Vanishing Point - Mallee Routes Part 2

As most of you know I started out on a 400k ride in the Mallee on my own at 2am on the weekend.  the reasons for this madness were many but included the desire to get home in time to spend a little time with my family on the weekend and wanting to beat the wind a little.  The latter didn't quite come off but I did get to ride for a hundred and twenty odd k's on a beautiful cold, clear, windless night with an almost full moon on near perfect roads.  I saw 1 car in that time.

As the sun came up and started to thaw me out, I rode through dozens of kilometers through beautiful patchworks of green and gold where the canola and wheat criss-crossed the countryside.  Alas the appearance is terribly misleading as many of the crops are stunted and already beginning to dry out.  In places there are farmers already cutting their losses by cutting the immature crop for hay. 

None the less, this is beautiful country.  There's a harshness and a brokenness in the nature of the land here which is intrinsically Australian.  It's barren, twiggy, prickly, hot and bare.  It's the kind of country where you'll never find somewhere comfortable to sit down.  It's a beauty which seeps into your soul rather than leaping out and grabbing you.  There can't be a better way to get close to it than riding you bike through it.

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