As I left Moree under leaden skies, the plaintive call from one of the good old boys called after me “Goodbye Forest!” an obvious reference to the movie Forest Gump’.

The rain came tumbling down in buckets. After a while I was as wet as I was ever going to be, besides it was warm with very little wind. Frogs in the marshland made frog noises, and a flock of budgerigars wheeled across the sky.

There were sweet aromas too,  smells of licorice, mustard,  cinnamon, and cauliflower.

I found a comfortable rhythm thinking about previous Audax rides I have completed in wet conditions. I pulled in at a roadside rest stop as it allowed me a little rest and cover from the rain. A couple of guys in a beat-up old Holden had the same idea. Wringing out my gloves and drying my glasses, the older of the two said: “We are just about to blow a couple of joints, you cool with that?”

“Fine with me, I’m having a banana. We got talking, they were a father and Son. Dad was 57 and claimed to be a special needs teacher. Son was 24, a classically trained musician. They were headed up to Cooktown in Queensland where a job and free rent were waiting. Their plan was to work hard for five years and save $50,000. “With that kind of money you can build a house in Bali!” said Dad.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said, “good luck with that.” We shook hands and they roared off into the rain stoned off their heads, a little disconcerting for a vulnerable cyclist.

Signs indicated upcoming roadworks cars, trucks, and caravans slowed then stopped, waiting to be waved through. A couple of old blokes in the car next to me wound down the window: “Well if somebody told me about it I wouldn’t believe them, but here I am looking at you with my own two eyes. Are you riding around Australia?”

“That’s the plan.”

“I’ve heard that people do it, but I’ve never seen anyone. I rode a motorcycle out in the bush years ago but nothing like that. I take my hat off to ya” and he did too “Good luck to you young fella.” I loved the young fella bit.

As the afternoon wore on, the rain became less frequent showers, so much so that I almost dried out
crossing the border from NSW into Queensland! I finally posted that next postcard in a series of postcards to Mum that I have been sending. I thought of Mum a lot today, I received the news yesterday that she had broken her femur in a fall. They will operate tomorrow, traumatic for a woman just this side of 93, fingers crossed.

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