The perils of free travel

Simon picked me up from the hospital so we could leave directly after my immunotherapy treatment.  We stopped at Marulan for lunch and then again at Gundagai in search of some cold sparkling water.  The town was very quiet though there was a stall selling cookies and we thought it appropriate to buy some Anzac biscuits.  Another hour and a half and we were pulling into our Airbnb in East Albury.  I had time for a quick shower before we walked into the town centre for dinner at Sen Vietnamese restaurant.  We had eaten there last year and they had given us a voucher for a free serve of our favourite dish. We had nominated the scallops.  We were disappointed to find that the voucher had expired, but the waiter kindly agreed to recognise it and we enjoyed another fabulous meal.  If asked again, I would have nominated the Clay Pot prawns as my favourite dish.

We had arranged to leave our car outside an ex-colleague’s house in Wodonga.  We detoured via Henri’s bakery for some ready-made bread rolls and were soon unloading the bikes from the back of the Hyundai. Therese had advised that they would be out when we arrived, so we were pleasantly surprised to see her and her partner.  They recommended a cycling route to Albury and it was a beautiful ride, along quiet paths lined with autumn colours.  We crossed the Murray River for the first time and saw our first, of many, dilapidated bridges.   

We stopped at NanNina’s for a coffee and allowed plenty of time to cycle the final few kilometres to Albury station.  Being the Friday before a long weekend, we were concerned that the train would be busy, particularly as Victoria had free travel on public transport.  It turned out that the usual six-carriage train was reduced to three, and all seats were reserved.  Coaches were available but as we had our bikes, this option didn’t appeal.  Due to the free travel, we couldn’t book seats online but those with seats had reserved them prior to the free travel announcement.  We boarded anyway and stowed our bikes.  It was chaotic as those travellers without reserved seats congregated in the aisles.  One of the attendants eventually advised that we could sit in the unreserved seats in buffet area.  We settled into some free seats feeling very relieved.

The train’s departure was delayed until the train arrived from Melbourne.  The buffet opened whilst we were still stationary, and the attendant did a good job keeping people’s spirits up with her announcements offering food and beverage options to help relieve the stress of those still trying to sort out seats.  

Just over two hours later we arrived in Seymour and cycled directly to our motel.  Once checked in, we headed back into town for lunch supplies.  We then explored the Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk which is dedicated to the 60,000 men and women who served in the Vietnam conflict.  Each of their names are listed on the glass panels which also contain photos of the war. There was also war memorabilia including a Centurion tank, Huey helicopter and an armoured personnel carrier.  Seymour’s history as a site for military training was the reason it was chosen as a site for the walk, with the Packapunyal military base just 12 kilometres away. 

Nearby was the Goulburn River trail which made for delightful cycling under the late afternoon sun.  We passed the aptly named “Koala and Cockatoo” sculpture and continued on to the Old Goulburn River bridge. Constructed in 1862, it was closed to vehicular traffic some 120 years later and only the timber trestles remain.  

Dinner was at the Winery Kitchen, an excellent Sicilian restaurant some 1.6kms from the motel.  We made the wise decision to cycle as it would have been a long, cold walk along the main road.

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