On to Khancoban

March 31st

Road maps just don’t tell you the ups and downs and what you will really see. Today was a treat. It was one of the physically hardest, yet beautiful days as I headed over ridges and valleys filled with cattle and gum trees to the land of The Man From Snowy River. It is filled with many ups and downs, verdant with life and secrets. I saw a bison, an American bison sitting in a paddock, and I slammed on the brakes. All I could think to myself was "jumping jumbuck, that’s a bison." Well actually, I didn’t say that. I felt like a bison was so damn strange in this land that it needed an exclamation of some sort, and a jumbuck is a large, untamed sheep. So I spent about 15 km rolling this stupid phrase around in my head, and now you have to suffer through it. I slept 5 km past Khancoban, well into the mountains. I had a 200 meter climb over 70 km to go. Tomorrow will be a slog. Found a great bush camp well above the road and looking out over a valley. I’m making good time. This trip looks possible. I am powered by meat pies, and my mantra is “H.T.F.U.” To find out more about this mantra, click on the hyperlink.