Monday 31 August 2015

IT'S A FINE LINE ...

Those of you who have read the previous post, perhaps (but not necessarily) are Australian and of a certain age might know the song I'm alluding to and will probably have twigged to the theme of this post. (For those of you who haven't twigged may have heard of Divinyls and Chrissy Amphlett; if not check this out.

While today's ride didn't involve school uniforms, fishnet stockings (although, now that I come to think of it, the waitress at Lavers Hill was wearing them!) or neon tubes and there was no physical abuse as far as I'm aware, we did tread a fine line between pleasure and pain, for perhaps the most rewarding day of our marathon from Perth.

Scenic Wonders

Neil, Di and I set off just three minutes before Collis's designated departure time of 7:30; presumably Jim, Jen and Jacquei made the cut off as they were all ready to go when we left. A nice warm up of about eight kilometres through coastal heath brought us back to the sea and our first scenic stop: the Loch Ard Gorge ...






Next up, only another four kilometres down the road is a must see in the form of the Twelve Apostles. We spent quite a lot of time there and between the three of us, made many photos  and videos. It was hard to work out what to include. Although my cheap little camera doesn't do that great of  a job with video it seemed the grandeur of the place demanded a bit of the old moving picture, so  here is what I got ...


Here are a couple of photos - also looking south - towards the bulk of the remaining features as the light changed with the sun waxing and waning ...





... and another looking north ...


The next 18 kilometres were through lovely rolling terrain along the coast, where we were entertained with many small groups of Crimson Rosellas swooping beside and across the road in front of us.  It was then into forest for a few kilometres before a quick descent to Gellibrand Lower and then we started our climb up Lavers Hill. The three of us were pretty chuffed to get up this, the biggest hill of the day in reasonable condition and in reasonable conditions. Although it was only eight degrees at the top of the hill, it wasn't windy and there was no rain. My feet were cold by the time I got to the top but I'm certainly not complaining: better that than soaking wet and cold! 

Collis had arranged for us to meet him at one of the great cafés in the township of Lavers Hill, which is about 50 kilometres from Port Campbell.  We had quite a long break and were spoiled again by Collis buying us morning tea, and were also treated to a wonderful display of more Crimson Parrots, along with King Parrots - first for us - and a bunch of other birds before setting off again on the fantastic descent out of the township. 

I got a photo of a couple of a couple of birds feeding on the ground ...



... and a whole bunch roosting in a tree ...



The descent from Lavers Hill was fantastic, with lots of swooping bends. I went ahead and found myself at a high saddle where I decided to stop and wait for Di and Neil ...


It looked like we had a gradual climb ahead of us, but that was incredibly deceptive. Pretty much as soon as we entered the trees you can see ahead we turned the corner and climbed steadily at 8 - 9 percent for longer than we would have liked after a quick descent in such cool conditions. Nonetheless, before long I arrived at a bit of a levelling off and waited for Di and then Neil ...


The road again pointed upwards and we continued at our own pace. After eventually topping out at about 350 metres above sea level we rolled along the undulating top towards the turnoff to Cape Otway and its historic and very important lighthouse, before plunging down towards the popular tourist destination of Apollo Bay, at just under 100 kilometres from where we started the day. Again, we were very pleased to have another break before tackling the last section of our day's ride.

Our route up to this point had been varied, challenging and rewarding. The last section would prove to be the icing on the cake. We had 28 kilometres to go, and it was along a road hugging the ocean the whole way. The three of us set off together but soon each settled into their own pace. Di stopped to shoot this short video ...



... while I took this one from the saddle ...



Neil also paused at least once to drink in the views. The three of us were all pretty tired but very happy to arrive in Wye River and went straight to a great little café for a hot chocolate and piece of Orange Semolina Cake to start getting some glycogen back into our muscles. Jim, Jen and Jacquei all arrived in good shape as we were putting up our tents. All of us were delighted with the day, and the four of us who have ridden all the way from Perth think today's ride was one of the picks of the journey. Di actually said that the last section was the most enjoyable 28 kilometres she's even done after having already ridden 100 for the day. The two of us think that today was perhaps the most rewarding of the trip, what with the scenery, the climbing, the birds and the swooping descents. We came close to crossing the line between pleasure and pain but managed to stay on the side of pleasure right to the finish. Let's hope neither of us get cramp during the night!

Here's a graphic showing today's ride. It's a bit inaccurate: we actually climbed 1850 metres and, with all our sightseeing detours, covered about 128 kilometres ...


And now it's to bed. I'll just have enough time to get my eight hours of kip before it's time to get up and do it all again tomorrow. We are closing in on our target: only two more days of riding and it'll all be over; tomorrow we cross the mouth of Port Phillip Bay before heading into Melbourne the following day.

