Day 545 | Near Lock 2: in a roadside rest area

57 km | zzOz total: 17,478 km

There’s no excuse for such a poor effort today except it is the 7th day of travel, maybe I need a break.

The 30 k into Morgan seemed a whizz, that wind is still blowing, except Morgan is the place where the Murray turns a corner, I’m now heading due east, finally.

Morgan is a tiny town with which I have some familiarity having been through here with various gals in times past. I stayed here in my first grand biking trip back when I had a real vocation, 1500 km from Mildura to Ceduna via the Eyre Peninsular. OK, I’ll be more truthful, I’d done various bike trips prior including one that went down the Murray from Albury to Deniliquin then back to Shepparton.

Back then I wandered all the streets, marvelling about the town that time forgot but today I’m not so interested, it’s the wharf and a wander down the river, no photos of the ferry this time, just a standard issue lunch, some cheese and cake washed down with water from a stray tap. Maybe there’s just too many memories here or it might be I’m back in overly familiar territory, after all I’ve been through here six times previously.

Returning here I’ve now biked almost the complete length of the Murray, all the way through to Jindabyne, although in 4 separate trips and mostly in the other direction, this time it’s happening all in one go.

The blogs of the long distance bike tourers who bike back to where they set off all seem to wrestle with their increasing familiarity and the difficulty of adjustment at the death end of the trip. There’s been such freedom, openness and adventure leaving home and pedalling off but as the money dwindles, the road ahead more known, proscribed, there’s a major adjustment to return to a place where so little has changed, people are still going off to the same jobs they’ve been working at since they left years before.

The next month is going to be more difficult psychologically than physically even though I’m going to be getting in amongst Australia’s most strenuous hills.

The one thing in my favour is that Melbourne is just a stepping stone to NZ, I’m not returning to a similar job in the same old town, I’m jumping countries and constructing a whole new life.

It ain’t going to be boring.