Theaussiechallenge Post # 101 Huntly

Day 125 16 days to go. Distance today 120km total 11612km. It’s 8.15pm Friday 9/11/2012 Huntly. Hi from downtown Huntly 120km west of tomorrow’s ride to Shepparton. I got a text and spoke to Greg today who has arranged for me to stay at his place even though he’s in Melbourne. His neighbor will let me when I arrive hopefully mid afternoon. Thank you mate this is sooo awesome and appreciated and all the best with your family stuff in Melbourne, stay strong and hope it goes as well as can be expected during tough times for you all. It’s an excellent rest area here with good facilities in the Lion’s Park just outside of town. We’re set up on a grassy patch under the eucalyptus enjoying the fading sunset of pinks and orange just stunning. The wind’s got a wicked chill to it so I’m all rugged up in the grape and looking forward to dinner and snuggling into Buddy. The night’s clear much like last so there will be a sky of stars again to enjoy before bed. Last night’s bush camp was amazing with a zillion stars to gaze at with Buddy’s tent sides rolled up. I slept in this morning after a latish night and eventually got moving into St Arnaud mid morning. The town was all heritage with red brick classic buildings beautifully maintained from the early 1900s. Many townsfolk were also doing a shop at the local IGA and I met some warm and friendly people so wanting to have a chat and know more about this nutty cyclist visiting their corner of the world. I spoke for ages with Ian an elderly gent who was a shearer in his working days. He now enjoys an active life walking and savoring the recreational areas. We spoke about looking after the mind, body and soul and despite having little formal education, he is a well read man and sooo incredibly interesting an insightful. Ian was saying how the elderly should be more active and the youth should be more connected to community and heritage. We shared an interest in Buddhism and stories from India and Asia. He gave me the biggest of hugs goodbye after our formal handshake hello and I know we both enjoyed our time spent. Wonderful to meet such a beautiful soul and interesting man. Ian donated $10 before getting back into his day thank you mate for the dollars and wonderful company!!!! I then did a shop chatting to heaps of locals in each Isle and loving every moment. I came outside to find Ruby all a glow having her picture taken by a local Journalist who’s name I can’t remember bugga. She’s a local girl who left St Arnaud to study in Melbourne but returned to work for the local paper realizing what a community treasure the town and folk are. She interviewed me for ages and took heaps of pickies and loved the story of our challenge. She’s incredibly supportive of the white ribbon cause and we exchanged details so she can forward on her article and picks for our keepsake awesome. She got one last picky as we rode out of town and I so look forward to hearing from her again and reading her article. It was afternoon o’clock before we got into our ride and already a wicked wind had picked up. So Rube and I worked pretty hard for the afternoon but the scenery was something quite special. The road followed the goldfields tourist route and meandered through the pastural hills with sheep and wheat fields. It felt like something straight out of a Banjo Patterson poem so classic Australian bushland. The hills were dotted with eucalypts and the smell and sounds were exquisite. The birdlife kept us entertained with white cockatoos, pink gallahs, and magpies in huge numbers and performing an orchestra of songs to peddle to. I was totally captivated and the afternoon passed easily with such delights. It was later o’clock when we arrived in Huntly bypassing Bendigo central with the help of some awesome directions from local folk. My mind’s wondering to dinner so I might end it there to feed the starvs and climb into Buddy out of the chill bill night air. Cash donations $2571.20. Here’s a copy of the email from Mum sharing her Melbourne cup ´excitement backing Green moon enjoy!!! Talk soon x

“Checked out the horses in the race this morning and looked for inspiration….found it in GREEN MOON and LIGHTS OF HEAVEN. Ree, I was looking for some name that had some significance from your experiences on thechallenge!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you loved The Blue Moon and the stairway to the moon experience and decided the Green Moon was the next best thing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Decided then that Lights of Heaven could have reflected back to those beautiful light shows you have been experiencing in the wake of the storms. Good enough for this bigtime horse backer…..so dad put $1 each way on the two horses for me. Guess what??????? Lights of Heaven ran in second place for the first half of the race and Green Moon came up through the pack and WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How good was that???????????Am donating my winnings $29.10 to theaussiechallenge XXXXXXXXXXX”