Having made our cunning plans for today’s cycling yesterday evening it was all changed, when we were thwarted by our spam filter and saved by a text. Wendy had emailed letting us know we could stop with her and Rick but we missed it (curse you spam filter), so after a text and phone call the afore mentioned cunning plan was modified to something even more cunning if such a thing were possible.

A field of canola looking very yellow

Ominous skies

Now we left Sale on the main A1 road but soon turned off on the C106 Bengworden Road which we followed all the way into Bairnsdale. Again passing through mainly cattle farms. This did prove to be quite a busy road but still pleasant cycling, around 35 km into the ride Rick and Wendy appeared, Wendy joining us for the rest of the ride into town (80 km in total).

Some very keen looking cyclists

The remainder of the ride passed quickly, the nice tailwind combined with Rick taking all of our panniers in his Ute certainly helped! It is amazing how much different it feels to cycle without them.

Arriving at Wendy and Rick’s beautiful house (on the top of a hill of course) we were made to feel right at home.

We accompanied them to a fundraising event for refugees where Rick was singing in a choir, it was lovely to see so many caring people making a difference.

The choir sings

On the drive back we were shown the local area, around Bairnsdale which is the bread basket of Victoria, all sorts of crops (lettuce, broccoli, sweetcorn etc) are produced in the large rich flood plain area.

Fields of lettuce

Once back we ate a fabulous meal, many of the ingredients picked from their large (one acre) garden. It was interesting to see how a lot of the “glut” of produce you get when you grow your own was dried then vacuum packed, something we must look at doing ourselves.

After food Wendy (harp) and Rick (guitar) played a tune or two, a really nice end to a great day.

Who can resist another bird picture?