After riding my mountain bike from Adelaide to Darwin in 2005, I was keen for another such adventure, but one that returned to the kind of back roads I travelled when riding from Sydney to Melbourne in 2004. I hatched the idea of riding from the southernmost tip to the northernmost tip of mainland Australia, and rather than riding along the main (coastal) highway, try and ride a straight-line route that would necessarily take me on back roads and through a variety of terrains and climates.

Wilsons Promontory to Cape York by bike - Shepparton to Finley

Day: 007
Date: Thursday, 3 August 2006
Summary: Riding from Shepparton to Finley.
Start: Shepparton
Finish: Finley
Daily Kilometres: 99
Total Kilometres: 607
Weather: Mostly overcast with occasional showers and sunshine.  Cool with light wind which swung around from a northerly to southerly during the day.
Accommodation: Motel in Finley, NSW.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Cereal and toast
  Lunch:  A pie, pastie and thickshake
  Dinner:  Pizza
Encounters: Lots of interesting waterbirds along the irrigation channels and a road-killed koala (sad) .
Highlights: Riding the day’s last 22km from Tocumwal to Finley in late afternoon sunshine with a tailwind and an average speed of over 25kph (which isn’t bad with a 20kg bike and 30kgs of gear).
Lowlights: My butt has been hurting today, necessitating lots of standing on the pedals.  Hopefully it will toughen up shortly!  My bike seat covering is beginning to crack, so maybe I need a new one.

Journal:
I had a very leisurely morning, chatting with Mike and Chris and waiting for the last of my washing to dry.  It had rained heavily in Shepparton overnight and still looked a bit threatening.  I eventually left at 10:30am after some morning tea and navigated my way along little-used back roads through the very flat agricultural country and past the occasional dilapidated-looking farm-house.  Not too many rich farmers around here, I reckon.

At Yarroweah I stopped for a late lunch at a roadhouse and then, shortly after, crossed the Murray River into NSW, another significant milestone.  I was now travelling along the busy Newell Highway , the main route from Melbourne to Brisbane , and there was lots of traffic.  Fortunately, most of the time, there was a narrow breakdown lane along the side of the road that allowed me to travel safely.

After a brief stop in Tocumwal for a break and to look for an ATM, I set out for Finley, my destination for the day.  I now had a nice tail-breeze and it was mostly sunny although there were storm clouds around and some of the road was very wet.  I enjoyed these last 22km and, when I arrived in Finley, spotted a Budget Motel in the centre of town which I checked into around 5:00pm. I hung up my tent in the room and turned the heater way up to dry it out.  I had packed it away wet four days ago.  I decided on pizza for dinner and aim to get going early tomorrow in anticipation of a longer day.  The weather forecast looks good although the mornings are going to be cold.
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