Great Aussie Rickshaw Ride - 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th September

The team arrived in Wodonga on Friday the 3rd. Graeme Barnden and
David Yates (Chairman, Symbiosis International) arrived on Friday
night. The weather has dominated the weekend as unstable weather moved
over much of south east Australia. Because of this, riders who had
planned to ride out of Wodonga pulled out. Saturday the 4th dawned
with the predicted wind and rain. We had planned a departure event
with the Deputy Mayor of Wodonga, Ed Foulston and his wife Margaret
coming to attend the departure. Ed and his wife turned up and so did
the team with the rickshaw. However, there were two problems. One was
the lack of riders because of the bad weather. The threats of rain,
winds and possible floods kept people away. The other problem was that
the rickshaw on the trailer had an accident. One of the back wheels
buckled and needed repairs. We then turned to our back up rickshaw to
do the event with the Deputy Mayor. We were grateful to Ed and
Margaret for coming out in the rain and for supporting the effort of
the Great Aussie Rickshaw Ride. Not only that, they also bought the
team a cup of coffee ( I think that is a first) and they paid
generously for their short ride in the rickshaw, photos of which
appear here on the blog.
It is somewhat interesting that when we bring a genuine Bangladesh
Rickshaw travelling down the eastern side of Australia we have lots of
rain. So much so that in this part it is experiencing floods. Very
Bangladesh. Perhaps we should do a trip right round Australia,
bringing rains and floods. This might be a possible income stream!
Well back to reality. It has been good to have a rest from the busy
schedule of the previous weeks. Sunday the 5th and today, Monday the
6th, have been rest days. We have stayed in a caravan park in Wodonga.
We have been eating the great food prepared by Bev and Val. The only
hitch has been that the cabin in which the eating and cooking is done
has a very sensitive smoke detector. The smell of kebabs or toast seem
to set it off quickly. It can only be mollified by fanning it with a
big plastic box cover. One feels like a slave in the court of a
particularly fickle oriental potentate as one waves the lid of the box
fanning the slightly overheated detector.
Tomorrow we move south to Benalla and Wangaratta. We will see what the
floods allow us to do. We have also heard that two ladies from
Symbiosis Bangladesh have arrived in Melbourne. They will join us in a
few days time before we get to Melbourne.