Distance covered is now 4544 kilometres!

Sunday 30 August 2015

All Pleasure No Pain On The Great Ocean Road

Port Fairy to Port Campbell

Today was one of those days that you wish wouldn't end. Gorgeous cycling terrain with some great scenery and a few other interesting things to capture our attention along the way. Here's how it unfolded, although not entirely in order.

I'm jumping ahead to our arrival in Warrnambool - which is just about 28 kilometres from our starting point this morning - because of its iconic status in Australia cycling history. The Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic is second only to the famous Liège-Bastogne-Liège Classic as the world's oldest one day bike race, and - until the route changed - was the world's longest one-day race at 266 kilometres. 

With Kathy back in Melbourne, Collis was shouting us all morning tea at McCafé. I'd had a pretty filling breakfast so I just had a coffee. Collis had picked this spot because it is directly across from the monument to that great bike race and took us across for a photo before we continued on our way ...

Neil, Di, Doug, Jim, Jacquei and Jen
I really appreciated this touch as I love all that cycling history stuff. Actually, it's a completely different dimension, but I thought I might just pop in this photo I took of another great cycling monument, the Fausto Coppi memorial on top of the Passo Pordoi in the Dolomites ...

Hail Fausto, Hail!

Dianne and I were hiking in the Dolomites back in 2010 and I was delighted to discover this memorial. There were scads of cyclists around the place and, although we were having a great time ourselves, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of envy for all these people who'd ridden their bikes up the 30 or so bends to get to the top of the pass. I'm still hoping that I'll be able to do that myself someday.  

Anyway, I digress. It's time to go back to the start of the day. I think I mentioned in the most recent post the accommodation Neil had selected happened, by pure coincidence, to be just around the corner from the YHA where Di and I were staying. We arranged to set off together and ride via what looked like being a pleasant alternative start. Instead of heading straight out onto the Princes Highway we went this way ...

Cycling behind the sand dunes

... which provided us with six or seven kilometres of quiet riding past a lagoon, a golf course and a tiny, grass airstrip. A blissful start, which set the tone for the day.

Just as we were approaching the junction with the highway I saw Jim, Jen and Jacquei going by. It wasn't long before we joined them and played tag-team through to Warrnambool. 

After morning tea and that great photo opportunity we split into two groups when Jacquei missed a light. Jim and Jen waited for her and, despite Neil, Di and I cruising along slowly in anticipation that they'd soon rejoin us, we didn't see them again until lunch. 

Being Sunday morning, there was a relatively quiet stretch of 12 kilometres along the highway before we exited onto the Great Ocean Road ...

Turn here for the Great Ocean Road

... where the blissful riding recommenced. By this time I'd got Cat Stevens' Wild World into my head, which was kind of sweet. I've no idea how it got there, but it must have been some subliminal association or other - perhaps the mellow riding conditions?

It was shortly after getting off the highway that we passed the interesting sight of a whole slew of foxes hanging from a farmer's fence ...



It might seem a bit gross or sadistic for me to include this video, but I'll explain. Foxes were introduced to Australia back in colonial times for landed gentry to hunt. Of course, this stupid, selfish action has led to the utter decimation of ground-nesting birds and small marsupials. They also cost farmers by taking baby lambs and pretty much anything that they can get their teeth into, so one can understand farmers trying to get rid of them. Foxes are smart, and I reckon they'd probably steer clear of this paddock. Apparently, Jim did a count when he came past later and he reckons there were 54 carcasses strung up.

A little further on again, we stopped for a nature call, and were entertained by a bunch of corellas carrying on in the trees above us.  I tried to  video them but only got a short clip of a couple before they flew off ...



Very soon we were rejoined the sea at the scenic Bay of Islands. Although not enjoying clear blue skies, we were very lucky with the conditions given the time of year. Here's a look at what we got to see ...



It was a great spot for Collis to have picked for lunch. The three "J's" arrived just as we were finishing our lunch and on we rode to Peterborough, just a few kilometres along the road. I paused to take this photo of a few fishermen taking advantage of the favourable conditions ...

Fishermen at Peterborough

This section of road had many obligatory stops. The next was the Bay of Martyrs ...



... and then it was on to the Grotto ...

Shaping a Grotto

I took this panorama from the top of the descent into The Grotto ...

The Grotto from on high

... and this one from down almost at sea level ...

The Grotto close up and personal

... neither of which does justice to the ambience of the place.

The last significant stop that we made was at The Arch, where I put together this panorama ...

The Arch

By this time we weren't far from Port Campbell, our destination for the day. A fun bit of gentle rollercoaster riding brought us into the town. Although on paper the journey should have come out at 93 kilometres, a bit of touring around Port Fairy and in and out of our sightseeing detours along the way brought us up to just over 100 kilometres for the day. Here's what the route looks like on Google Maps ...

