Day 15 (Scottsdale to Launceston)

This morning was nice, I had a descent brekky with a few guys at the campaign grounds. A family I was chatting with made me bacon and eggs in toast which was very filling. I haven't had bacon for over a year. It was hard for me to accept this, but the last thing I will ever do is display ingratitude to a free meal. The man approached me, in a very strong Aussie accent, said he already put one on for me cause he thought I'd be starving and it's the Aussie way to help out. Out of respect I accepted and sat with the family while we all had brekky together.

Following brekky I shot off for Launceston. This was a descent ride but made a lot easier by the fact I hit it hard yesterday and reduced my km's for today. I must admit I was absolutely buggered about 15km in, after I got hit with a 13km climb that made me work hard. In total I was on the bike just over 4 and a half hours today.

During the ride I stopped a few times. First was at an Eco-House where they explained local flora and some of the history in the area. Half way to Launceston I stopped at a little kiosk in a camping ground. This was in the middle of nowhere and from what I gathered was the last chance to get a feed. They didn't have much on offer so I bought a whole pack of tim tams and ate it within a few minutes. It was disgusting but really hit the sweet spot.

After this a random guy saw my bike and was having a good look at it. He asked if he could join me for the rest of my ride to Launceston, which was roughly 40km. He was a bit strange so I wasn't to warming to his suggestion. I had no option really and after a little while it turned out he wasn't so bad.

We pulled into Launceston and I had a great feeling of joy. It was a mixture of reasons as to why, but I think mostly that I felt I accomplished another achievement. I gave the random guy a high 5 and headed off to my hostel. Actually I stopped at a museum so this guy didn't know where I was staying, but after this I went over to the hostel.

The hostel has a good vibe, it's the cheapest in town at $21 a night. I'm in a 8 bed dorm, with mostly Chinese and Taiwanese people. It's amazing how many of them are down here looking for farm work, due to the visa requirements.

I met a Melbourne bloke from eastern suburbs in the same area where I'm from. Really nice laid back guy, seems to have similar interests to mine. Made me think about how much our surroundings may have influenced who we are as people.

Tomorrow rest day!! Perfect