Woke up early and I made breakfast – extending my cooking skills from cereal to fried eggs on toast. Slight scary moment where the eggs didn’t all cook evenly but flipped them over to double fry them. Phew! Crisis averted!! Got dressed for a walk, put Chilli dog in the back of the car and drove 20km to the town of Dookie. During the car journey, we had to keep the car windows open as Chilli kept letting fluffy off the chain (an Aussie way of saying she was farting – lots!!!). Parked the car at the start of the 9.4km circular trail, a very picturesque trail that starts at the base of Mt. Saddleback and crosses some of the Goulburn Valley’s most fertile farm land. 
The trail follows the old railway line to Katamatite which was constructed by the Yarrawonga Shire in 1890 and taken over by the Victorian Railways in 1892. The railway was closed in 1986 and the rails removed shortly after. The branch line from Shepparton to Dookie is still used by grain trains. 
Local residents formed the Friends of Dookie Rail Trail group to encourage the City of Greater Shepparton to take out a lease on this section of the rail corridor and the rail trail was completed in early 2010. The trail was relatively flat as we were surrounded by scenic views of rolling hills, olive and orange groves, vineyards, cropping lands and the most beautiful church ever. 
The trail was deserted and had a severe lack of bins as we had to carry a very smelly dog poo for over 7Km until we could throw it away!! 
Stopped off in the local pub for a glass of wine at the end of the walk, as passerby’s made comments about the size of Chilli – she is quite literally a cross between a dog and a Shetland pony!! As it started getting colder, we finished up, jumped back in the car and headed home for dinner with more wine. A hilarious Skype with Jayne, Clare and Martin back in the UK had all five of us in stitches as Chilli dog was passed out on the carpet next to us. She looked so peaceful that I had to have some cuddle time!! 16 days to go.
Sunday 19th June 2016
Trans Travels 