Port Fairy to Port Campbell

There had been a short, sharp shower overnight, leaving lots of puddles in the streets of Port Fairy and the road was a bit wet in places as far as Warrnambool. Overall though conditions were great: less headwind than we'd been expecting and only a very brief passing shower. Yes, as you can tell from the photo of us in Warrnambool, it was cool but we were very comfortable cruising along gently in our warm clothes. I was chuffed to see that the work I'd done yesterday cleaning up the bikes and, in particular our drive trains wasn't undone by a dirty day. This is what my drive train looked like after our 100 kilometres of riding ...

Happiness is a clean, crisply shifting drivetrain!
We've got what looks like another special day of cycling ahead tomorrow, but you'll have to wait another 24 hours to read about it.

Distance covered since leaving Perth: 4414 kilometres

Friday 28 August 2015

The Last Leg Begins ...

Day One on the Great Ocean Road

Portland to Port Fairy

We must have done something right. The forecast for today was 8 - 12 degrees, with a clearing shower early. Luckily the shower was very early, coming through overnight. And we awoke to a minimum of only 10 degrees, so not as cool as forecast.

Here's Di on the way out of town down by the waterfront in Portland ...

Ready to roll!
Isn't she looking good after all these kilometres on the bike!

While we were down that way I stopped to take a photo of the port itself, with a couple of ships waiting to take on cargo from the huge pile of wood chips sitting on the wharf ...

Portland port area
The first ten or so kilometres of the ride were just wonderful. We were on a quiet road that followed the shore before joining the main highway. Once on the highway things got busier but at least there was a very good shoulder to ride on whenever a large truck approached, which was much less frequently than the previous two days.

All in all, it was a pretty uneventful day. Di and I set off about five minutes after the others and were just catching up to them when we noticed Jacquei passing Neil. In doing so she missed the turnoff to the main highway. Neil, Jim and Jen followed her and so did we, but I soon realised we'd gone the wrong way and alerted the others as best I could. Dianne and I turned around but we weren't sure whether the others were going to follow us or Jacquei, so followed the sign pointing toward Warrnambool and confirmed with a lady walking her dog that this was the most direct route to the highway and on to Port Fairy. 

As we were looking back, it appeared the others had continued ahead in the direction they were going so we sped up a bit thinking we would have to catch them again: perhaps Jacquei had found another exit on to the highway? We continued at pace for about 5 kilometres and then decided that we would have caught the others if they'd continued in the direction they were going, so slowed down again. 

There were a couple of interesting things along the road. The first was a collection of what must have been many hundreds - if not thousands - of pairs of shoes string up and on a fence alongside the road. I tried to shoot a video but it was useless. The second mildly interesting thing we passed was an old sandstone house with some early farm machinery parked alongside, counterpointed by turbines to the north. I took this photo, where if you look closely you can just see a turbine at the extreme left edge of the photo ...

The old ... and the new

We went at a steady pace through to  morning tea at the rest area at the Codrington wind farm entrance. There's this quirky bird(?) sculpture at the entrance ...

Watch the birdy

... and good views of the wind turbines ...


Codrington wind farm
Neil arrived a few minutes after we did, and then Jacquei. It turns out that they did follow our example and double back to the missed turn-off. Jim and Jen arrived a few minutes later so we did manage to have a little bit of time together.  I was a bit disappointed the way the morning had turned out because with the easy terrain - initially along a quiet road - it had seemed like a good opportunity for the six of us to ride together. 

We had a relaxed spell and then Neil, Di and I set off for the remaining 30 kilometres into Port Fairy. We had a very enjoyable ride together and were delighted to get all the way from Portland to Port Fairy without being rained on. With our last rest day here in Port Fairy Neil had opted to book into a hotel and Di and I had reserved a double room in the YHA. Here's my bike parked against the fence of the hostel ...

Arrival

It turns out that our accommodations are less than 200 metres apart. Collis dropped our bags off for us and we settled in. Well, Di and I did but Neil's room wasn't ready for him. He came over to the hostel and then we wandered into town and had a great lunch courtesy of The Farmer's Wife

Here's a graphic of our journey today ...

Portland to Port Fairy
We have just now walked back from the caravan park where the others are settled. Collis laid on a barbecue, with contributions from Jen (potatoes and nibbles) Jacquei (coleslaw) and a Greek salad prepared by Di. It was a convivial meal and now I am ready for bed, where Di has already taken herself. After our rest day we have three interesting days ahead before the last easy day into Melbourne. It seems incredible that we are more than 90 percent of the way through our journey and that it will come to an end five days from now.


