Day 6: Mildura to Deniliquin
9 June 2014
Master Map
I awoke to find a coating of frost on the seat of the CB.
After breakfast, packing up the camp and saying farewell to the folk we'd met and camped with, we set out in the direction of Sydney. Our first overnight stop was to be Deniliquin. We rode backwards and forwards across the New South Wales/Victorian borders to Swan Hill before finally returning to NSW and heading north to Deniliquin.
Just before Swan Hill we were relieved to find petrol at Nyah. When we stopped, Pterodactyl had the same level of cold I’d experienced on Day 3. It’s quite unnerving and it was good to have some sun to restore some warmth.
A break at Nyah
Deniliquin was memorable for dinner. The Returned Servicemen's League is an Australian institution for reasons I won’t go into. However, the RSL has established clubs all over the country. Once the preserve of veterans of the two world wars (if I remember correctly it took them a good while to acknowledge that people who had served in Korea and Vietnam were also veterans), the clubs are now open to all comers and earn copious revenue from banks of poker machines. Because they're now about business not a community of interest, if you live more than a certain distance away, you simply sign in to become a temporary member.
The RSL in Deniliquin was opposite where we were staying and was recommended as the place to eat. So off we went. A carnival to be held the following day meant there was a lengthy queue for dinner, but a couple of beers eased the pain of waiting. We both ordered a rib steak and settled in with a bottle of red wine. Just when we were thinking we’d been forgotten, a waitress appeared, apologised, and said there was only one steak left. Fortunately it was easy. I’d had trouble deciding between the steak and crumbed lamb cutlets, so I ordered them instead.
While the accompanying vegetables were unexceptional, both meat dishes were excellent—probably the best we ate all trip and worth the wait.
