Well we have reached Eden, which for us is a milestone in Australia as it is actually on the East Coast. Having cycled all the way from Melbourne, seeing it way off on the map, it is great to be here. Eden is a whaling town (well was – whales are protected now of course) although we have missed seeing them this year, we get to see Old Tom’s skeleton in the museum. Old Tom was an Orca ( Killer whale) who helped the whalers by luring the huge Baleen whales into the bay before letting the whalers know so they could be harpooned. They let him have the lips and tongue (the only bits they eat) and they had the rest for oil and lots of other by-products.

Anyway, our journey to Eden included a few more hills than expected especially coming into the town itself. Apparently it only gets more hilly as we go north! So we have decided to stay here for Christmas (although it isn’t in the slightest bit christmassy compared to home), and managed to get the last pitch left at the Garden of Eden campsite. The staff are lovely, facilities are superb and we have a pool, and beach is 5 mins away. Chris has just splashed out and bought a huge tarpauline to give us some shade as it is pretty warm here and the tent is a bit sauna-like! Apparently Dec 26th everything goes mad as loads of people arrive for 3 weeks of summer holidays, everyone says we should stay off the roads that day. So, we have decided to join the holiday spirit and have a break here along with everyone else in Australia!

So a very big merry christmas from us, we’ve seen the snow pictures, so hope you are not too cold, but instead, are cosy and enjoying a glass of mulled wine whilst admiring your beautiful christmas tree!

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Having seen none, we then see 9 all at once at Bastion Point, Mallacoota, at dusk. 2 of them had babies too! We were very pleased to finally see some kangeroos.

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 At Cape Conran we staying at the Banksia Camp site, a huge place that offers a wilderness camping experience ( gosh i sound like the guide book now). The area is an Aborigine Midden with over 3000 years of occupation and history, it is also a meeting place of the Kurnai people and surrounding clans. As we wandered over to have a look, we bumped into 3 cycle tourers, Zoe and Dan, and Dave – all from England. Zoe and Dan are touring Australia for 6 months on recumbant bicycles, they bumped into Dave who is also touring until Feb 2010.

We invited them to join us on our pitch and they did. So we had a great evening, comparing notes and chatting until late under the stars. They didn’t have cooking stoves and eat cold food to save carrying everything – I can’t imagine not having a hot meal. Zoe and Dan have bivi bags rather than a tent. I realised that we were travelling in relative luxury with our various gadgets, tent, stoves, teabags, pasta etc in comparison.

It was nice talking to Zoe, who had found the cycling hard up to that point, to know that she found it hard too was reassurring, although i think Dan was a little unnerved at the number of similarities in our stories! It seems that what is ‘Just a hill’ to the boys is a giant slog of a hill for us girls and depending on just how hard could result in tears of frustration. And yes whilst we may be more emotional, I would like to point out that there is also a general size and strength difference… see photo left…

The next day after a slow start they headed off towards Marlo and us for Cann River. I think we both felt a little flat after they left, it’s so nice meeting other people who are doing the same thing as you and have an understanding of the highs and lows. It was also great to meet a couple, so many cycle tourers are male, usually solo, doing zillions of miles a day.

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Rail trail from Bairnsdale – Bruthen – Nowa Nowa – Orbost

9th -11th Dec

We had the entire 97km trail to ourselves and did it over 2 days, stopping for day at Nowa Nowa to play about on the river. We saw our first wallabies and several trestle bridges.

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