Distance covered to date: 4314 kilometres

Thursday 27 August 2015

Yep! We're Still Here ...

A Transitional Stage: Nelson to Portland

While we were wandering around Portland this afternoon we stopped in at a coffee shop and Di spotted a photo over my shoulder that she said could easily have been me when I was a lad. Although she didn't know me when I was this sort of age, she thought that it pretty much encapsulates my personality, and I'd have to say I'm pretty happy she thinks that. Here's the photo: what do you think?

Doesn't this encapsulate why we all started riding bikes?
Heck, while I'm digressing, I might as well sidle away a little further. This photo makes me think of a wonderful song that I hope will always reflect my approach to life. It's something that I came across completely by accident one day ... maybe while driving in the car ... maybe while listening to the radio while poking around in the garden. Don't remember. But every once in a while the tune comes back into my consciousness, like today. You might know it; you might not. But if you ride a bike you probably lean towards this approach to life yourself at least some of the time. Do yourself a favour: turn your speakers up loud and listen to this. If you didn't quite catch all the lyrics you can see them here.

After the previous post you might have thought you'd heard the last of me. No such luck! Yep. We're still here. Yesterday's ride was so bad Di said partway through that there was no way she was going to ride 70 kilometres today on that bl&#dy road! Nonetheless, after we'd had a relaxing afternoon poking around the waterfront and then having dinner at the Nelson pub she felt rehabilitated enough this morning to get back on the bike. And the day was much better than we thought it was going to be despite what the lass behind the counter at the kiosk in Nelson and several other locals had to say. The road turned out to be significantly better than the locals they said it would be, and there were fewer trucks on the road. The day still had its setbacks though ...

Footloose but not fancy free ...

We were pedalling along quite nicely up until about the 10 kilometre mark until we stopped so that I could turn on my tail light. Our departure at about 7:30 was in clear conditions so I hadn't thought to put it on, especially as we (Di, Neil and I) were all wearing our neon yellow rain jackets. It was cool with high humidity and we imagined that we wouldn't be riding very quickly because we expected the road surface - and especially the shoulder - to be fairly ordinary. And it was, initially. The shoulder especially was either pretty broken up or non-existant. Luckily though, unlike yesterday there were very few trucks on the road.

Dianne and I had caught up to Neil a bit beforehand as he left a few minutes before us. As I said, I pulled over to turn on my tail light. Di stopped and unclipped to wait and so did Neil. We started up again, but I hadn't heard Di - who was at the back - call out that she hadn't been able to clip into one of her pedals. A bit further down the road I wondered why Di was lagging, so got off the bike to wait. Neil went on after graciously asking if I minded if he tootled on ahead. She'd been off the bike a couple of times to try to clean out her cleat, thinking that she might have got a pebble stuck but had no luck getting things to work. (We both ride with Speedplay, which need a bit more looking after than SPD style pedals.)

Once she arrived, I got her to take her shoe off so I could have a proper look. The cleat was very worn and I thought that maybe that's why it wouldn't engage. In any case, it just wouldn't! There was nothing for it but to get back on and ride as best she could until the morning tea stop. Collis and Kathy went past, with Collis stopping up the road a bit after I told him that Di couldn't clip in one pedal. I thought I'd try a bit of chain oil on the cleat to see if that would help. Nope. No good. 

On we went to morning tea, contemplating options. Collis has his bike on top of Kathy's car with SPD pedals, and I thought Di might be able to use his pedals if he had a pair of shoes we could take the cleats off. It turned out he didn't and Di thought she'd rather continue with one pedal engaged rather than riding in her flat shoes on flat pedals, both disengaged. 

By this time the quality of the shoulder had improved significantly and, when large trucks did approach, we were able to ride beside the road with confidence that we weren't going to end up ass over tea-kettle. Di started get the hang of keeping her unclippable cleat engaged with the pedal - as long as she:
  • didn't try to pedal too quickly
  • didn't stand up
  • didn't encounter a really rough surface unexpectedly 
Into Portland we rode and followed the signs straight to the information centre to find out if there was a bike shop in Portland. It turned out there is a bike shop, and the lass running the place was very helpful. I asked what I was sure would be a silly question: did they sell Speedplay pedals or parts for them? (Funnily enough, they had had a display cabinet of Speedplay pedals and cleats but recently sent the stuff back because there just wasn't a market for such a niche product in Portland.) So, I made the snap decision to buy a pair of cheap Shimano pedals to get Di through the last five days of this epic ride. There was no way that such a minor problem was going to stop us from finishing this journey together, and we've got some big hills to cross when we ride from Port Campbell to Kennett River via the Otway Ranges. Being able to stand up and pedal - hard - will be a necessity at that point of our ride.

