We were back into the old routine this morning; awake at 5:00am and ready to leave Imagination Studios at 5:30. The plan was to find a bakery for breakfast, before completing the 360km leg to Nhill. Unfortunately, the tradition of early opening hours for bakers does not seem to have extended to Adelaide, and it wasn’t until we had reached the small town of Hahndorf at about 7:30 that we were able to find somewhere to stop for food. It was decided during the planning of our trip that leaving the city by the Princess Freeway was not safe, and we had mapped out an alternate route with the South Australian Police. You can probably guess the punch-line – suffice to say that despite all the bemused U-turns and consultation of maps, we managed to keep our good humour and by 8:30 we knew where we were going. Happily, the beginning of our journey took us through a very beautiful region in the back-roads of the Adelaide Hills, surrounded by sub-temperate rainforest and an early morning mist.

Emergency riders Chloe and Rory had their third ride of the trip, helping to keep our average speeds high, and once we had left the hills the day on the road passed very smoothly. Crossing the Victorian border, we were immediately reminded of home as the temperature dropped by 10 degrees and it began to rain.

Upon arrival in Nhill we made our way to the Nhill Recreation Reserve, where we were met with an unprecedented level of friendliness and hospitality. Gary Driscoll, president of the Nhill and District Sporting Club, and a number of his associates had kindly organised accommodation for us, as well as a dinner of roast duck and salad, provided by local business Luv-a-Duck. The generous community nature of small country towns is very much in evidence here; the Sporting Club also permitted us to enjoy the use of their sporting facilities and members are even returning at dawn tomorrow to provide us with a cooked breakfast. Morgan and Lucas spoke to the Sporting Club committee, who expressed their envy at the opportunities we have enjoyed that were not available when they were at school. They also discussed possible partnerships between Nhill P-12 school and Damascus, in the hope that similar programs could be developed here.

After dinner, we had an extended team meeting, during which we reflected on the adventures we have shared, our highs and lows and our lessons learnt. The principal low-light seemed to be that the trip is coming to an end. However we have refocussed with two very important days to go, during which we hope to continue raising more awareness and funds (hint hint), as well as to make the most of the final stages of our journey.

View photos here.

GG