Sealake to Birchip

 
Sealake to Birchip = 58km
Cummulative total = 793km

It was an okay day cycling today.  Sort off expected much stronger winds but they were light and blowing as a headwind for us.  The back road to Birchip is just south of Sealake and it is a very quiet road the goes straight south with a few kinks in it.  For the first 15km it is a lane each way and then for the next 13km it is a single lane and then back to a poorly made lane each way road.  The scenery is the usual grain fields upon grain fields.  You a gently climbing but don't really notice it.
The wind although light made it a little 'chully' when riding along but by lunch time it was warmer but not hot.
Not alot of traffic on this back road and very little local traffic.  After the single lane road the condition of the road becomes worse - the edges are breaking up from the heavy trucks we assume.  They probably would have been better off making a really strong single lane road and packing the edges to cope when a truck and car meet - this is what they have been doing in the other areas where we have taken back roads and the roads are superb!  For the amount of traffic this road has (which is minimal) it doesn't warrant making a lane each way type road.
Just 10km south of Sealake is a lake called Greenlake and you can camp there for $20 powered and $15 unpowered so we shall remember that for next time.  It has showers and toilets, drinking water and a bbq with a power point.
So not alot happening along the road just the usual rabbits, a dead snake and a goanna that sprinted across the road in front of us and climbed up the nearest tree to keep an eye on us.
 
can you see it? damn good camouflage!  It was alot smaller than the one that virtually strode into our camp site at Jane Duff Rest Area!
Coming into Birchip the road edges are really churned up and you can see where they patched up holes and heavy trucks have come along and just made it worse!  You would think councils would learn - these are wealthy areas so what do the councils spend the rate payers money on?  I'll tell you what they spend it on look at the photo below of the Mallee Bull which Birchip is apparently famous for but while looking at the bull check out the grass around it ...
 
it is a lush green grass almost on as good as the MCG - so that is what this council spends it money on - maintaining a green strip of grass in the town center instead of maintaining its roads!
Anyway the town has a few more shops than Sealake and the other towns we have been at lately.  While Neil is in the IGA getting a loaf of bread I spot a bakery boasting "Australias' best vanilla slice 2009" now I am thinking I thought that was held by a household in Colac?
Anyway I waited until Neil got back and said I think I will go and get one for us for lunch.  I go in and it is quite busy and ask for 2 vanilla slices - okay that will be $6.20.  Right I thought that is a little over priced but what the hell (although it is free at Colac!).
Found the campground and set up and made a cuppa and sat down for the vanilla slices ...
 
reasonable size pieces and below is Neil about to devour his ...
 
we both thought it was okay - the pastry is a wafer type pastry, the custard is a bit like a stiff mousse but the icing was too thick and sweet.  The wafer pastry and custard wasn't as sweet as what we thought it would be but the icing was too sweet for us.  But we still polished them off.  We did suggest improvement ideas to the vanilla slice - Neil said to have less custard so that when you bite into it it doesn't squish outwards - my suggestion is to maintain the custard but add in an extra layer of wafer  this might stop too much squishing. 
The campground is a bit like Cobden at the back of a petrol station and motel.  Really run down facilities but it costs $10 for unpowered and $14 for powered so we opted to splash out again and go for power!
Tomorrow is to Warracknabeal where we have to go on the Sunraysia highway south for around 10km and then turn off to hopefully a quiet road to Warracknabeal.