"And the dog sat on the tuckerbox"

Drizzle on leaving Canberra quickly gave way to blue skies and sparse traffic once I cleared Hall. The new duplicated road beyond Hall certainly improves the journey but the speed limit reduces to 80k before Gooda Creek all the way to Murrumbateman: seems unnecessary and insufficient signage leaves you thinking "Am I still in an 80k zone?"

The country is looking really beautiful - green hills, clean paddocks punctuated with tall gums roll away as far as you can see.

Since I am looking at explorers, pioneers and Australian history I pulled up at the iconic statue outside Gundagai - the dog on the tuckerbox. Immortalised in song, poetry and legend the dog is a memorial to bullockies, drovers, pioneers and early settlers. It was erected in the 1920s by the citizens of Gundagai to celebrate it's centenary. 

Legend has it that Bill the bullocky, after a day of disasters, bogging his dray and breaking the axle turned to his tuckerbox only to find his dog sitting on it and enjoying the contents! A fitting subject to remind us of past times.

Tooling merrily down the Hume it's easy to forget the challenges of early travel. Imagine toiling up the track on this dray powered by bullocks, struggling up the hills and perhaps even worse, going down them.

Joseph Carberry and his wife Rosanna opened an inn here in the 1850s which provided relief and sustenance to travellers journeying north or south. Food and drink drew customers but Rosanna's talent as a pianist encouraged them to linger. 

I took backroads around Albury to reach the Riverina Highway heading for Deniliquin.  The country flattened out into small acreages with large houses, horses, llamas and interesting sheep and cattle breeds. Eventually I turned on to the highway passing crops and cattle in huge paddocks. Machinery kicked up a lot of dust cutting silage and wrapping it up in mauve and mint green plastic. 

Finley was the largest town I passed through - this beautiful mural caught the eye. Sadly the local renowned bakery was closed so I pressed on.  

The road followed closely along the huge Mulwala Irrigation Channel, in it's turn crossed by smaller channels. Getting out to take this photograph I encountered a real taste of summer: flies, tiny sticky flies! The temperature was 25°! Warmer days are promised!

Deniliquin could be called the city of roses! Every colour imagined is in full bloom in almost every garden. My motel is quiet, comfortable and not far from the RSL where I am about to go for dinner!