shortcuts’ to Wodonga to avoid the Murray Valley Highway. The ‘shortcuts’ didn’t look too short to me on the iPad, so after I set off, I decided to take my chances on the narrow highway, but I must confess the closer I got to home, the more concerned I became about the speeding traffic in ‘my’ lane. As I left Rutherglen, the heavens opened, and it basically bucketed down for the entire journey to Albury.

Leaving Rutherglen, the horizon to my right was a ‘sea’ of vineyards. Its no wonder we have a glut of cheap wine on the market. I have been looking at vineyards for at least the last 1,000 kilometres.

The rain was beating down. I was soaked. There was nothing I could do. However, it is very unnerving not having any control over slippery road surfaces. I hugged the edge while cars and trucks sprayed their way close by my side. I was amazed how the bike stayed true on the road. I never had a moment where I felt the bike was out of control. As bad as the conditions were, as drenched as I was, I did not want to miss keeping a record of significant sights along the way. I enjoy taking nice photos of gums, streams and also capturing the wonderful spectacle of lovely canola fields which were now plentiful. What do you think of these?



The highway conditions and lack of an ‘apron’ were really testing my nerves. I was hanging out for Old Barnawartha Road, which according to my iPad map was an old, sealed country road that actually runs into Wodonga in parallel with the highway and also the main Hume Motorway from Melbourne. What a relief it was when I saw the sign, and I had the Old ‘Barny’ as the locals call it, basically to myself. It was about 25k to Albury, but at least I was finally off the highway. The rain was still beating down. There was nothing I could do. I was drenched, my shoes sloshed with water and the rain jacket was keeping me warm but certainly not dry.

The closer I got the more the rain beat down. I made one last stop on ‘Old Barny’ to take a final photo for the day, knowing that once I got rolling again, I would soon be in Wodonga and finding my way in traffic and blinding rain with no plans to take further photos. So these are the final, studio photos of the bike, the wet road, and a very wet, if not slightly distressed looking 57 yr old cyclist just about to register 2000k in just under three weeks of riding.

The road took me to the Hume expressway (ie the main motorway from Melbourne). I took a hunch and crossed right over it, and joined a minor road that took me right into Wodonga. I had to remove my glasses so I could see in all the rain. I was now 10k from Albury. It was confusing, but I took the main highway out of Wodonga, which took me right down on to the Motorway where I kept to the apron but doing my best to avoid massive sheets of water, puddles and spray from the raging traffic passing by at motorway speed. I took the first exit that said ‘Albury’ and did my best to stay on the road which now was semi flooding until I came into the obvious centre of Albury. Recognising ‘Smollett St’, I turned right and made my way straight to the railway station. The guys were wonderful. One seat for me, two boxes for my bike, and a free ‘child’ seat beside me to satisfy the ‘rules’ for having two boxes. This is grace indeed.

All done, it was a further 100 meters to the Motel I had pre-booked. I was dripping water everywhere. The poor lady who owned the motel must have wondered what she had done. She gave me a two bedroom unit, and quickly gathered towels, sheets and all manner of material so I could wipe all my bags and the bike and also so I didn’t make any mess in her lovely motel room.

Again, I am so grateful to beautifully gracious people like this who go out of their way to be wonderfully gracious to dripping wet, drenched, frozen but smiling strangers.

I covered 96k today, at an average of 20kph. I was on the road for just under five hours of cycling time.

Tomorrow I take the train to Yass. It will be my third ‘sabbath’ day of rest. I will ride from Yass into Canberra on Friday. As of today, I have amassed 1976k on my journey, and will pass the 2000k mark on Friday.

Finally….endurance is an amazing quality. I recall the great marathon runner Robert De Castella in probably his greatest ever marathon, the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1982. He says in his book which was written after the marathon, that at the 21 mile mark all he wanted to do was to sit in the gutter and let the race go by. However, he chose not to 'sit in the gutter' and went on to win the marathon in spectacular circumstances. He had a store of endurance that probably even amazed himself. There have been many moments over the last 2000k that I simply wanted to 'pack it in', in a sense to sit on the side of the road and wait for someone to pick me up. But somehow the legs kept turning, and a strength and particularly an endurance came from stores of which I was unaware of myself.

St Paul in the scripture speaks of 'endurance' as one of the great qualities of the christian life. The christian life is not unlike a marathon (or a long distance bike ride). There are times when life itself can be so overwhelming that it is tempting to 'sit it out' and let life go by. St Paul writes "we pray...that you may have great endurance and patience...". These qualities are not physical qualities, but come from a divine source on request. It is there but for the asking.

Until tomorrow.....(imagine having a rest day on a train!).

KRA