Day 46: Cooma to Canberra (12/20); 119 km; 21 kph; YHA Hostel
As the average speed suggest, these two days were quite a bit easier than previous days. Interestingly, even though Thredbo is above 1300 M (elevation), the ease was probably more so due to great continuing tailwinds, especially coming to Cooma. There were some big downhills, but both Cooma and Canberra are still about 600 M high so I did not get to descend as far as expected. As you may have also noticed, I continue to not camp along the road now, though smaller towns like Cooma have pefectly fine caravan parks. It something I've thought about quite a but not figured out--I seem to have an aversion to camping right now, though I really do enjoy it when the facilities or weather aren't bad.
I did enjoy these two days riding, especially past Cooma when the landscape returned to the wide open spaces I so enjoy (see third photo below). I also realized I was looking ahead during these two days riding to seeing Canberra. It did not disappoint and I will devote the entire next post to that short visit.
I've given up on photo captions, but the first picture below is a typical (and most frequent) on the road lunch for me--a bread roll from a bakery (bought the day before usually) and a small can of flavored tuna--I make a sandwich. The tuna is quite tasty, very conveinant to carry and dispense/eat, and often quite cheap (I payed anywhere from $1 to $2.5 per can for it on this trip, stocking up with as many as 6 cans at once when it is cheap). The Pepsi is a bit of a splurge I only had it about a fourth of the time--when I have access to a fridge I buy it warm and chill it overnight before then having half at lunch and the rest that evening. Have I mentioned that chilled soft drinks are quite expensive ($2 for a can) while 1.25 liter "warm" bottles are usually $1 or less.
The water is Lake Jidabyne; Nola's friend Fern lived in Jidanbyne on this lake for a while in the 1980s.
Finally, when I see a sign like the last photo, my mind tells me "big uphill coming in 2 km." Once to the overtaking lane I look longingly for the "left lane ends" sign!
Three more posts to finish if my web time holds out.
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