Friday 8 November 2024: Rosedale to Sale to Stratford
After flying in from India just a couple of days before the start of the walk, Vishal was slowly adjusting to the Australian conditions and to the daily routine associated with the marathon walk that he had become a part of. We drove to Rosedale and started the walk around 6:30 AM that was way too early for Vishal’s liking. However, it was my routine to start as early as the day break, so that we could cover as much distance as possible before the Sun got hot. Before lunch time, we walked into Sale that is a beautiful town with most of the facilities of a large city. We washed our clothes at a laundry just a couple of blocks away from the ABC Office. I called into the ABC office for a quick chat and shared the information about the walk to support the McGrath Foundation. The ABC guys really appreciated my visit. While waiting for the clothes to be washed and dried, we had lunch at the café next door. To explore the area, we drove towards the coast to Paradise Beach, Golden Beach and Lake Reeve before returning to resume our walk on the Princes Hwy.
While walking to Stratford, I took photos of the sign Middle of Everywhere posted on the Princes Hwy. On arrival at Stratford, we were warmly welcomed by Michael and his photographer as organised by Amy on behalf of the Council. After a session of photos, we were given a bag of goodies such as a drink bottle, a cap and a T-Shirt that came handy during the remainder of the walk. Vishal and I were then invited to have lunch at the Taste of Avon. We would like to thank the Council and express our gratitude for everything the team did to support our walk. A big thank you to Amy, Michael and his team!
While we had lunch at the Taste of Avon, we were joined by Chris Dixon’s mum Kylie Dixon, his sister Shani and his two years old nephew Mac. Chris Dixon is a champion in his own right after running 1,000 Kms from Sydney to Melbourne in 10 days early this year. I knew of him, had spoken with Chris over the phone but was yet to meet him. However, I met his family before meeting the local hero. It was such a great honour to meet his mum, sister and nephew.
Vishal and I checked with the only motel at Stratford. What a pity, it was already booked out. We were thinking of driving back to Sale to stay the night. But someone suggested that we should instead try the motel at Maffra first that was much closer than Sale. Maffra was long known for being the lonly place in Australia to produce beet sugar. We drove there and found that there was a room available at Maffra but just for that night. We took it. We had dinner at the local pub that had been transformed perhaps from a mill many years ago. We returned to the motel and went to sleep for the night.
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