M3 BAPTISM OF FIRE - THINK WE'LL RENAME IT THE M3 OFFROAD CLASSIC

Well actually it was so cold today that a fire would have been nice, we even thought about building one in the back of the church trailer. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Firstly, on behalf of all the M3 team I want to say a HUGE thanks to everyone who came to see us off at church this morning.  That send off was incredibly touching and many of the boys commented on it once we got underway.

Back to the day’s events.  Things started well as we made fairly good time down the Hume Highway to Mittagong averaging 22km/h despite a strong head wind.

Then we reached the Southern Highlands and things changed.  The winds increased and the temperate dropped dramatically.  After a 30min stop at Moss Vale for lunch we set off en route to Goulburn with about half our journey remaining.  And that’s where things got interesting.  Not sure if you’ve noticed but Google Maps doesn’t tell us about dirt roads.  Our route took us over onto Canyonleigh Rd. 35km of dirt road complete with cattle fences and cattle grids!  Wow that was a windy and lonely 2 ½ hours as we spread out up the hills.

Regrouping on the Hume 10km from Goulburn we set sail for our motel. As dark approached we arrived at 8pm for Pizza and a long shower.

Looking forward to a much more comfortable 103km into Canberra tomorrow – hopefully it will be a bit warmer too.  Chat some more then.