Day four and we’re really starting to get in the groove of cycling.  We woke early, and spent some time reading in the tent, drinking tea and waiting for the sun to warm things up a little.  We had the quickest pack up that we’d had of all four days, helped in part by our intent to grab breakfast on the run from the local café.

Our plan backfired when the café was closed, and the service station took about 45 minutes to make a toasted sandwich and a coffee.  Things move slower in the country.

Finally on the road, we scaled the hill leading out of Woodenbong in good time, and then had the most beautiful ride down the range, first travelling through gorgeous rainforest and then cruising beside spectacular views of Mount Barney and Mount Lindsay.

The last 15kms into Rathdowney converted back into the traditional farming plains, with plenty of cattle, which gave us a good excuse to put our heads down and make some good progress on the mileage front – seeing us arrive in Rathdowney in time for lunch and a beer at the pub.

The last part of the journey was an easy 9km out of Rathdowney to the car, which thankfully was still there (we’d parked in in the middle of nowhere to shorten the first day), and we commenced the long drive home.

All in all it was a lovely four days of cycling, giving us a really good chance to test out much of the gear we’re going to take to Europe (as well as getting a feel for how it feels to carry it all!).

A note from Matt – we got home and weighed our panniers. Ally carried close to 20kg up and over the border ranges with ascents at 19%! European alps here we come!!