Colac to Cobden

Colac - Cobden = 52km
Cummulative total = 237km

Gosh what a day we have had ... as I was cycling along today I reflected back on our travels before christmas and thought we had a lot of happenings on that holiday and although we have only been gone a few days we don't seem to have much happening or there is really nothing much to report to everyone on this blog ... well today we had all sorts of adventures from blackberry picking, campground feral fights and a snake!
Firstly we left Colac late at around 9.30 and really the ride was picturesque through the back roads to Cobden. We have ridden these roads before so we knew what we were up against and also where the blackberries would be! At this time of the year there are alot of wild blackberry bushes on the side of the road and generally they are sprayed by the council but a local ... namely Flo informed us that the council hardly sprays anymore so I knew that the road between Bungador and Carpendeit would have blackberries to pick and sure enough I got my empty bowl out and picked a few for our desserts tonight.

Yes mum that is really me picking blackberries and yes it did bring back memories! but the bushes had very nasty thorns and there was also the fear that snakes could come out of the bushes so I only picked enough for desserts.
We arrived at Carpendeit at 12 so we thought we would have a cuppa here, believe it or not but I have a similar photo of the one below but it had dad in it (do you remember dad?)

Alas we get to our campground (if you can call it that!) at around 1.30 and as we cruise around the campground looking for a shady spot we hear some harsh fighting words coming from the locals - the campground is very basic at the back of a gas station and it tends to have mainly itinerant permanent people here. So we decided that we wanted well away from the permanents and selected a nice shady spot in the corner. As we approached it I saw that they had chopped down trees and had just left the chopped wood there and there was 2 piles which are hiding places for snakes but the thought of being around fighting ferals was worst! We set up the tent while being entertained by the ferals fighting and then it subsided.
So it was a quiet afternoon and Kouta quickly discovered that the farm next door had 3 goats that wanted to meet him. So he ducked over to their side while Neil and I growled at him so he came running back over and into the tent sulking! So I said to Neil pick him up and take him to the fence so he can smell them and they can smell him ... so Kouta was incredibly happy with that!

Not sure if Kouta has met a goat before but they were definitely interested in him. So the afternoon wore on and there was no more feral dramas so I had a wee nap and came out around 5.30pm hungry as per usual.
Jumped out of the tent and found Neil reading so he said we would eat and we will move to the other side of the tent in the shade so he picked up the food panniers and dumped them on the other side came back to me and I went over to the 2 food bags and about 1.5m away something black caught my eye and I thought that was a strange colour in amongst the leaves, twigs and branches and I looked again and I thought that it was also too curved for a stick and then I realised that it was a snake! so I camly stepped back and just casually said to Neil "I don't want to alarm you but there is a snake over there!" I also said to grab Kouta so Neil picked him up as he hadn't seen it yet and made me hold Kouta while he tried to find a loooooong stick to encourage it to go. A few seconds later he decides to get the owner with a shovel to kill it. So I stayed to watch it and by the time Neil and the owner came back the snake had gone over towards the ditch to the goat farm. We decided to pack up and move closer to the ferals! It was a red bellied black snake that was around 2 feet long. It didn't reappear while we were packing up and we both wondered just where it had been before it was discovered by me!
On our travels so far we have encountered so many snakes it is unbelievable! I know they are there but I find it unnerving that we are now (almost) meeting them and shaking their tails if you know what I mean!
Anyway it is late and I am dying for my fruche and blackberries. Check out the blackberries below - I thought they travelled quite well on the bike!