After countless hours of hills on the bike and wishing desperately for flat roads....today was the day Carolyn's wishes came true. Bairnsdale to Sale....69 km of dead flat road.....and what did we get? A horrible head wind! At speeds reminiscent of the hill sections, Genevieve, Carolyn and Simon fought the desire to be going in the other direction and valiantly kept peddling through the winds that buffetted us backwards....and then became a sidewind blowing us around, making it difficult at times to control the bike and keep steady. We were all impressed with how well Genevieve performed on her first day, especially given the windy conditions.
With the help of the support team doling out encouragement and nourishing snacks at the stopping points, the riders finally made it into Sale and went straight to the ABC radio station were Carolyn was interviewed about the ride and the issue of human trafficking. Then it was a quick lunch and on to Sale Catholic College to make a presentation to a group of students. They were an impressive group with some thoughtful questions, ideas and enthusiasm to do something to put an end to human trafficking....it was a great way to forget about the difficulties of the morning ride.
After a cuppa with a few of the staff from the college, who had made us feel very welcome - we headed over to Sale Baptist Church who were hosting both our film night and us overnight. They have a fantastic purpose built church that can be used for a variety of community purposes and we were made to feel quickly at home by Fay and Rob.
Tonight we opted for the easy option of take-away pizza.....a welcome arrival before we started our film night. It was a small group of mainly young adults that attended and it was great to speak with them afterwards and hear their plans and passion for social justice issues.
It is a strange feeling to be so close to the end of the Tour. In some ways it seems like PJ, Jo and I have been on the road for ages but in other ways it has gone so quickly and it seems unbelievable that tomorrow we will make our final presentations in Traralgon and then be heading to Melbourne. There is a sense of tiredness now but also a great appreciation of all the great times on the road and of the wonderful people we have met along the way.....but enough of the nostalgia.....stilll more adventures to come tomorrow and the day after...
810 kms down - 228 kms to go.....
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