27/28 March 2011 - Canberra - Myrtleford, North East Victoria

Hit the road again on a sunny morning, only about 4 hours to drive today along the Hume Highway which flows from Sydney to Melbourne.  Stopped for morning cuppa (from the van), at the little old town of Yass which has certainly seen better days & looked a bit depressed.  However it did have some wonderful  old buildings like the Oddfellows Hall, Post Office & the Courthouse which was magnificent, all still being used & in good condition.  On from there to Gundegai - some of you may know the old song 'On the road to Gundegai' which has a monument of a dog on a tucker box. It used to be in the centre of the main road, but sadly the highway now bypasses it.  Apparently it has been suggested that it be moved but the locals have fought that idea, so now there is a sign on the highway to direct people to the site.  I guess unless you knew what it was, you wouldn't bother.  Apart from that historical feature there isn't much of great interest in the town, but we were to meet up with our four friends there who were the organisers of the cycling tour.  We stayed the night there in a lovely little caravan park by a river & beside a couple of very old historical railway bridges.  Stuart was very taken by them.  Our friends told us that in years not too far past it was possible to walk over them, but they are now in a pretty bad way, so have been locked off.  We were very amused by the sign which stated 'This is a managed ruin!'    Victoria is trying to use all the old railway lines are rail trails, so it's a shame they weren't able to be saved for that - would be marvellous to cycle over provided they put rails on the sides - pretty scary otherwise.  See photo.

Next morning we all set off for Myrtelford separately as we intended stopping to look at a few things & the others had done the route many times before.  As usual by 10am we were looking for a stopover for the 'cuppa' & came across this little town called Holbrook with a giant submarine in a park as you enter the town.  Naturally we stopped to find out why there would be a submarine so far from the sea.  Apparently Holbrook was named after a local family, one of who in recent times was a navel commander of the said submarine HMAS Otway  built sometime in the 60's. It certainly makes people stop - there were busloads of people leaving as we arrived so it is obviously good for the town.  Next stop was Albury right on the NSW/Victoria border, a very large town, so we filled up with diesel & continued on, not being town lovers.  It was quite a long drive, nice blue mountains in the distance, very little traffic which seems to be normal here once you leave a township.  It must cost billions to keep all these highways maintained & we have seen lots of construction through every section of our trip so far.  And when I say construction, it is BIG!  Fascinating to see how they do the concrete highways & the machinery they use.  The other aspect we noticed is that rather than hold up traffic to improve the highway, they often just make another alongside. 
After turning off the Hume Highway  toward the alpine region, the roads became much more winding & hilly, & the little townships much more historic & attractive.  We stopped at Beechworth which is gorgeous.  The old shops are all in beautiful condition & when you step through their doors it is almost like going back in time.  Many of them have windows which  have original signage & some of them are quite tiny inside.  There are several oldfashioned bakeries, &  lots of cafes but they all have an old fashioned air about them apart from the modern coffee machines & modern cuisine.  It's just a marvellous atmosphere & we intend to revisit as it's not far from where we will be based for the next 4 days.  Finally made Myrtleford , another nice little town, about 1.30pm & lunched at 2pm, so it's a miracle Stu didn't expire on me - you probably all know his habit of eating at specific times.  Anyway it is a marvellous little camp, very laid back & owned by a lovely friendly couple.   It is absolutely full of cyclists, young & old.  There is a rail trail here, but many of them do road cycling as well & I understand we will do a bit of both.  I'm feeling nervous to be in a group of 14 experienced cyclists, but nothing is compulsory & there are also walks, so although there is a programme, there is also free choice.  I'm glad I had some training with my 35kms around Canberra which should help.  Time will tell.  We were the first to arrive, then our friends, & slowly the rest of the group, all really nice & 60+, some 70.  Stay tuned for the first days cycling tomorrow.