On the next day the road was quiet and not more than one car per hour passed by. Sometimes there was so much gravel that I had to get off my cycle and push it. Before I reached Tumut I went downhill through a beautiful valley. I was camping out of Tumut in the State Forest. Here I was facing my first time a tall kangaroo. When he rised up, he was 6 ft tall like me. We just stared eachother and he moved on. In the night it was around 0° C. My next camp spot from Tumut was the Paddys River Falls. This is a free campsite next to a waterfall, very beautiful and nobody was there.
On the 6th November I crossed the border to Victoria at Towong and stayed the night on a rest area at Corryong. On the next day I was going on my second gravel road, nearly 70 km and climbing up to 1300 m while I was starting from 300 m elevation. I had 6 liter of water with me, I drunk 5 liter already by climbing up in the heat. It was the hardest part on my way through the mountains. I camped on 1200 m in the forest, in the night I heard cracking branches. A kangaroo was jumping around my tent. In the mountains are many creeks. Here I filled up my water, the taste was good. Then it was going downhill to Omeo. Before I reached Omeo, I drove around the Lake Omeo, for celebration of the day. I made 95 km on this day and I finished the gravel road. After Omeo I camped next to a river and I enjoyed my first bath, after beeing one week on the road without a shower.
At Bruthen I came out of the mountains. In the tourist information I’ve met an Australian who wanted to give me 20 $, because he likes my way of travelling by cycle. But I didn’t accpet, I can provide for myself now. I camped in the Fairy Dell Scenic Reserve at Bruthen, it’s not an official campground and it was hard to get there. Nobody was there, it was close to a rain forest and full of mozzies. In the night it started to rain. This was the beginning of 5 days of rain in a row. From Bairnsdale till Stratford I took for 50 km the Princess Highway. It was the longest part on the highway since I left Sydney, but I couldn’t resist, because the wind was behind me and the road was straight. So I did 50 km in only 2 hours. For the night I found shelter in Newry, where I camped in a little shed on a sports field. On this day I did 107 km.
The rain didn’t stopped on the next day. I was cycling with a poncho, that I bought in India. But I never used it, only as an additional cover for my tent. Then I had my first flat tyre since I left the farm in Childers. A piece of glass gone through the front wheel, in the rain the rubber is more soft. I changed the tube and as I tightened the wheel, the bolt gone broken. So my wheel was loose and I couldn’t cycle. I was on a ordinary road and nothing was around, the next city Traralgon was 35 km far. I hold up my thumb and was waiting one hour till somebody stopped and picked me up. I hichthiked with a big van of an parcel service. The postman was very nice and excused that he had to stop before the next city to deliver some packages. Then he dropped me off in front of a cycle shop in Traralgon. Here I’ve got the spare part for 15 $ and my cycle was fixed in 5 minutes (in the same week, a bolt under my saddle broken in Melbourne).
From Traralgon I went to Tyers where I was looking again on a sports field for shelter. I slept on the terrace of the local soccer club which was shielded against wind and rain. The next day I just went 30 km to Moe. I was tired of the rain and cold (between 10 and 15 degrees during the day). I was cycling in shorts, because my only long pants got wet on the first rainy day. Some Aussies made funny sayings when they noticed that I was in shorts in this cold weather. When I went up the mountains again after Moe, a farmer sayed to me as a joke, I should make sure that I have chains with me, their is snow up in the mountains. The road to Noojee is very green, I was impressed by the plenty of fern in the forest. In Noojee I was glad to found a dry shelter in a rest area.
After Noojee I went to Launching Place, a tranquil town, 60 km east of Melbourne. Here I’ve got my first warmshower and accomdation after leaving Canberra. I stayed one night at Sonja’s place. She is from Germany and came to Australia in 1989. I had a nice dinner with her family and a good sleep in a big bed. From Launching Place I took a cycle path 20 km along an old rail trail till Lilydale Station. It was Saturday the 16th November and fortunately it didn’t rain and the sun shows up. At Lilydale Sation I met with William. He lives in Melbourne and we cycled about 50 km together to his home. My legs felt very tired. Will always told me this is the last hill to go, but then another hill came. It was good for my motivation that he went ahead.
On this leg I cycled 14 days without a day off and I did 12 nights of wild camping in a row, devinitly a new record for me. But it would be more wise to have a earlier break, because afterwards I need more time to recover. This time I was using often my GoPro camera for wide angle pictures and my fix lens.
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