6 October 2026 – Cheynes Bridge – 0 kms
Gunaikurnai Country
The morning brings clear skies and cold temperatures. We could move on to the series of campsites at the bottom of Tamboritha Road. That’s just another 40 or so kays, depending on where we stay. I think we should have time to ride that before the rain comes, even though there’s a gap and a bunch of climbing up Tamboritha Road.
I’m tempted. But I have a good spot here. It is at low elevation, so the low temps predicted tonight shouldn’t be as much of an issue. I’ve got good water here I can filter whereas the other spots are on river that may still be running muddy.
I mull it over and finally decide we’ll stick here. Mostly because of our water source. I think the little store in Licola is closed today but may be open tomorrow, so we could get water there if we can’t get water at the public toilets in Licola and the river still looks muddy there.
The tent is very wet with condensation and dew, so I get it all spread out in the sun to dry before the rain comes. I’ve got no phone reception here, so I really don’t know when the rain will come. It shows no signs at 7am.
Slowly, small puffy clouds build and sail to the southeast. As the morning goes on, the puffy clouds get bigger and then start to clump together. Later still, the bottoms of the clouds go dark and grey as they start to cover the sun for longer periods.
In this time, I hear this very high-pitched sort of rumble/scream coming down the valley. I think it must be a motorbike and hope he slows down before the bump on the bridge. That rider is moving! But then, a bright red fighter type jet comes screaming down the valley very low – almost even with the tops of the hills. Shit! That gave me a momentary fright. It’s one of the aerobatic team show jets from the nearby military base at Sale – out for some morning fun, I guess.
The guys get another float before the rain comes. I try to find a way to let Ernie float in the cooking pot, but that is unsuccessful. Well, we were successful in getting Ernie’s butt wet, but that was it. He and Verne swap out after awhile instead, so he does get a turn.
The rain comes around 11.30am. It’s never super heavy and comes in spurts of showers. I hang in the tent and think about nothing. Ahhhhhh.
The wind still hasn’t swapped to the southwest by dinner time (4pm). So the front still hasn’t come through. I gather up my cooking gear and walk down to a shelter near the bridge. I get everything going and then go down and skip rocks into the river while the lentils and rice simmer. I get chased up to the shelter by rain after a little bit though. I am waaaay out of practice skipping rocks. I threw some real clunkers among the good skips.
Just on dark, the clouds start to come from the southwest. There are more showers off and on until about midnight, and I’m pleased we stayed here today. One of the bonuses is that I could camp on grass, so the tent doesn’t get muddy from the rain. The area we are heading toward is so heavily used you end up camping on dirt… which becomes mud with the rain. So this was a good choice and we’ll be ready for the climb up Burgoyne Gap first thing in the morning.