Day 578 | Jacobs River, KNP: seems this is the last night in the park
55 km | zzOz total: 19,106 km
Jindabyne’s been another cross road on this voyage.
There’s been a few: Albany, Meekatharra, the Mereenie Loop and Alice Springs, Speewah, Boulia, the Mawson and Adelaide, places where my trail has wandered off then cut back for a second time.
Each time I’ve approached the holiday town on a different road: the first, more than 10 years ago after the Dead Horse Gap fitness workout on my 2001 Holbrook to Bairnsdale alpine summer jaunt; then on my warm up 2008 pedal from Melbourne to Canberra circuit, on Barry Way, trying to fit in as many hills as possible, I included Rawsons Pass in the itinerary, you leave your bike there and walk the last k up to the highest bump in Australia, Mt Koscuiszko; this time heading in on from the Cooma direction.
Get two moderately introverted long distance bike tourers together and it’s a wonder I even managed to leave today, we chat on, I’m still replacing my brake pads, losing some skin somehow while not concentrating at the work in hand, as the big hand approaches the 10, err, actually it was almost 11 when I finally tensioned my rear derailleur with a suitable sized pebble jammed between cable and frame and, pedals whirring, took off up the hill.
An inauspicious start as I ignore Syd’s instructions and find myself doing a cross country through a new house construction site and a gap in the fence to get to Barry Way, my path down into Victoria.
Somehow it’s the most severe riding conditions I’ve encountered in recent memory courtesy of a monster cross wind, blustery, gusty, it just ain’t comfortable riding, plenty of cars on this road to nowhere for some reason, progress at a standstill almost with sideways motion occasional more prevalent, fortunately ditch side rather than into the onrushing cars.
But once over the top, OK, it’s only 26 km of granny ring, the winds mostly dissipated and there was that extraordinary long 1000 m drop on a fine crushed granite path into the Snowy River valley.
Back remote.
Back to solitude.