Tostaree to Orbost

Tostaree - Orbost = 29km (via rail trail and A1)
Cummulative total = 484km

Today is a rest day here in Orbost which is our turning around point. Yesterday was a short day but it was still a very hard day.
We left our beautiful bush camp at around 9 o'clock thinking that we would be in Orbost around 11 o'clock ... well think again! 12km down the very rough track a piece of stick got caught in my front wheel and bent my mud guard and broke 2 of my spokes on the front wheel! "Lucky it was the front wheel which doesn't take alot of weight and not the back wheel which has most of the weight" ... that is what Neil said (always looking on the bright side of things) whereas I cannot repeat what I said since this is a family blog site!!!!
So we very slowly and tentatively continued down to the next road exit (Simpson creek road) to join up with the main highway, for me it was an agonising 2km and once we got to the highway we had to decide whether to go to Orbost (closer) and hope that there is a cycle store to get spokes OR go back to Nowa Nowa and then on to Lakes Entrance the next day where we know there will be a cycle store. I decided to risk it and go to Orbost ... lucky as there was a sports store and Neil got spokes to replace my 2 broken ones (we also bought extra just in case!). So I cheered up when Neil fixed the wheel.
I am not disappointed that we didn't finish the trail (we had another 10km to go) as since Nowa Nowa the trail had become almost too rough for a loaded bike. I think the trail after Nowa Nowa is more suited to mountain bikes with suspension as I think it is a combination of recent rain which has made the track difficult and the exposure of very big gravel stones which you can't seem to avoid and over the time and km's you really begin to feel it in the back!
Well Orbost is a small town on the Snowy River, we looked for 'the man from the snowy river' and couldn't see him or his horse. The campground is quiet but we have to keep Kouta strictly on a leash, but we are a very short walk from a reserve where we can let him roam. Otherwise the campground is basic, free bbq (but no kitchen), table and chairs, ping pong table and clean amenities. The town has a medium size Foodworks where we had to buy milk powder ($8.50 for 1kg!!!) I think Neil forgot just how much milk powder is now but it will last us for over 2 weeks.
Tomorrow we head for Lakes Entrance and today I will sort out our timetable to get us up and over Mt Hotham and into Bright for the next rail trail.