Windy welcome back into New South Wales!

Even though I went past The Lakes, we had to return yesterday afternoon for commitments with the local Surf Club and council. The Lakes SLSC, who won “Best Surf Life Saving Club in Australia 2008-9”, were great hosts in organising a function at the Lakes Sports and Recreation Club (fantastic food – thanks) and then another breakfast at Matt and Georgie’s Vibez Cafe. From both functions it appears that we raised around $1,000. I also had the delight in paddling a small part of the Lakes with some local surf club members. A special thanks to Kristine Cordery and Paul King for assisting with our stay at the Lakes. Also thank you to the Riviera Caravan Park for having us overnight.

After a great breakfast this morning it was time to head towards Cann River and continue north from where I left off the previous day. As I was travelling in the campervan we listened to the local radio and heard the weather forecast for the day. They were issuing a high wind warning of gusts up to 100kph from the north with afternoon showers. As I started riding the wind had already started gusting and unfortunately it was right on the nose as a head wind. To add salt to the wound, the day seemed to be all up hill. I seemed to climb for hours and then descend for a minute or two before climbing again and again. With only a short ride of 110km’s it was frustrating with the wind constantly pushing against me and even making the steep down hills hard work. If I stopped peddling down hills I would slow down to a crawl.

All was not that bad though as I now only have 6 days left of this 92 day ultra-marathon. I have had a couple of weeks now of head winds and it is going to take a lot more than that to deter me from making it home. I have ridden for about 5 hours today and arrived in Eden at 3pm. I have now ticked off another state and sit with a smile on my face in New South Wales.

Have a great weekend, Craig

Paddling with members of The Lakes Surf Life Saving Club

Crossing the border into New South Wales!

 

Climbing toward the finish line…

A bit of going forwards and then coming backwards today – all in the name of fundraising. I am still pushing ahead each day when the weather is kind, as I know a front is on the way. If conditions come back like last weekend then I will be in for a shocker! My daily average, as I have previously mentioned, is now shorter than leg 2 and 3. I have planned this as I know fundraising/media commitments are going to take some time as we head back towards Sydney.

I had a sleep in this morning and didn’t get out of bed until 6am to leave our camp site just south of Orbust to travel north. I rode through Orbust Valley, which was looking extremely green and had some very healthy looking cattle roaming the land. A thick mist blanketed the valley on my right side and small ranges started appearing on my left. About 15 kilometres out of Orbust I started to see signs like “Falls Creek” and “Snowy River”, which meant hills. For the next two hours I basically started climbing up Mount Raymond State Forest and then over some other ridges further north. I finished riding near Cann River before returning to Lakes Entrance for two fundraising events – one this afternoon and one tomorrow at breakfast.

Today we received some great media attention with the help of 2KY, 2UE and 2WC. We have found that each time we are able to speak on different radio stations a large number of donations come through the following day – let’s hope the trend continues.

7 days to go…

Craig

 

riding through day 84

 

Orbust Valley