Day 10 2nd Rest Day- Dubbo 0 kms

It is hard to believe we are up to the second rest day already. 10 days in and all is going beautifully. The group is great, they all seem to get along, they have mostly worked out who snores and who doesn't, who rides at their speed and who rides too fast and most importantly who likes to socialise in town and who likes to stay at home and cook. They are all very nice people who are tolerant of each other and of course us the organizers.

Everybody enjoyed the sleep in this morning although Collis was up at 4 am for a toilet visit and there was Rob, up and dressed fiddling with something or other. Collis came back to bed and slept and thank god Rob did also. After a leisurely breakfast everybody took off to explore downtown Dubbo, all did some shopping and some visited the zoo.

Robbo and Woody

Fliss has been asking me to go for a ride with her since we started but I have been avoiding this as I have never ridden the spare bike before and the last time I went for a ride at home I had a funny turn. Needless to say I was a bit nervous. I had an exercise program written out for me by my gym and I still haven't managed to do this yet but I hope to get into a routine every morning of either riding the bike till morning tea or doing my exercise program in camp before heading out for the day.  So I had to get back on the bike and today was a better day than any other (and I had run out of excuses). Fliss and Ben both came with me and kept a very close eye on my performance. The bike was quite good to ride and probably easier than the moulton that I usually ride. The frame may be a little bit big for me but if we lower the seat then my legs could be up around my neck when I'm peddling. The main thing was, I didn't fall off and I didn't have a little turn, it felt great and I enjoyed it. So once I have trained Collis properly on the packing of the vehicles and on days we are not climbing hills (because I am useless at this) then I will get on the bike and hopefully ride to morning tea and then Collis can take over and ride to lunch. Good plan and will definitely start at Day 15 Thallon to Nindigully 35 kms. I could do a whole day's ride.

John and Jerry

The Dubbo Big 4 caravan park kindly put on a BBQ for us, inviting the rest of the caravan park to eat after us for a gold coin donation to our charity "TADVIC". It was huge, with sausages, steak and onions provided by the Big 4 and coleslaw, rice salad and tossed salad provided by us. Not sure how much we made but the tin has certainly got heavier. We have had a few travellers pull over with John and handing him money towards whatever we are raising money for. We get asked often what our charity is but we aren't always successful. So we have now decided to strap the tin onto John's bike as he seems to have all the charm. Collis went for a walk around the caravan park with the tin, got a few donations BUT he managed to get our entertainment for the night. A lovely couple called Bill and Aileen sang, danced and played the spoons, guitar and rythym sticks. It was alot of fun. Bill is 82, not sure about Aileen but they had been married for 56 years.

Jerry and Collis in their aprons

Annie still eating easter eggs!

Most headed off to bed after the show but a few of us stayed up and played '500'. I had to be reminded of the rules and regulations and I was going OK until I decided to do no trumps when I really meant mazzare (?spelling) and I went and won one hand. I was quickly going out the back door and the other two (Peter & Annie) were climbing (in the positive) very slowly, I decided it would be easier if I took some more chances and either try to redeem myself or go out the back door with -500. I went out with -500 but thoroughly enjoyed doing so.