45km, 15-33deg, forecast - cloudy with a chance of an afternoon thunderstorm with damaging hail - actual weather, fine and sunny. Yep, weather forecasters, they're the same world over. Although we would have liked to get away early to beat the predicted afternoon storm, due to it being a Sat, brekkie wasn't available till 8am. So it was a 9am start for the ride. Just when we were getting ready to leave we ended up with 2 punctures, Mick and Gunther. All fixed in no time at all and we were soon on our way. Following the Main River today would have resulted in a 100+km ride, so we headed inland after a few ks. While it was a much shorter ride it certainly wasn't easier as the alt route was quite hilly. However the lovely scenery of forests, crops, downhills and villages more than compensated for the uphills. One monster downhill completed a great day. We ended up back on the Main River. Despite the hills we were at the Novotel by 1:30pm. Two rooms were not ready so four of us sat around till 2:30ish. There are two festivals on in town currently, Wine and African. However after experiencing the noise, crowded and uncomfortable conditions of the Wine Festival we decided to retreat back to a cafe/restaurant that we'd seen earlier. It was completely empty but what a great choice as the food, (schnitzel, chips & salad) was perfect when in recovery mode from a hills ride. The beer/wine/apple cider were all good too. A slow wander home with full bellies topped off a great day.