Day 80 – Sun, 17 Oct to Robe

Today was only a short 320km ride through the country to the S of Murray Bridge.  I first checked out the river here at MB and it is obviously up high. The river bank grass is underwater and it is lush to the water edge.

 

I stayed on the S side of the river through to Wellington. This took me through some old dairy country. Some dairies were still operating on the small properties but many had obviously closed. I wonder whether this was an industry adjustment or the effects of a lack of water for the past years in the river.

Wellington is further S than Tailem Bend and required me to cross the River by ferry. Speaking to the ferryman he said that the river is now back to normal, some 2m above what it was only a month or so ago. The lakes only a little further S are now  full and he said that water was still proceeding down stream and they are now worried about damage being caused through flooding.

I guess this may be inevitable given the flooding in the Murrumbidgee over the weekend and the rain that has been falling through the west of NSW and southern QLD.

After crossing the river I rode further S and then a little W taking me around Lake Alexandria and Lake Albert, the lakes that the Murray River empties into, when it is flowing, which eventually empties into Southern Ocean, just down the road. Both lakes looked wonderful being full of water, I remember well the TV reports showing them as dry sand beds for as far as the eye could see. (Sorry about the photo quality but it was raining at the time.)

I rejoined the main S highway at Meningie and followed this road further S along the Younghusband Peninsula (how about that for a name) through Kingston SE finishing at Robe. A really beautiful riding day through farming country, with dairy properties, actually dairy stations, with lots of pasture being cultivated for lucerne hay.

I finished early enough to check into the pub for the night so that I could watch the MotoGP race. I wanted to see whether Casey Stoner could make it 4 wins in a row. Well by now you would know that he blew the field away, beating Lorenzo, the new world champion, by an incredible 8.6 seconds.

Robe looks like a wonderful place with the rough coast, white beaches and a real village atmosphere. A walk around town justified this place as a great destination