Day Five - Myrtleford loop - 74 km 840m (Ride total = 327 km, 2,251m)

Today we drove the 47 km's to Beachworth (with only one coffee stop required) and we then headed off through the Mount Stanley Scenic Reserve which took us to a relatively high elevation 800 m.a.s.l. for NZ standards with respect to the farming practices happening at that elevation. Over here, I guess because it is that much warmer it means at the higher elevations, they are still able to undertake quite an extensive range of farming activities - today we passed through Chestnut and Apple Orchards as well as vineyards and sheep, cattle and cropping farms. Our Camp Dad, Stephen had us stopping at his usual apple orchard where a 2 KG bag of Honey crisp apples was purchased and 1.5 KG of that was promptly eaten there and then. It was a good long and steady climb to the top of the hill and then a terrific twisty/turny downhill to the road running into Myrtleford. It was alongside this road that I saw Green Grass for the first time of the trip! I feel it must have been a combination of a) better soils, b) a rain shadow area and c) the effect of the good drop of rain we had a couple of nights back - it was such a contrast to that which I'd seen up to this point. Then again on our drive back in to Wangaratta there too the paddocks were beginning to green up a bit,

We stopped at a Country Pub/Cafe for another coffee/tea break and I ordered my English Breakfast tea and a Danish pastry - $15 was what that came to! I said "I beg your pardon" thinking I might have mis-understood and the reply came back at the same $15! "How much for the Danish" I asked? $9 was the reply to which I said "I'll pass thanks", Yes, call me tight you may and I have no problem supporting the local economy when I bike through a region however for me there comes a price point where I draw a line as I cannot then enjoy what it is I've purchased at such a high price! Then it backfired on me at our lunch stop when I the Cafe did not have any English Breakfast or even Gumboot tea and as I don't do Earl Grey I had to go without. So what was the outcome of all this? Well, my economic situation improved slightly while the Australian economy went backwards instead of forwards! I have tried,,,,

After lunch it was rail trail virtually all the way back to the cars and while trains do not go up steep hills they can (or could in this case) go up long gentle hills and that was the case for most of our ride back a steady 2, 3 or 4% climb with no reprieve, or very little if there was. We had to give back a lot of the 500 meters of downhill we earlier enjoyed. Four of our peloton of 10 had decided at lunch to shortcut the ride back to the car and so it was we took off for the longer ride back. This four thought they were taking the short easy route home however what they hadn't factored in to the equation was that they had the same elevation to climb as we did and for them it was a much steeper but shorter ride back. The end result being that we made it back to the cars before they did.

Another good ride with over 800 meters of climbing (note to self here - get up on the Port Hills when I get home and well before June).

Food - I',, now give a rundown on how we eat on our rides like this. First up with breakfasts it's pretty much business as usual in that we grab a packet of Muesli, a couple of litres of milk, some bananas and yoghurt along with a loaf of bread and some butter and jam. So that's breakfasts sorted.

Lunch is what you can source along the way and we tend to seek out the local bakery or cafe, frequently it is a pie or a wrap and maybe a cake as well as a pot of tea with an extra pot of hot water (so that gives me at least two cups if not three). If we've stopped for morning tea then there could be another couple of cups of tea and a muffin.

After the ride we might finish as today with a Milkshake or ice cream before dinner. Dinner generally we head off to a local restaurant - Monday night it was the RSL Club, Tuesday night was Italian, Thursday night was the local Pub and tonight will be a Pizza night at the Italian Place coz it was pretty good first-time round. Wednesday night Elio and Geoff catered for us beginning with chips, dips and nibbles followed by a seriously good BBQ with fresh breads and a range of salads. This was all prepared here at our motel and tables with white tablecloths were arranged in the carpark where we all sat and enjoyed the meal well in to the evening under the outside lights of the Motel.