15 Jan 2024
One oversight I made was that when I was checking on my emergency warning apps on my phone, I only looked at the next day or two and didn’t pay attention to what was happening further along the river. Last night, already outside of business hours, I saw that Gunbower National Park was flooded. The thing is, another storm is on its way tomorrow as well so probably more flooding would happen. And the parts that aren’t flooded to the point of closing off the area are going to be damaged.
I decided to start riding towards Echuca and once it hits 9am and the Echuca information centre opens, I would call them and ask about the flooding. They told me that it was half the park, and that I could find the information online on the National Park’s website…. Which I really should have thought of myself! I saw some more flooding east of Echuca too, and decided that there would probably be enough damage to the other parks too that it was worth doing this section another time. Especially since I would need to miss the highlight, Gunbower, to take the highway which is just not as fun. So I abruptly ended my trip, just as I had gotten excited for the bikepacking again and gotten through the mentally tough part, and I got a train ticket from Swan Hill to Melbourne.
I did manage to ride up to Lake Boga in this time, and I rode around the lake a bit and then popped into the town. Nothing really tickled my fancy there though. I rode there through Back Boga Road instead of the highway, as the highway was narrow and had just a narrow very loose gravel shoulder so I didn’t feel very comfortable with riding it. Back Boga Road had some significant damage and I needed to walk parts or even carry my bike through some sections to avoid recreating the mud catastrophe of the Murray National Park near Berri. I planned to ride back to swan hill through the same route, but just as I got to the Lake Boga town centre, my derailleur stopped shifting and got stuck in the highest gear. Which meant riding on a bad quality road would be a no-go. And I didn’t have enough time to start working on fixing my bike and then also ride it, so it was time to call a taxi to make it back to Swan Hill in time. What a mashup of modes of transport in the last few days.
I will be keeping an eye on the flooding in the National Park, and I hope it will resolve by winter so I can come back to do Swan Hill to Wodonga and enjoy the National Parks fairly soon!
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