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We had a good rest at the campground and got up early for another long day in the saddle. We made breakfast in the kitchen, packed up, and rode out of Mansfield on our way to our next stop, Wangaratta and our next Warmshowers hosts, Ian and Prue.
The first 25 miles were to the little town of Swanpool, and like many Aussie secondary routes, sometimes great shoulders, sometimes none. No close calls, but there were some disconcerting moments along the way. Once we got to Swanpool, though, we switched to a very quiet back road almost all the way to the cool little town of Benalla where we stopped for lunch. Other than the congested roads in the town itself, the rest of the way to Wangaratta remained on secondary side roads.
One of those back roads led us to Glenrowan, home of the notorious Ned Kelly. Glenrowan had Ned museums, gift shops, and animatronic re-enactments of his last battle. Sadly, the re-enactment was closed, no reason given. So, we missed out on a gunfight much as we did in Deadwood last year! Oh, well. On we go.
Wangaratta is another bustling small city and we stopped at the RSL Club (similar to a VFW) where we had to register to be able to order a drink. The bartender picked a random member number and got us in, then served us two very cold, delicious beers in frosted mugs. Perfect refresher for this hot day.
We left our bikes at the RSL and walked around the town. One of the things that caught our eye was a bike hub — complete with restrooms and showers in addition to tools and pumps. Then it was off to our hosts. Ian greeted us and showed us around the house and we had our showers, did our laundry, and had some nice wine while we waited for Prue to come back from a class she was teaching.
Both Prue and Ian are retired teachers, and Ian is still doing some substitute teaching. They were delightful, and as we find with so many Warmshowers hosts, there is no shortage of good conversation and stories. They had traveled and taught in India, and did a stint at an Aboriginal school in northern Queensland. A delicious meal and free flowing wine set us up for a good night’s rest.
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