Sunday 12th December 2010 – So I continued up the M31 Hume Highway today to Canberra. It was a great ride – sunny skies and light winds and not too much traffic on the roads. As this is the main road between Melbourne and Sydney I had always imagined it would be densely populated, but quite the reverse. I only passed through 2 towns the whole way to Canberra. When I stopped at one of them, Taracutta, for lunch I felt like I should be throwing my poncho over my shoulder, rolling a cigar from one corner of my mouth to the other and ordering some hard liquor (instead I just asked for some bacon and eggs and a cup of tea)!

I later discovered that a series of by-passes have been built round all the towns so that's why it seems so deserted.

Most of the journey involved riding through great plains of what seemed to be farm lands, although there was quite a bit of flooding and a few fields even seemed to be filled with tall purple thistles.

It took me till 4pm to get to Canberra so I had plenty of time to consider the subtleties of riding a motorcycle. I’ve discovered truck drivers really don’t like you overtaking them on hills – if you do, they come hurtling up behind you on the downhill stretch and practically run you off the road. One can also receive quite a battering from all the insects that fly into you. I was hit so hard by one today that I half expected to see a dart sticking out of my kneecap when I looked down. I’ve also discovered that if I lean forward over the tank, then I don’t have to grip the accelerator so hard and hence I can un-cramp my right hand.

Anyway, I’m meeting up with one of Lisa’s friends tonight, Nick, who is going to ride across to South Australia with me, so it should be interesting to have some company on the road.