Cowra to Ariah Park
I left Cowra in a bubble of sunshine, which was soon buried in fog and low cloud. The country is wet, wet, wet. Stopping by the side of the road there is often a chorus of frogs from the grass, and plops in hidden road side water. Young was a much easier ride than the previous days, but I was clearly tired from all the hills, and decided to stop there, and not push on to Temora or even Ariah Park. I had a solid afternoon sleep followed by an early night.
The country begins to flatten out from Cowra, apart from a nasty little climb into Young. You know it's steep when your're puffing 10kph up a slope and get overtaken by a semi struggling to do 25!
Temora was the lunchtime stop on from Young. The county is increasingly flat. Half way over I met a remarkable sight all alone in the country. At first I was not sure what I was seeing. St James’ was build around 1958 and is an elegant building in the middle of paddocks. I’d love to have seen inside, but they don’t hide the key where we old Methodists do!
This is the kind of garden I want at Greenacres!
Other scenery was not so sublime, but just as entertaining. The photo below shows the big, the small, and the odd!
Just your average Aussie paddock
Temora itself is huge compared to country towns in South Australia. From there I had a fast 37km ride to my friend Ros’s farm at Ariah Park. The lady at the Ariah Park shop provided me with some heavy bags so I could carry my gear out to the farm on my handlebars and did not have to repack the panniers for just 3 more kilometres. I think I ruined Ros’s reputation; a couple of people relaxing outside the store concluded I was a bit odd! I am laid up here for a rest day before the big distances across to the SA border.
The trip to Young was 72km, and the trip today 123. Today was the occasion for my second flat tire and one semi trailer who tried to run me off the road. A B-Double less than a foot away at 100km + is not nice. I could not get the trailer number, unfortunately. I also passed the 2000km mark for the trip.
