While Not Working

 Well, I wrote a long and very entertaining entry and then I forgot to save it, so now you get the short and grumpy version instead. I spent a day in Murray Bridge doing admin and hanging out beside the river and going to the shops to buy things I couldn't fit in my panniers. There's a lot of sunken paddle steamers in Murray Bridge. The first bridge over the Murray was built in 1879, and in 1926 another bridge was built just for trains, because the cars didn't like sharing. Everyone was happy then, especially the corellas who has twice as many bridges to roost in when they weren't out making noise and tearing trees to pieces. I had to cross the bridge on my way out of town. The walkway was a bit squeezy for a fully loaded bike. Burdett Road took me along the top of the river escarpment. Up here was all dry and bare and hot, with occasional views down into the river valley. I found a lookout with a great view that compensated somewhat for the lack of shade, seating, an...

I had breakfast overlooking the Wellington ferry. The river at Wellington ran 25 m deep and barely 1m above sea level. I planned to catch the ferry over the river and ride the busy road to Tailem Bend, because the busy road followed the high side of the river with great views. I changed my mind at the sight of morning rush hour: at least 20 utes, trucks, commuters and mums doing the school run, all lined up for the frazzled little ferry as it shunted them, up to eight at a time if they were all little, across the river. I followed Jervois road out of Wellington. Jervois sat across the river from Tailem Bend, suffering from forgotten little sibling syndrome. The road hugged the bottom of the river escarpment. To my left old stone farmhouses looked out over the floodplain to the levee bank and the cliffs on the far side of the river.  Irrigation channels laced the floodplain: fat cattle munched their way through shockingly green grass and flocks of black swans foraged in the shall...

 I took photos down at the Milang jetty, wind snapping in the flags left over from Australia day celebrations, and rolled out of town with the usual wobbles that happen the first time you ride a loaded bicycle. Lake Alexandrina lay on my right for the first half of the day, although it was often out of sight beyond reed beds, dairy farms, hay paddocks, and vineyards. When I could, I took to little gravel roads to avoid the traffic on the bitumen. The field was poor for the Gate/Mailbox Creativity Competition. Points for trying, but lacking in the creativity department. Decision point came at 11:00 at the turn off from Mosquito Creek Road to Tolderol Game Reserve. I'd planned to camp at the reserve to break the ride, given I wasn't bike fit at all and I didn't want to get too excited and overdo things on the first day. But it was so early in the day! The wind howled and I knew there was nothing at the Reserve, apart from a bird hide and a picnic table at one of the sites...

 We've tried to stay at the Milang Lakeside Caravan Park several times and each time we've failed. The MLCP doesn't have a website, doesn't answer the telephone, and when I popped in once I was met by a verandah full of caged parrots and no one at home. Today I can confirm that there is indeed life at the MLCP. Her name is Betty and she has no teeth, but teeth or no she was very nice and gave me a sheltered camp spot for a princely $20 because, as she said when she saw my bicycle, "You're mad!" I'm getting ahead of myself. This morning I was busy loading up my bike in the Finnis General Store car park while the wind howled and tried to blow things away. The morning was slipping away, courtesy of us having to do a complicated shuffle of things back and forth from our storage shed. A tardis would have been helpful. A lightbulb lit up above Roger's head. "Why don't you ride unloaded? I'll drop your panniers to the shed in Milang. You'...