This middle section will actually be the start of the ride, and the only part where someone will be with me. Lisa (the wife) plans to come out for this week and meet me in the evenings to provide conversation and sustenance. It should be a great ride along the Coorong Nature Preserve and the Great Ocean Highway (literally Australia's answer to the Pacific Coast Highway in California, which I've ridden a few times.)

Anticipated Highlights:

• Murray Bridge: A town, a favorite of tour guides. On the Murray River, the largest river in Australia. Paddle river boats...

• Coorong National Park:
  
  "The coastal saline lagoon system of the Coorong is separate from the sea for over 100km by the high sand dunes of the Younghusband Peninsula." Rough Guide.
  
  Not a great quote, but there are a lot of descriptions of the place that sound beautiful.

• The Great Ocean Road and The Twelve Apostles: Unlike the nearly 2,000 miles prior to Adelaide, I'll be in continuous good scenery with nice towns every 40 or 60 miles.
  
  "The Great Ocean Road is a memorial to soldiers who died in World War I, and was built over a 15 year period by ex-servicemen of that time. Today it is a well-maintained sealed road winding for 300km (186 miles) around this dramatic section of coastline and it passes through the small, picturesque seaside towns of Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay and Port Fairy." Globetrotter

• Melborne: I'm from Chicago, and I know what it's like to live in a great "Second City". Let's see some cricket.
  
  "Melbourne comes across as solid, sedate, leafy, and intellectual — a city of great cultural diversity." Duckworth