Burroweye to Thredbo

I had planned on an easy ride after Burroweye and this turned out to be true. I needed some camping gas before going up through the mountains for 2 days and the only place I could get it would be Corryong. This unfortunately would be 20 kilometres out of my way but I couldn’t risk being caught out. I arrived in Corryong quite late as I had pulled over half way and had a shower and a sleep out the back of a closed down pub. It was a pub I had camped at a couple of years earlier but apparently it had fallen on hard times and had to shut. I wasn’t complaining as the water and power still worked. Once in Corryong I parked up for a coffee at the information centre and logged onto the WiFi. Fantastic news. I had gotten a reply from a host a couple of days away confirming I could stay on the Thursday night or even the Wednesday as well if I arrived a day early. I had my route mapped out but this early arrival seemed unlikely due to a mixture of the hills and the distance. Still, knowing I was sorted in a couple of days was a great relief but I still need to find a wild camp for that night. I could see on my map there was a free campsite around 20 kilometres away but 10 of them would be off in the wrong direction of where I had to go. I did the first 10 which was my route anyway and just before the turn off I noticed some benches down by the river that looked perfect. I soon forgot about the free camp and pitched up over looking the banks of the Murray River, made some soup and bedded down for the night. I rose early as I had a massive day of pure hill climbing to do, ate breakfast, packed up and set off. After around 30 miles of insane climbs I couldn’t continue cycling and had to get off and push. I walked the fully loaded bicycle around 5 kilometres at 15% incline with my leg begging for mercy and my calf’s almost exploding when a van pulled up alongside and the driver asked if I needed a lift. Only a few minutes earlier I had wanted this to happen so badly and there it was right on cue. 40 minutes later I was knocking on my hosts door in Thredbo a day early as offered. I couldn’t thank the driver enough as after seeing what I would have faced over the next two days I would have been lucky to have made it on the day I had said. Amazing Australian people coming to the rescue once again. As I was a day early it meant a day of chilling, cleaning and oiling my bicycle and planning the next few days routes that will get me to Sydney.