The cleats and screws were so worn that neither the bike shop mechanic or I could get them to unscrew. She tried tackling them with a hacksaw, then handed over to me. I managed to cut through the screws, allowing the cleat to be removed. It turns out that the spring for the cleat had broken and that was why the pedal wouldn't engage. (Before we'd left home I'd suggested that I order a new set of cleats for Di's shoes but she said, "No, they're working fine. Why much around with them?" Now she knows.

Now we don't have matching pedals ...

My Speedplays and Di's SPD's
... until we get home and the replacement cleats I ordered this afternoon can be installed.

Today's ride ...

Nelson to Portland


... was actually quite good and would have been brilliant if Di had been able to pedal properly and there were no big trucks. The terrain was quite rolling and made for fun riding. As usual Google Maps is quite accurate with distance but quite inaccurate with altitude: we actually climbed about 580 metres today, or more than twice what you see on the graphic.

Our campsite here at the Portland caravan park is quite nice ...

Portland Caravan Park
Right now Di is just finishing off a stir fry here in the camp kitchen. Neil is joining us for a meal; the others have gone to the pub. Time to eat!

PS: Distance covered to date is up to 4238 kilometres ...

Wednesday 26 August 2015

Mount Gambier to Nelson on the Highway to Hell

What looked on paper like being a really nice ride turned out to be pretty ordinary. We only had 40 kilometres to ride. Collis had never been to Nelson before and thought, in keeping with the coastal theme of our trip, this seemed to be a good way to go. It would get us off the busy Princes Highway between Mount Gambier and Portland and bring us near the coast where the Glenelg River empties into a large bay at Nelson, which is a sleepy little settlement with a pub  but no supermarket.

We had a leisurely start to the day. Neil had breakfast in camp and then set off towards Nelson with some geocaching in mind. Jim, Jacquei and Jen set off into town before Di and I, looking for somewhere to have breakfast. Di and I were happy to go back to where we'd had afternoon tea and dinner yesterday. Now here's a photo for the grandchildren: Di waiting for her "Borlotti Beans on Toast" to arrive ...

Nana waits for Breakfast

Our intention afterwards was to go look at some sinkhole which is a major tourist attraction. After Di complained about me finding a short hill of 14% to ride up we made a half-hearted attempt to find it and then just decided just to  head out of town.

Initially things seemed quite good on the Highway to Hell. There was some nice rural scenery to look at ...


Canola field near Mount Gambier



... but we soon realised that this was no quiet country road; instead we found ourselves on a very busy truck route, with many log trucks in particular.

Di had been very keen for me to take lots of photos and that had been my intention, but there wasn't a lot to look at and the number of trucks rushing close by was downright scary. Really, the narrowness of the road and lack of a paved shoulder once one leaves the area near Mount Gambier makes it unsuitable for cycling with such heavy truck traffic roaring by in both directions. Before things got really fraught, Di got me to go across the road so she could take my picture in front of Australia's national floral emblem ...

No Blood On The Wattle this time ...


We soon found ourselves regularly diving for cover when we heard anything big coming from behind. Regularly we'd also get a pretty clear visual signal from the other direction that it was a good idea to get off the pavement when oncoming trucks took themselves partway off the road to make more room for trucks coming up behind us. It became a regular strategy to get onto the shoulder whenever we found ourselves riding up a rise to maximise our chances of staying alive. In fact, for much of the second half of the ride we probably spent at least as much time off the pavement as on it. The unpaved shoulder has been worn smooth to a degree by trucks getting on to it so regularly.

We saw lots of dead and badly mutilated kangaroo - too gross to take any photographs. When we passed one caved in carcass Di said that if that were her, at least someone would pick her up off the side of the road. We also passed a beautiful parrot which, much like the raven we passed on the way to Laura, this bird was not badly mangled and looked like it must have been dealt a glancing but fatal blow ...

Musk Lorikeet
A bit further on I spotted a registration plate lying on the side of the road and wondered if it was all that was left after some poor guy was hit by a log truck ...

Is this your rego plate?
... or perhaps some subtle message from the skies about the nature of the trucks - and their drivers - flashing past. Very few of the truckies seemed to have any regard for us, viewing us more as mere nuisances. Quite a few times we got a horn blast from some irritated driver as he was going past. Only once in the 37 or so kilometres between leaving the town boundaries of Mount Gawler and entering Nelson did we have a truck driver blow his horn to give warning when some distance behind.

Just a few kilometres before Nelson we crossed the border into Victoria ...

Western Australia, South Australia and now Victoria
... and just before arriving in Nelson itself one crosses the Glenelg River. It looks like people have build shacks on stilts as holiday homes ...

