Saturday 19th February 2011 – What a great time I had in Bateman’s Bay. It was lovely to see Rod and his family again and also to meet up with another old friend, Shane.

On Friday, Rod took me for a drive to Shallow Crossing. This involves taking a dirt track up into the forest for several miles before the road descends down to the River Clyde where a concrete weir has been built across the river. As there has been so much rain it was completely submerged and we had to drive quite slowly across it to avoid being swept away by the current.

We then went up to look at some old gold mines. You wouldn’t have known they were there unless you knew they were there. To the untrained eye they just looked like piles of earth but upon closer inspection one could see huge, seemingly bottomless, pits had been dug. I found it amazing to think that people had walked in all the equipment they needed and probably spent months at a time burrowing for the precious metal.

Again my heart strings were pulled leaving my old friends but as I’ve now booked my tickets home I need to keep moving. So I took the road to Canberra this morning. It wound up through the forest before coming out onto an open plain where I nearly got blown off the road on several occasions the wind was so strong. Just as I made my final turn into London Circuit in Canberra a car in the right hand turn lane decided to go straight on and nearly knocked me off my bike! Admittedly, I was in the left lane, but I was indicating to go right (as were a number of other cars) so I don’t quite know what that other driver was up to. Anyway, I’m safely ensconced back at the YHA now and hopefully will meet up with Nick tonight.