Lindenwarrah Country House Hotel Wangaratta Milawa

... up – feet! Feet are universally repulsive, covered in dry skin, fungal nails, funked up bent toes from badly fitting shoes and the list goes on. There is an advert here where shoe sellers say “I have never met a foot I could not fit” well, I have never met foot that did not make me retch. Please cover them up!

The rest of the day was spent on the long, dry, straight roads and once I had cleared the ...

... at some point find some time to cool down a bit, the last couple of days have been quite hectic, I’ve been given more and more responsibility at work and there just seems to be no time for anything else.

I don’t know exactly how much longer I will be staying in Melbourne, I’m guessing about 2-3 weeks max, I gotta move on!

Alrighty guys, I love you & miss you!! Hope to hear from you..

xox Inka

Ok, so we actually spent the first half of the day in Beechworth but I really wanted to place this blog in Milawa as I'd never heard of the place before but definitely intend a return visit at some point now I've visited!

Erin and I decided to head out on our own this morning and revisit the Beechworth Gorge we'd ridden through yesterday on the AUDAX ride. We both felt we'd rushed through it much more than we would have liked ...

... ride so I enjoyed careering down the slopes and tried to break as little as possible (I'm such a nervous rider, I try to push my boundaries!) If I didn't feel so far behind everyone I would have stopped anyway as the park was so pretty. The ride organiser, Chris was kind enough to match my pace and he told me they'd organised this ride for a few years now and the weather had always been kind. After a chilly start to the morning it was definitely warming up, and we met ...

Today was a travelling day, from Kiama to Benella, about 650km altogether. Weather was cool but no rain and the ride was quite scenic but not too challenging.

Took off into the back roads on entering Victoria and went thru Beechworth and some of the foothill highways still heading towards Melbourne. Finally rejoined the main highway at Benella where I stopped for the night, only about 200km north of Melbourne now.

... to identify it as I was too busy trying not to run over it.)
More echidnas
Two big owls (couldn't identify them in the dark)
Many many birds of various sorts.
And most recently, flies the size of small birds.

On my way to Sale last week, I decided to stay at Holey Plains State Park. My Guide Book is sometimes extremely helpful in guiding me to good places to camp, and other times it seems to leave out a few vital details. In this case, it said words to the effect ...

... to stop! We managed to grab a good camp spot down by the river for the evening at a place called the Edi Cutting. It seemed to be the place where all the locals go on a hot day. Dave had his deck chair parked in the creek with a beer in hand and the kid's played with the locals. The next day we headed to the town of Glenrowan for a two night stay in the Glenrowan Tourist Park and met the owners Gary & Jill. Great people and they made us feel very welcome, so a big ...

... visit the Giza Pyramids, Museum, Step, Bent and Red Pyramids. We also spend time at Fayoum, Maidum, Minya, Sohag, Luxor, Aswan and Alexandria. We shall also spend time cruising on the Nile and visit The Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Abu Simbel. I have also arrange a private tour of the Pyramids and Museum with an Egyptologist so Mum gets to spend more time at the two places she is most interested in, as from ...

How does the saying go, 'one good road deserves another'? We don't think so but it's near enough. We headed inland from the end of the Great Ocean Road, skirting past Geelong and Melbourne. We didn't really have enough time left to 'do' Melbourne and to some extent we suspect that it is just another city, with highlights, of course, but we were more interested in the countryside. The target of our inland foray was the start of the Great Alpine Road at ...

... and peaceful lakes and reservoirs (the area is home to what's claimed as one of the seven manmade wonders of the world, a hydro-electric power station that by the looks of things powers most of Australia - it's a great bull of a thing) and some great driving. It also allowed us to visit the highest town in Australia - Cabramurra - which seemed to be the archetypal two dog town, though claimed a population of three hundred. One very big, happy family... Night two (at Swampy ...