meander

our last day of 10 weeks of touring, I couldn't believe it. it was a happy and a sad day. it was sad that our fantastic adventure was coming to an end. we had been riding for weeks and weeks, and we had been loving it. but on the other hand, I know that I was getting a bit sick of being on the go all the time. I was looking forward to the creature comforts of home: central heating (it is so cold at night here), more than one pair of pants to choose from, eating a variety of foods and seeing my family again.

so it was a with a heavy heart that we set off in the morning. another short-ish day but this time it was a hard day with lots of rolling hills. my legs were hurting from the climbing! early on we crossed over trezona creek which was very beautiful with lots of big trees (and lots of rocks).

we rode as a group, we rode off by ourselves trying to get up these short, sharp climbs that busted our legs. soon we stopped for lunch and only had 20km to go, most of it being the main road into blinman. the road riding passed quickly with rob and I chatting all the way. finally we made into blinman - the goal of our 10 weeks of touring! we successfully rode the mawson trail and had fun while doing it.

we all rushed to the cafe for some rejuvenating coffee, cake, pies and milkshakes. :) and not long after, dyon's mother turned up with our car for our next adventure: dyon racing the mawson marathon and then driving home!

another short day on the bike, but the best day on the bike. the morning started with some singletrack which was flowing and sweet. dyon managed to ride most of it - very impressive while towing a double trailer.

then we descended for 19km between the ABC range and Heysen range, and it was amazing! It was breathtaking, it was beautiful and it was so much fun to ride. We were zooming through creek crossings with our eyes glued on the beautiful mountains around us.

we had a short (and nasty) climb out of the beautiful bunyerooo gorge. there were some 4WDers at the top that were so impressed with us that they insisted on taking photos. they didn't understand that to us it wasn't so much of an achievement, it was just part of a day cycling.

then we rode on to elatina hut through many more creek crossings which were thankfully rideable. at elatina hut, we gathered lots of firewood in anticaption of sitting cosily around the fire in the hut. rob tried valliantly to get a blazing fire going but the chimney didn't work and it wasn't drawing the smoke out. in the end we all went to bed as it was too chilly for a fire outside

it was a lovely short ride today - only about 30km in gorgeous scenery. we took our time to enjoy the stunning views and being so close to the wildlife.

the first section of the mawson trail was an interesting taste of more technical tracks. it was a rocky, rough and a little bit slippery. dyon and i quite enjoyed the challenge while kai thought it was a 'bit bumpy'.

we had 1st lunch sitting quite close to this cute kangaroo. kai was keen to share his plastic toy kangaroos with the real roo.