NSW to Perth Sunday 7/4/19 to Adelaide

This was a sraight forward ride along the Western Hway to Horsham and then the Wimmera Hway through Nhill, Dimbola and Bordertown. The Wimmera region seemss to have had a good year despite the drought elsewhere. There were huge covered mounds of wheat at all the collection centres and stacks of the big square bales of hay in paddocks and loaded on trucks ready to take to export at Bordertown.
We have noticed the "death " of lawns from Bendigo onwards in particular. Strict water rationing has meant that they don't rate as a priority. Flower gardens are rarely seen and are striking when people have contrived water for them. Scattered shrubs are the standard front garden. This was not the case in Horsham, Dimboĺa and Nhill though as they obviously had access to irrigation water and local Councils had prioritised public streetscapes and recreation areas.
The Wimmera Hway bypasses Dimboola but it is such a memorable name from history that we decided to go through it. It is an attractive small town with all the buildings well kept. The businesses are suffering a bit from it's proximity to Nhill but it seems to be surviving due to the productive wheat and sheep lands. We saw lots of new lambs too.
We had arranged to meet some of our new "Wing" aquaintances on the way into Adelaide.  Lesley and Robert Anderson live at Strathalbyn on the SE and it was an easy stop. We arrived at about 1.30  for the lunch they had offered. It was very pleasant catching up and enjoying their home made hamburgers. I eventually had to tear Bob away because Robert loves talking bikes and we had a commitment to meet Lorenzo Caruso in Glenelg when he finished work at his tatoo studio at 6pm. We had booked into a "family" motel in downtown Glenelg and he had burst out laughing when Bob told him where we were staying. He said "it is next door to my house". And it was. His side fence was the back fence of the motel. This was convenient because he had arranged for a friend of his to do an oil change on our bike. He met us just after we arrived, pointed out the good Italian restaurant across the road and invited us to come around for a cuppa and cake afterward. We met his delightful wife Jeanette and were invited to come back for "really good coffee" at 8.30 the next morning before being guided to his friends backyard garage. All proceeded as arranged and we were on the road by 9.15.