Leaving Strathalbyn also meant leaving the Adelaide hills and our cycle got pleasantly easier. We continue to pass immaculately tended vineyards in the Fleurieu Peninsula and it really was just like cycling in France. Well, until you come to signs like this and it reminds you that you are in Australia. 

Now this is an opportune time to give a Kangaroo fact or two. Did you know that kangaroo hopping is the most energy efficient means of land travel in the animal kingdom! That funny bounce, bounce allows them to cover huge distances in habitats where there is little food or water available. They can outpace a racehorse, reach 40 miles and hour and in one leap can jump 3m high and 7.6m long. The secret is the elasticity of the tendons in their legs. Amazing large marsupial facts. 

I’m not sure how energy efficient our cycling is. It seems to take a lot of food and beer to get me to cycle any distance at all and you have no idea how many biscuits and cakes Susan needs to eat. We start the day with porridge and two hours later we need our second breakfast. Then there’s lunch followed later by afternoon snack. The last few hours of cycling consist of chocolate bars, bags of sweets and sugar drinks to get us to the finishing line. After stopping, within the next half hour, we ensure we each have a pint of strawberry milk for protein and carbohydrate loading for the following day. Quick shower then out for dinner and a beer. Again, I see the beer as essential carbohydrate loading. When we fall asleep at 9pm we are absolutely knackered from all the eating. Sorry, I mean absolutely knackered from all the cycling!

After 96km we reached Meningie and because our motel of choice was full with a touring party of charity cyclists, we decided to camp. Thankfully, our campsite was a bit of a change from our usual bush camps. 

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