Days 34-46, 495-720km Wodonga to Waitiki Creek

The wonders of the flat North-East. I can't really believe I was only recently whingeing about hills and steep terrain, whereas now we have literally been following a bearing due west for the past six days. The roads here are perfectly straight and perfectly flat, a horizon that keeps on rolling away from us no matter how we chug away. It's become a bit of a morale booster every night to check the GPS just to confirm that yes indeed we have covered distance - and quite a lot of it too! Flat ground = fast travel (relatively speaking. We are talking about horses, after all!).

It was an intense start to the week. After a few days off getting all flighty off new green grass, we headed out from the edge of Wodonga - the eastern edge. Which meant we had to get through the city. And granted, Wodonga is not a large city by any stretch of the imagination, but it IS a city (according to it's proud title, anyway). And we had no choice but to go through it to find a way over the Hume Freeway and up to the river. And gosh, if my boys weren't total stars, dealing with trucks and bicycles and hopping on and off cycle paths and roads, stopping at traffic lights and only mildly freaking out at roadworks. Total highlight of the day was when Micky got such a fright when he was startled by a kangaroo he literally fell over. I really shouldn't have laughed as he did graze his elbow, but gosh darn it was funny!

Another flat easy day, and then.... (ominous drum roll) .... dawned the day of the Rutherglen Disaster. Ok ok, so clearly it wasn't a disaster as we all survived, but it easily could have been and the title is catchy. It was a day like any other until we stopped for lunch, I checked the weather, a tractor turned out of a paddock, appearing from behind long grass, and I looked up to see Micky take one look at it and bolt up the rough dirt road, followed closely by Mr Richard, lead ropes flying and my worldly goods falling from my saddle. I remember someone in Omeo (can't remember who!) telling me that at some point I would loose my horses. Well, that day was Saturday 25th May. I was so sure they would stop around every corner, but after following them through various different road turnings for over 3km, I started to believe the voice of dread telling me I would find them in a tangled pile of metal that had once been a semi on the highway. Luckily for us all we were saved by the quick thinking and fast pursuit of Tim and his son Max, who managed to halt their headlong stampede and catch them, and then showed us the utmost kindness and hospitality by allowing us to stay the night on his block and spent a good hour driving around whilst I picked up items strewn across roads - the pack saddle hadn't budged, but somehow Mick-Mac broke the girth on my riding saddle. How, I suppose I will never know.

After that day of extreme adrenalin, the boys were a bit footsore and tired the next day, but I was in no mood to show them any leniency and kept reminding them they were lucky to be alive. It was a good wake up call. I guess I'd been kind of anthropomorphising them, but at the end of the day, horses will be horses, even the bravest ones. I guess I was also missing #railtraillife.

The rest of the week passed quite uneventfully after that. The North-east is flat, the roads ridiculously straight, but that meant we could get some miles done with relative ease. It's been surprisingly easy travel around these parts, with lots of grass by the roadside, some really quite lovely back roads to ride without much traffic, and plenty of nice quiet spots to camp by the road. And of course, the hospitality of the country! That's definitely what I'm loving about this trip the most - the slow speed of travel that lets you stop and chat with folks along the way. I've lost count of how many farmers in mud-covered utes have pulled over beside us and congratulated us with a "Good onya" when hearing of our journey. From Brian, a chatty horseman and farmer who I bumped into several times over two days and who gave me great route tips and bags of fresh fruit, to the McGrath family who let me camp on their land and their neighbour Marg who came down in the morning with a tupperware container of homebaked goodies, everyone I've met has made this week great...

Because did I mention it's f!#$king FREEZING?! Like "I'm getting chillblains and am wearing all my layers whilst WALKING and am still cold" kind of freezing. For two days I didn't ride at all because I was getting muscle cramps from shivering. Yikes. Hopefully next week is a bit warmer. We pulled in to a lovely caravan park for a rest day by the Goulburn River, where some lovely horse folks on a riding holiday gave us some hay. So the boys are happily stuffing their faces and I'm enjoying sitting on a couch rather than a horse - ha ha!

Off towards Gunbower tomorrow