Wodonga

OMG... what a day... It started off well as I headed off up the high Country Rail trail to see how far I could get. I confess I had some vague idea of making it all the way to Shelly, but when I worked out it was almost 85km one way with a 500m + climb in the last 20km I just decided to go as far as I could in a reasonable able amount of time leaving sufficient time and energy to get back. The trail starts not far from the motel and heads in a gently undulating manner towards the Kiewa River where there are some rather pretty bridges and trestles. It then climbs slightly towards Bonegilla. The Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre which is not far from the trail but was unfortunately closed being ANZAC day, was a camp set up for receiving and training migrants to Australia during the post World War II immigration boom. The camp was set on 130 hectares (320 acres) between the Hume Dam and the city of Wodonga. The site was a former World War II Australian Army base, and is adjacent to the current Latchford Barracks. Before being requisitioned by the army, the site was originally a section of large pastoral land. The camp opened in 1947 and operated until 1971, over which period it received over 300,000 migrants. It is estimated that over 1.5 million Australians are descended from migrants who spent time there. At the old station along what is now the rail trail was an art installation of metal suitcases which was rather compelling. Not long after Bonegilla the trail starts to skirt the edge of the Hume dam (for about 30km - all the way to Old Tallangatta). The Hume Dam, formerly the Hume Weir, is a major dam across the Murray River downstream of its junction with the Mitta River it is important for flood mitigation, hydro-power, irrigation, water supply and conservation. Along the way there are several cool bridges over large inlets. I had a brief stop at Tallangatta which is apparently known as the ‘town that moved in the 50s’. The town was moved eight kilometers to the west, to a site known as Bolga, to allow for the expansion of Lake Hume. Every now and then, when the Hume Dam is at a low ebb, the ghostly remains of "Old Tallangatta" can be seen above the water. The trail grew a bit iffy after old Tallangalatta but steadied out again a few kilometer's of rough riding including a quite notional section apparently involving a detour through a paddock. Around Bullioh the trail started to climb and although the surface wasn't too bad it was clear that this section is still being worked upon... there were several magnificent trestles is a very bad state (more detours) although there was still reasonable signage. The trail crossed under the road at the 61km mark and I thought that is was probably about enough as there was still about 14kms of climbing to go and I still had the return journey to consider. It was just as well that I did ... but more of that to come.... I decided to ride the road for a while and headed down the hill at a fair clip spinning along in the sunshine at a comfortable pace before regaining the trail just the other side of Tallangatta. I was, in fact just considering taking a rest break with about 22km to go back to Wodonga when disaster struck... my derailer snapped... the bloody thing just snapped off .. smashed one of my spokes and just hung there being both useless and worse an impediment to forward progression. In the end I kind of hooked it out of the way and started walking interspersed with kind of rolling down the hills accompanied by kind of leg waving activities... I slowly progressed this way for another 12 km before a couple riding past on an electric tandem (with their Snoodle Beau in a basket on the front) stopped to assist me ... the kindly Ian had a chain breaking tool and a replacement clip meaning that we could detach the derailer and the shorten the chain... it wasn't pretty but did mean I could sort of ride down the hills a little better and FINALLY just as the sun was setting I made it back to the motel... tired .. filthy and rather annoyed at the whole bike thing .... it's either major repairs or a new bike... either way I'm not sure I'll be doing other than head home... sigh!Read more