December 31st - Jan 2nd

Travelling to Albury getting to Tallengatta


I have taken a bus to the town of Albury to ride the Murray River rail trails  on my way to Melbourne. Starting just outside the town of Wodonga I will follow the first trail down to Tallengatta. I sent out a room request and managed to score a host for New years eve. I played on it being my birthday and that I would like to see in the new year with other people.
Judging by the towns I am going through to get to Albury the nights celebrations will be a barn dance. It's all rural along these roads.
I met my new host at her home in the town centre. I had been invited out by Cara to a party happening later but first we would go down to the Murray River to do the "Corner" swim. What happens is you walk into the river then start to swim across but the flow and current is such that you can only get out a quarter of the way before you realise that you are being pulled down stream and round the bend by 60 metres to your exit point at the boating ramp. To see in the New Year Cara took me to a party at a bar in Albury. I met her friends, enjoyed a few beers, watched the karaoke and had a bit of a dance. Cara was an excellent host. It was her first time and has joined the group as she plans to go on a bike tour and wants to use Warm Showers while away. Fair play to her, she will be a great tourist I have no doubt.
Cara dropped me off the next day at the start of the high country rail trail  and I headed off to reach the town of Tallengatta before dark.
I made good distance in unreal heat along the trail and pulled over at the Huon Reservoir as I couldn't resist riding past without taking a swim. I had watched it appear on the horizon 30 minutes earlier and because of the heat and dust had wondered whether I was seeing my first mirage. It was definitely real. The joy of riding towards a lake nestled in surrounding sun scorched hills and being able to just put the bike down, walk in quickly then swim out and float is awesome. While floating I got talking to a young couple who were swimming. They gave me some good advice on the deadly snakes and what to do if bitten. I felt a bit dumb as this should have been information I should have already knew. If a snake bites then you are advised to not panic, stay still to reduce blood circulation. Put tight bandage on the area, if bitten on the foot for example then tight bandage up to the knee. This will help keep the venom local. The trails have markers with numbers on, these are to help locate exactly where you are. Call 000, note the type of snake, lie down. Strange that when back on the road a couple of days later I would almost ride over a Brown snake sunning itself in the bike lane. To say I almost shit my pants is close to the truth. Luckily for both me and the snake, I swerved in time.
At Tallengatta I looked for a wild camping spot. I noticed the area behind a cricket score board looked quite safe but before setting up I thought to have some food in the park. On the way I noticed the church doors were open so I pulled in to check it out. It looked a better spot than the other one so I knocked on the door to the vicars house to ask for his help. He was a bit hesitant as he was worried something may happen to me if I pitched up and that I would sue the church but I assured him my intention was to eat, sleep and leave. With his blessing (pun intended), I set up at the rear of the chapel and cooked my noodles, freshened up and with flights of angles carrying me to slumberland I safely drifted to sleep.