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Today is “Explore Sydney” day and we started it off with coffee and breakfast in the hostel’s kitchen. Second order of business was waiting until the staff came in to extend our stay another day. We quickly realized that one day in Sydney wasn’t enough. Probably could use a week, but another day will certainly be more relaxing.

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Another filling breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon started off my day. Dana went for another run as we were going to be in the car for a 5 hours or so on the drive to Sydney. No more cattle work today. Just packing up, loading the bikes and and getting the bags into the truck. The last four days here were wonderful — enjoying Stephen’s hospitality (though he claims to hate people, he’s really a sweetheart), meeting Tic, John, and Lily, lending a hand when we could, and basking in New South Wales’ abundant sunshine.

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This morning we were treated to eggs and on the barbie, and I got the added protein of thick slabs of bacon to go with my eggs. We talked over the plans for the day; Dana was ready to head to Sydney that afternoon or evening, but Stephen was insisting we stay another day. I was in Stephen’s camp as I had some work to do on the bikes and leaving in the afternoon would put us in Sydney at night — much harder to get your bearings in the dark. In the end, Stephen won her over however reluctantly. She finished her breakfast and headed out for a run! Another positive was that we’d get to do some more cattle herding.

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A good rest, a hearty breakfast, and we were ready for a new challenge today — a cattle roundup. Stephen will be helping his neighbor Tic with moving cows from one paddock to another and separating the heifers from their calves. Until it was time to head over to Tic’s, we lingered over our coffee, did some laundry, and kept learning more about how Stephen came to be in this house.

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Despite the proximity to the highway, we did get a good sleep and heard from Stephen as soon as we got up. He was on his way and would be to Cudal by 9. We made breakfast and broke camp and were all packed up and ready when he arrived. We loaded our bags into his pickup bed and put the bikes on the rack and off we went.

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We had a good night at the Townhouse, and starting out on another back road, we had a lot of flat ahead, but also a headwind. Our target today is Cudal, a very small town, perhaps too small, as other than a campground, there doesn’t seem to be too much going on there: a bistro that closes at 4, no grocery, no pubs, and one hotel that’s pretty pricey, and completely remotely operated. We picked Cudal in order to get a little closer to our friend, Stephen, who was going to come pick us up to take us back to his home in Coolah. Also, it was only 80km (51 miles) from Cowra, so no big push like yesterday’s 120km (80 miles).

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Anne and David were long gone by the time we got up. We got the instructions for closing up and taking care of the dog from them last night. Dana tried to take the dog for a walk, but he was having none of it. We made our breakfast and tried to make friends, but he was very recalcitrant. I pumped all the tires up with David’s real pump and off we went toward our next destination, a hotel/campground in Koorawatha.

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Ahhhh. Very good sleep and much needed rest — for me, at least. Dana was raring to go, but we both forgot the name of where we were going and Janet suggested “Coota-bloody-mundra” as a memory jog. It worked (though we didn’t add the “bloody” part when we were actually in Cootamundra). After making our coffee and posing for some quick pics, Ian was off on an exercise outing with friends.

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Dana got up early to meet Carrie and Ian got up to make her coffee — his expresso machine requires a PhD in baristaology. I slept in, and later learned that Ian went back to bed, too! From all reports, the group ride was a good time and it got Dana at least part of her exercise fix for the morning.

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At the campground, coffee is usually the first task, then nature’s calls, then breakfast, then breaking camp. While not always in that order, though, it was pretty much the way it went today as we prepped to get to Wagga Wagga. Remember Janet and Ian who we met at the campground in Princetown? Well, we are taking them up on their offer to stay with them and that’s our goal for the day, just 100 km (60 miles) away, and with some moderate climbing compared to what we’ve been doing. I truly thought we’d be on a train to Sydney by now, but Dana had other plans.