DAY 31 - SWAN HILL VIC

SWAN HILL VIC

DAY 31

KERANG – SWAN HILL

67.67 km

Total Time – 08.10 – 12.50 (4h 40m)

Time on Bike – 3h 49m 01s

Max. speed – 29.3 km/h

Av. Speed – 17.7 km/h


67.67 km today – 20 km of grinding uphill and a cold, gusting cross wind included for no extra cost.

The wind entirely numbed the left-hand side of my body for most of the morning – a 90° dog leg at one point actually gave me about 5 km of tail – but from every turn in the road thereafter, I was consistently bent back in towards it.

Still, I managed a respectable 17 km/h + in the conditions and was set up in Swan Hill by lunchtime.

There is only 600 km to cover into Adelaide now.

I’ll take a day in town tomorrow and then travel towards Robinvale by Wednesday.

Mildura should be my destination over the weekend, which will leave only a 3 - 4 day run into Adelaide.

Part of my journey today took me through what is the equivalent of Victoria’s lakes district.

There are several dozen lakes situated in close proximity between Kerang and Swan Hill and I can only presume that they are quite popular with holiday makers and tourists alike.

And if the very tragic Lake Boga is any example, I can only presume that at least some of these lakes have also been very popular with the drought.

Having previously seen National Geographic images and similar of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and now having seen Lake Boga today, there is some sort of scary scenario that is developing around the world that should not be ignored.

Lake Boga has not seen any water for what I can only imagine is a number of years.

It is an expanse of perhaps 8 kilometres in all directions and you can literally drive a car across it.

In fact, given the tyre tracks I saw this morning, somebody already has.

The shopping village is a ghost town; the caravan park is closed; the yacht club is awaiting demolition; the town’s seaplane symbol really needs to be changed to something else – it is difficult to imagine that this lake will ever hold water again.

Why nature has decided to remove the bathplug on this formerly abundant ecosystem, I cannot exactly understand.

But to actually descend over the rise into Lake Boga and witness such a wide vista of roasted black clay - only to realise that it is supposed to be full of water – is not something I personally take any comfort from at all.