19th June Sydney

 Kms today 590         Kms to date 930

I was woken up by cocks crowing at 5 am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I read for a while. The aircon kept shutting down to de-ice so I knew it was cold outside, but when I went out to load up the bike it was covered in ice and the seat pad was frozen solid!  I took off before 8 to have breakfast in Albury and meet the conditions of my entry permit.  This will be a feature of this trip: entry permits different for each state border.

This photo was taken after I had knocked the ice off my seat.

                  The weather was dry but very cold so I headed up the Hume with grip warmers and heated gloves on. When I got to Tarcutta the temperature dropped and a thick mist appeared. This went on for about 50kms and hopefully will be the last time it happens on this trip.

I stopped in Gundagai and Marulan for fuel and refreshments. At Marulan I felt quite fatigued and was worried I wasn't really up for doing big daily kms like I used to, but once I got back on the bike I was fine.  As I approached Alan's house through the northern Sydney suburbs it started to rain again and got dark. I had put my rain suit back on at Marulan so was well prepared and arrived soaking wet but dry inside at 5:30.

I have to wait until 2nd of July to enter Queensland under the current rules for Victorians from Melbourne.  Alan can enter any time. So I arranged to leave Sydney on the 26th June and visit my cousin Helen in Port Macquarie and Morag's cousin once removed Jo Jo in  her new house in South Tweed Heads before heading into Queensland to Gatton to see my sister Joan.

Of course this all went pear-shaped when Queensland closed it border to people from Sydney.