Glenelg River at Nelson
We are ensconced in a quiet caravan park about a kilometre out of town. The sun has been out most of the afternoon but is currently hiding behind a cloud. It hasn't rained all day and Aeolus has mercifully given us the afternoon off. There are a few gorgeous, inquisitive Red Wattle Birds fluttering about camp, staying mobile or, when still, keeping just far enough away for me to not get a good photo or video of them. But that's okay. Their presence is enough of a joy without having to capture their images.

At the moment things are nice and peaceful. Unfortunately our foray out on to the roads tomorrow will be pretty much like today's excursion - except 70 kilometres of mayhem rather than the 37 or so we had today. We wondered if heading out early might save us some strife but discovered that the trucks run 24/7: it's all about the need to feed the mill. According to the folk in the local information centre, the truck drivers are on a schedule of three runs per day and that's why they don't slow down. So, if you don't hear from me tomorrow or the next day, assume the worst. That's if for now.

Tuesday 25 August 2015

An Exercise in Survival: Robe to Mount Gambier

"Resting" in Robe

Apologies in advance: there are almost no photos in today's post. I decided before we set off from Robe that I wouldn't bother with the camera, and that if I saw a must-take photo I'd use either my phone or get Di to use her more upmarket model. Why? The conditions forecast for the day didn't suggest that we'd want to stop and record the scenery. We were looking at 130 kilometres or so into a headwind, with the possibility of a shower thrown in for good measure. More of that later.

Reflecting on yesterday's rest day, one would have to say it just wasn't. Restful, that is. The wind blew strongly from the southern quadrant all day, which - apart from being bloody cold! - was very draining. We thought it would be a good idea to have at least a walk to ease out the kinks in our legs after a gruelling journey the day before. It was a slow business tottering around the town, but worthwhile in the end. We felt much better for the stroll and more ready for today's ride.

After having cooked a meal in the open air kitchen at the caravan park the day we arrived and then breakfast yesterday and being bloody cold both times, we decided to have lunch and dinner in town. We had lunch after our stroll which occupied a good couple of hours. Robe has quite a lot of history about it and looking at the old telegraph station, customs house, jail and museum was worthwhile. Then back to the caravan park. I actually had a kip in the afternoon which is very unusual for me and illustrates just how tired I was.

The whole cycling crew was pretty keen on dinner at the Caledonian Hotel, and we were pleased with our choice. It was very good fare and we felt sufficiently restored to face the next morning and the windy prospect it promised.

Hitting the Road

Sock it to me, baby!
Rest assured. Di hasn't hit the road, so to speak. She's is just doing a wardrobe adjustment, which is her (frequent) wont. She was having issues with her feet, ankles, lower legs (you name it) feeling uncomfortable. She decided to take off her Sealskinz waterproof socks  (bought especially for the weather we'd expected but didn't get in the southwest of Western Australia) and put them on outside her tights because she thought the stirrups of her tights were pressing in on the socks and causing said discomfort. That solved we got back on the bikes and continued on our merry way.

Hold on though. It's worth going back to our departure from Robe for a moment. Collis had set the briefing for 7:00 a.m. to allow us to make full use of the day: all indications were that we would have gnarly conditions to deal with. Di and I determined that we'd get everything ready as quickly as possible so we could set off immediately the briefing was complete. Our reasoning was that if the wind wasn't too strong early it would be good to get away quickly and take advantage of whatever period of moderate conditions that presented itself. And, if the wind had already gotten up we would have more time to get the ride done, with a possible extended pause at Millicent if needs be. In fact, there was talk of cutting the day short and stopping for the night at Millicent if we all felt knocked about badly by the wind.

We had everything packed and a nutritious breakfast in our bellies by the time Collis got the briefing started. As usual, it was pretty straightforward and Di and I managed to get away by 7:05. We'd canvassed the idea of sharing the pacemaking with Jacquei, but she didn't want to do that. We also suggested to Neil that he might like to ride with us, but he thought he would struggle to keep up and begged off. Jacquei is a very strong rider and did decide belatedly to tow the others for quite some distance before heading off at her own pace.

As it turned out, the wind was in our faces right from the start today, and it was a cold wind. Here is a graphic from the Bureau of Meteorology showing the actual and apparent temperature, as well as wind direction, speed and gusts at Robe around the time we set off ...

Robe weather this morning
As you can see, it was pretty cool. (Just a reminder here for northern hemisphere readers: on the southern shores of Australia wind from the south blows straight up from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica!) Although not too strong at this point, the wind was pretty much straight into our faces. Only 130 kilometres to go. We decided there was no point in busting a gasket with such a long day ahead so we set off at a steady and somewhat restrained pace. We weren't slacking but Di made sure I didn't overdo it early.

