We are all doing well albeit a little tired but let's go back a few days to our so called "rest day" in Stanthorpe.
It was a lovely -1 degrees as we woke up to another crystal clear Stanthorpe morning. The plan was to head out on the bike in the morning and then to relax in the afternoon, that was reversed when I went went to visit the bike shop to see if they had fixed my seat that had broken just as I was coming into town yesterday. They told me to come back at lunch time so we decided to head into town for a look around then to the local museum that we all were taken back 150 years in time and before we knew it 1pm had already ticked by.
By 130pm the bike seat was fixed and we hit the Tarmac for some bike exploration! We cruised past winery after winery, the scenery was spectacular and the road smooth and quiet. Our aim was to stop in Ballandeen for lunch but by the time we arrived there the tavern was closed and there wasn't a cafe or winery that we could find that was open and serving food so onwards and upwards we went ticking the km's of one by one getting closer to the 1000km goal!
On the way back to Stanorpe we passed a few more wineries and then we found an intriguing little side road with a sign that said 'winery open 3km ahead' so down the road I travelled thinking that Les and Claz were following me. It was climb, climb, climb all the way to the gate where I waited 15mins and no Les and Claz. By this time it was 415 and the sign said it closed at 5pm. I found Claz about 100m ahead saying something about Les was scared of the hill so he didn't want to come up. I said blow that and down we went picked him up and told him to dust his skirt off and back up we went arriving there at 440 to this beautiful vineyard that was established in 1920 and in it's time produced a large quantity of wine. The lady whom looked after the place was Daphne and she loved having three boys to dote over and talk to. At 72 years of age Daphne is a true lady of the earth with a nature at kind as her heart is full. She has seen a lot in her lifetime with her parents settling that land to her husband passing away at 41yrs old leaving her and their two sons to look after the land and then having her son pass away 10 years ago.
So what did Daphne do when we arrived but whip us up 2 rounds each of toasted cheese tomato sandwiches while we tasted her liquers, ports and wines. On an empty stomach it warmed us up very quickly as the outside temp dropped. Daphne was bust cooking while we toasted a blackberry port and then an aniseed liquer.
With a big cuddle for Daphne as we stumbled out the door we realized that we had 25km to go and it was already 540pm.
The temp had dropped to 8 degrees and we didn't have any front lights with us so we took off down the hill until Les dodged to miss a wallaby and then thinking he was out of danger went back into the drops only to have another wallaby launch itself in front of him. Les said later that he thought it was all over! He locked up the back wheel and Claz who was behind him saw the wheel smoking as he missed the Roo by centimeters!
Claz who doesnt usually have a drink AT ALL enjoyed Daphnes hospitality but that last 25km he said he was just focused on the wheel in front as his head was 'a-spinning'
We arrived back into down just as the last glimmer of light went from the sky. A day that all the of us will remember for a long time and 83km more closer to our 1000km goal.
Namaste from all of us!
The Cycling Forget Me Nots
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