The Day Before

Well we are in Thredbo and I am ready to begin the journey tomorrow (I think).

Today, Kath, her sister Carolyn and I drove to Thredbo from Mum and Dad’s place in Binalong. We drove via Towong, which is the town near where I will be finishing the bike leg of the trip and where I will be starting the paddle. After dropping the kayaks off at the cottages we will be staying at after the bike leg, we started the drive up the Upper Murray River valley and headed into the mountains.

After all these months (years) of thinking about the trip and looking at maps, it was great to be able to actually see the Murray River. I have to admit it all suddenly started to feel like it was actually happening. However, we also drove along a lot of the route that I will be riding my bike and we were able to see all of the mountains I need to ride up and down. I am not sure that it was necessarily a good idea to do that, because I now know how full on this ride is going to be. I have spent a lot of time up in the Snowy Mountains, but when you are about to ride up all the hills, you suddenly get a different perspective about how long and how steep they really are.

Tomorrow morning Kath and Carolyn will join me on the hike up to the summit of Mt. Kosciuszko. They will then head back to comfort of Thredbo, leaving me to camp at the top of the mountain. Then the following morning I will be hiking down to Dead Horse Gap where I will collect my bike from Kath and Carolyn, and I will ride down to the source of the Murray River. It will then be 4 days of riding up and down the mountains near the Murray River until I get to the river crossing at Bringenbrong Bridge near Khancoban.

A few people have asked how I am feeling about it all now that it is about to happen. I think that I am just looking forward to getting on with it. I have have been thinking about and planning it for so long, I just want to get into it and stop over thinking all the logistics. It is time to just let it happen.

I probably won’t be able to post anything for the next 5 days because I will be in the remote parts of the mountains with no internet. So I guess I will see you on the other side. Wish me luck!