Morning Tea and then on to Millicent

Collis and Kathy were waiting for us at the junction of the road to Beechport, one of the five "Southern Ports" on the Southern Ports Highway. Kathy had set out a great morning tea, befitting the struggle we had ahead. Di and I were both well rugged up and didn't contemplate for a moment taking off any clothing. Conditions hadn't improved much during our ride up to that point. The sun had been peeking in and out of the clouds for the two hours it took us to travel the 43 kilometres to our rendezvous. We had noticed the wind gradually building, but it wasn't too bad.  We made our stop very brief: although Collis and Kathy had circled the wagons in such a manner as to try to create a bit of shelter conditions just weren't conducive to a lengthy pause. Better to get back on the bike quickly than to allow the muscles to get cold.

Millicent is 80 kilometres from Robe, and was our designated lunch stop. Collis had said that if we wanted something hot we might like to stop in town, as he and Kathy would pull over a little further down the road. There was a good chance that they wouldn't arrive before us, so that seemed like a good idea and, even if they did, it would be more restful to be in out of the cold wind for a while.

We plugged away into the ever-increasing southerly, eventually arriving in Millicent. We were both pretty cold and Collis and Kathy hadn't passed by when we arrived in town so we did stop at a suitable-looking café. Hot pies (chicken and vegetable for me; steak and mushroom for Di) and an extra-hot coffee as well as a cake made for a good long break of 40 minutes. Fortified, we got back on the bikes and continued to the rest area by the information centre, where there are toilets nicely illustrated ...

No flies on me, mate!
... and the blade from a windmill has been placed to highlight the wind farm nearby ...

Windmill blade

By this time we'd been riding into consistently strong winds for quite some time, with the occasional gust unsettling us as well. Here's a graphic showing the actual and apparent temperature and winds at Coonawara, which is inland from Millicent ...

Late morning to midday near Millicent

As you can see, the apparent temperatures were hovering well below double figures and the winds were fairly formidable, especially with little respite from direction change or roadside shelter.

Jacquei arrived, followed almost immediately by Jim and Jen. Neil had dropped off the back and was plugging away. We wouldn't see him again until he arrived at the Blue Lake Caravan Park in Mount Gambier. A quick conference confirmed that all present thought we might as well press on to Mount Gambier. With the early start we felt that the final 50 kilometres of the journey were doable, if perhaps a bit tiring. The prospect of a nice short day tomorrow was incentive enough to make us feel positive about putting up with a bit of short-term pain.

On to Mount Gambier

The last two and a half hours - yep, that's how long it took to travel a mere 50 kilometres - are best forgotten. If the car drivers around Gawler a few days ago were the worst we'd encountered up to that point, the truck drivers between Millicent and Mount Gambier today were by far the worst we've encountered since leaving Perth. Yes, worse even than those between Albany and Esperance, and that's saying something. There was a constant stream of log trucks carrying radiata pine logs from nearby plantations to the Kimberly-Clark mill here in Mount Gambier. Some of these went by awfully close, with everyone apparently needing to travel at the speed limit all the time. The worst however was the long, wide, low loader that roared past while a large truck was coming from the other direction. We were both well buffeted and somewhat unnerved by that one. (It turns out that Jacquei clearly remembers the same vehicle behaving exactly the same way when it went past her.)

As Di and I were leaving the rest area in Millicent Jim had mentioned a great café in Mount Gambier. Collis and Kathy hadn't passed us by the time we arrived so we decided it would be better to be inside the café drinking coffee than hanging around a cold caravan park. Glad we did, here's the weather observations for Mount Gambier when we arrived at 2:20 this afternoon ...

Brass monkey weather!

After a half hour of hanging about we called Collis to check the lie of the land. He and Kathy had just checked into the caravan park, so up the hill we rode, helped unload the gear from the trailer, put the tent up and then stood under a long, hot shower. Bliss! 

Summing Up the Day

Here's a graphic showing today's ride ...

Robe to Mount Gambier
As you can see, there is a number of lakes and lagoons in the vicinity. On a warmer, stiller day the ride would probably have been a lot more enjoyable - apart from the last 50 kilometres which is on the Princes Highway: with the proliferation of trucks driven at breakneck speed it's hard to imagine that section ever being enjoyable except perhaps first thing on a Sunday morning.

Our average speed for the day was a mere 21.5 kilometres, making it arguably the hardest stage of the trip so far, as it is the slowest average speed we've recorded. There were only two or three brief respites from a pretty tough headwind that got stronger and gustier as the day went on. Up until the 110 kilometre mark our maximum speed was only 29 kilometres per hour. Di found a hill just before Mount Gambier that took that up to 39.99 kms/hr. We had climbed only 385 metres at that 110 km point, but the last 22 kilometres brought that up to 580 metres, so despite the slow average speed it was a pretty flat ride. However, we did achieve a significant milestone in the first hour of today's ride, going past the 4000 kilometre mark since leaving Perth on the 11th of July. To put the stage into some sort of perspective here's a wider view showing the route we've covered since leaving Perth and the distance still ahead to Melbourne where - fingers crossed - we should arrive a week from tomorrow ...

