Sale, sale, sale. How does anyone ever know when the specials are available in this town? I mean, the banners outside the shops don’t actually clarify the situation. Perhaps they do have a discounted price that day, or perhaps they are enthusiastically showing their patriotism to the town. One will never know…

Ducking into Victoria must include a visit to a friend & family who I hadn’t seen for a while. So we pointed the Landcruiser bonnet towards Sale and followed the Pilatus PC-21 RAAF training aircraft virtually to their driveway. A quick wander through town presented us with a slight dilemma. Not a tragic one but a dilemma just the same. Should we go to the pub on the left, or across the road and attend the Irish pub. The Irish always win, as they know how to do a pub. Post beer, it was cycle time and dirt paths aplenty. We even found a velodrome.

Birdlife on the wetlands and the lakes was encouraging to see. Reserve areas specifically to encourage nesting and regeneration of species populations. Awesome. We started our journey on specifically built bike paths in town (well done city), later joining a multi-use natural circuit. Runners (crazy people) and a few other cyclists happily waved as we passed one another. Surfaces range from dirt, deco, grass tracks, elevated timber paths and hard packed soil. Just don’t turn right on the last shot (below).

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Wow, if bird life is your thing, we saw so many. Black swans asleep in the reeds, a plethora of ducks picking at the growth on top of the lake, cockatoos, willy wagtails, whip birds and many more. I liked the highways that the ducks were making in the waterways.

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It was nice of the town to include some engineering marvels to keep my interest sparked. A swing bridge that is operated by hand. Not a small one either, with lots of mechanical devices to add the extra push they needed to move this great mass. It still works today.

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Returning home, we chose an alternate route to that shown on the map. Discovering the Botanical Gardens, and more specifically a community garden, where you can help yourself to the produce. WOW, it blew me away. There was so much produce, it looked so healthy. Why doesn’t every town do this…… Mandy went nuts, so much green to choose from. So little time.

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The next day we hear of more CO-VID cases in Melbourne. This doesn’t directly affect us as we are out of the greater Melbourne region. But then we hear of more cases and the restrictions starting to be placed within Victoria. South Australia is also looking at border restrictions for Victorians. We made the decision to make a run to the border. That way we can spend a significant amount of time discovering SA and return to Vic/Melbourne at a later date. 650Km later we are in Mt Gambier, SA. The police were setting up the road block as we crossed. Timing…

Victoria, we have a postponed dinner date…….