4 pedals & 4 paws: Cobram to Shepparton

Cobram to Shepparton = 76km
Cummulative total = 8272km

Couldn't be bothered writing up the blog for yesterday last night so I am here doing it on my rest day.
It was very 'chully' yesterday morning when we got up and the tent was in the shade so we didn't really warm up at all not even when we began cycling!
Last night we went for a walk down to the Murray river and it is full and flowing

I think all rivers and creeks are full and flowing this spring!
We set off from Cobram and took the Murray Valley highway for about 11km and then we turned south on a very quiet road for Shepparton. This road has got to be the straightest road in Victoria - you could rule a line with it!
It was lovely cycling along here - flat and absolutely NO wind whatsoever! We could ride 2 abreast as there was not much traffic along here ... just paddocks of grass, milking cows and Pattersons' curse!
We did come across one field where we think it might be the local tip for scrap metal.

as you ride past it everything is in its own little piles I presume that if you wanted spare parts for something you could come along and it would be very easy to find something rather than just dumping it in one big pile - but we could see numerous bikes and 10 gallon drums!
Getting closer to Shepparton we stopped briefly at an intersection and saw this emu ...

it was very close and we thought that it might be a pet as it didn't run away from us (every other emu we have seen has bolted - have you ever seen an emu run? man they are funny looking runners!) anyway this one kept hanging around and after thinking about it we came to the conclusion that it must have had a nest nearby and that is why it didn't run - lucky for us as we got this really good close up photo of it.
We were on the outskirts of Shepparton around 12.30 and we noticed that there was alot of cyclists out riding and since it is absolutely flat out here it is an ideal town to ride around in your lunch hours. We also saw in the far distance the can of Campbells soup

not a great photo but if you look between the trees you can see an oversized can of Campbells soup - they have a factory here in Shepparton and the town also boasts having an SPC factory.
Lots of fruit trees as we rode through before the main part of town and they were in full blossom and I am going to assume they are some sort of stone fruit but they were all lined up in their rows and they were esparliered pelling?) along wires on either side of the tree - i presume so that picking the fruit is easier rather than having a mass of fruit that might be difficult to get at in the middle of the tree.
Got to the campground which is at the south end of the lake, which is currently getting an enormous make over and there are bulldozers and workmen everywhere trying to get the lake area ready by this weekend for some 150th town celebration, I don't think they are going to make it!
We are tucked in a corner with a few other tents and there is a mass of caravans together (about 80) and they all belong to some Australian motorhome and caravaning club, so Kouta can run around a bit and there is a bike/walking track just at the back of us so we can get into town easy.
Straight after lunch Neil went to Aldi and he was excited just like a kid with the fact that this was the first Aldi he has got to go in for a while ... well he was EXTREMELY excited when he got back ... because he managed to buy 2 mens cycling shorts for $17 each ... he was dancing and prancing around! not only that but he also was waving around a 2009 vintage bottle of red wine that he got for ... wait for it ... $2.49 yes!!! and he even said it was nice! so he had 1/2 last night and will finish of the rest tonight! All I requested was a packet of $3.99 melting moments ... do you reckon I got them? ... no he decided to get me a 6 pack of fruit mince tarts for $1.49 as they were better value ... the cheeky monkey!
Later on in the evening we went for a walk on one of the many bike/walking tracks and everyone was out and about on them so they definitely get used. And just at the back of us is the Goulburn river (no it is not in flood!)