DAY 113 - 31ST JULY 2013 - MOLONG TO GILGANDRA (VIA DUBBO)

Day 113 – 31st July 2013 – Molong to Gilgandra (via Dubbo)

Cycling Stats:  128 kms  (Molong to Wellington 65kms + Dubbo to Gilgandra 63 kms)

Cycling Average:  32 km per hour

Frost on the tent room this morning made it a bit crunchy to pack up. (When we unpacked it after arriving in Gilgandro the ice was still in it !! )

The plan was to meet in Wellington – ‘Lakes & Caves Country’ (65 kms from Molong). We needed to find a bike shop to repair the broken spoke on Walter’s rear wheel. Wellington is a bigger town than we expected so I approached a guy in a car to ask if maybe there was a bike shop here. Unfortunately there had been one but it had recently closed down. He gave us some good advice about how we should travel the next section as we are uncertain of the best route to take. When Walter arrived he was keen to get to Dubbo as soon as possible to get his wheel repaired so he jumped in the van for the 60km trip to Dubbo. There were 2 bike shops but neither had the correct spoke. Walter decided that we would push on and he was keen to cycle the next sector to Gilgandra. As I drove out of Dubbo there was a big sign showing the number of kms to about a half a dozen towns and for the first time I saw ‘Brisbane’ at the bottom of the sign:  865 kms to Brisbane.  I must admit that I felt very excited when I suddenly saw this bit of information.

Gilgandra is the ‘Town of Windmills and Home of The Co-ees’.  I went into one of the shops, an antique shop and had a chat with the owner Harold mainly to ask him about the location of the caravan parks. I told him about our cycling trip around Australia and how we were fundraising for Alzheimer’s Australia. He told me his mum had suffered from Alzheimer’s and how hard it had been on him & his family. He immediately handed me a $50 note. I am continually amazed at how many people’s lives have been affected by Alzheimer’s Disease.

We arrived at the caravan park and the owner donated the cost of our powered site to our fundraising bucket. I spent some time on the computer trying to locate a bike shop and finally found a bike shop in Inverell – so I rang them and yes they had the right spoke and could repair it when we arrive there in a few days.

Walter’s knee was still a bit sore but he told me it did improve as the day went on which is great.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Stan, the man and his very charming and elegant wife Patricia both 84 years young. They were on their way home to Melbourne and had just driven to Alice Springs to meet one of their sons who lived in Darwin but didn’t want them to drive all the way there so they met him and his new partner in Alice Springs. Stan & Patricia have a grandson who they call Sir Walter and were so very interested and kept expressing their admiration about Walter’s cycling and our fundraising. They both handed me very generous donations. Later Walter went to the campfire and had a chat with some more travelers and the total added to the bucket for today was a very impressive amount in the vicinity of $170 – it was very very pleasing to receive so much support.

Impressive sculptures for the Information Centre