Sunday 29th March
Home to Sydney (by train)
Packed the bikes up this morning into boxes we had got previously from a local bike shop - Blaxland Cycles. Boxes must weigh less that 20kg to be accepted by Baggage Collection at Central station. Got the 4.05pm train. I rigged up a strap system to be able to carry both bike boxes while Tania carried the 4 panniers. We were able to check the bikes into Country Link Luggage station (accepts luggage up to 24hrs before departure) and so saved lugging them to the Mercure Hotel next door ($139 through lastminute.com). Dinner at our usual Chinese near UTS - steamed dumplings, salt/pepper squid and rice for $24.
Monday 30th March
Sydney to Albury (by train)
Tain was good - dining car nearby, plenty of leg room - left Central at 7.45am and into Albury at 3.45pm.
Bikes were on the platform when we got off the train and as we were carrying all our stuff to the Albury Manor Motel about 3 blocks away on Young Street, a local minibus driver pulled up and gave us a free lift to the motel! Very friendly intro to Albury and this was carried on with the Manor staff as well - they took our boxes away for us for recycling after we'd removed the bikes of course!
Put the bikes together in our room and they were all OK. Wandered into town to buy some bits ready for tomorrow - muesli bars, fruit and cable ties. Dinner at Taco Bill's Mexican on Dean St - very nice and quick. Motel was booked online through lastminute.com for $85.
Tuesday 31st March
Albury to Tallangatta
Leave: 9:00am
Arrive: 1:00pm
Ride total: 54.6km
Today total: 54.6km
Riding time: 3hrs 28 mins.
Max speed: 44.7km/h
Av. speed: 15.7km/h
Left the hotel about 8am - sunrise was 7:32am with daylight saving still in operation. Around the corner was a cafe with reasonable coffee and bacon egg rolls for 2 for $20. Rode down Dean St to the park on the Murray River - still a beautiful sight even with not a lot of water in it. The bike path along the river is great and it leads you onto the Causeway over the Murray and into Victoria - followed road signs to Tallangatta which was well signposted.
Picked up a Rail Trail path soon after the Mt Beauty turnoff - it was quite good to Bonegilla - sealed mostly. 
We stopped at the General Store here for coffee (quite good) and visited the Bonegilla Migrant Museum - a bit like the Welcome Wall in Sydney with the Wacol Migrant Centre from Brisbane attached.
The Hume Dam is very low and disappeared altogether by the time we left the by now very rough rail trail past Bonegilla. The trail joins the B400 road in parts as the rail bridges are mostly not well!
Got a bit hillier toward Tallangatta and the water disappeared with just ponds showing - very sad looking. Had lunch at the main street takeaway and checked out the info centre and Op Shop - won't tell you who checked which shop! Picked up a great map from the Towong Shire Office (free) which we will use through to Khancoban.
It was coolish (13 degrees) when we started in Albury but was 30 degrees by the time we got here. Stocked up here at the IGA supermarket for tomorrow - no shops until 80km away in Corryong. There is a pub apparently in Koetong and pretty hilly around there for 20km but we will see.
Bought some bars and 3 litres of water to carry with us. The Tallangatta Motor Inn where we are staying is a bit like a caravan - mobile floor, ants, saggy ceiling but was the only one in town - the pub has accommodation and may have been better. Had dinner the Victoria Hotel - Reef and Beef and Fisherman's Basket and drinks for $48.
It was a toss-up whether to stay here on our first day or to go through to Corryong - I'm glad we stayed here in Tallangatta - love the name and centre of town has a beautiful park area with big trees. Cycle touring in Australia is a lot harder than in Europe - things are much farther apart with little or nothing in between in terms of shops or accommodation so uless you camp, you need to plan fairly carefully and be very confident about your ability to make certain distances in a certain times so you can book ahead.
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