Perth to Mount Gambier; Melbourne awaits!


 Our next stage will be a very short 40 kilometre day, but will also be a significant milestone in that we will cross the border into Victoria. It will be interesting to see how much rubbish there is alongside the roads once we leave South Australia. I suspect it will increase markedly, as pretty much everywhere we've travelled in Australia there has been more rubbish alongside the road than in this fair state.

Finally, apologies that there aren't more photos from today's ride, but I'm sure you can all understand why that is! I'm off to bed now and look forward to a slow start tomorrow after a hot breakfast at Sorrento's Café - where the whole crew enjoyed a great dinner together this evening. With today behind us and three easier days ahead spirits are high. Good night!



Sunday 23 August 2015

IT'S BEEN A HARD DAY'S RIDE ...

... and if I weren't so whacked from wheeling into the wind all day and now imbibing a bit of Coopers to soothe my stressed thighs I might try to paraphrase that great Beatles tune. Not up to it at the moment though. Actually, it's good to be here in Robe and although the day was challenging it did have its good points.

The Foggy Dew

We set off this morning from Salt Creek quite early due to the forecast: a headwind increasing as the day progressed. The other part of the forecast that was a bit interesting was the "Fog clearing" bit. And it was foggy as we set off, with a temperature of only 5 degrees. Given the forecast and the 130 or so kilometres that we needed to cover, Collis had suggested we should all try to get away by 7:30.

Neil was first out of the blocks, getting on the road by 7:00 o'clock. Di and I were next to leave at 7:17. Jacquei actually left camp before us, and was riding around in circles out at the highway waiting for Jim and Jen, who were only a minute or two behind, so we were all well and truly out of camp by the time Collis wanted us on the road.

Conditions, although cool and foggy, were quite okay as the wind was merely a zephyr at this stage. It did take a while to warm up, but once we did we scooted along quite nicely. The fog didn't concern us for long at all and within about five kilometres we started to find our rhythm after what was a pretty slow start ...


The Sun Pays Us a Visit


We were delighted when the sun came out and we could stop for Di to take off her heavier rain jacket, which she'd worn primarily for the additional insulation it provided. She found that she had warmed up nicely and was glad to get it off before she got too sweaty . I shot another video just a little while afterwards when we were at about the 30 kilometre mark ...



Collis had set the 50 kilometre mark as our stop for morning tea and things went very well up until that point. The sun was still shining when we arrived. Collis and Kathy had just caught up to Neil, who had made great progress up to that point, especially as he's just flown down from Cairns and conditions here are a tad cooler - to put it mildly! He made a very brief stop as the wind was still light at that point. Just after Jacquei, Jim and Jen arrived I hurried Di back on to the road shortly afterwards for the same reason. Di and I both stripped off a bit of clothing as the sun's warming presence seemed to bear out the forecast of "mostly sunny". Sadly these conditions did not last and we weren't as warm as we'd anticipated. Another good reason to drive on without delay.


The Wind Arrives In Spades


After such good conditions for almost two hours - and the past two days - I guess we had dues to pay. Only a few kilometres out of morning tea, the wind suddenly picked up. The ride to the Caltex servo at Kingston for our lunch stop was only another 32 or 33 kilometres but was a lot harder work than the 51 kilometres to morning tea. We decided - well, I did really - that the best tactic here was head down and bum up - and James, don't spare the horses! We cranked it out, passing Neil a few kilometres down the road and arrived at Kinston just a little before Collis and Kathy pulled in. We were greeted by one of Australia's examples of an obsession with big things.

In Queensland there's the giant banana and the giant pineapple. In Victoria there's the giant koala. I'm pretty sure there are lots of other giant things strewn about the country. Here they've got the giant lobster ...

Giant lobster at Kingson


Meanwhile Jacquei was fighting off magpies. She kindly gave me access to this video -which you might want to watch straight from YouTube if you'd like to see a larger format - make sure you've got your speakers turned up for Jacquei's dubbed in  soundtrack ...






A Respite From the Wind



Neil arrived a little while after Collis and Kathy, then - having survived the magpies - Jacquei pulled in, followed by Jim and Jen.

Our main priority at lunch was to get something hot into us, as battling into the headwind meant that we were getting a blast straight off the Southern Ocean and it was cold! We both had a coffee; Di also
had a potato pie and I had a fantastic lamb pie - both made nearby in Bordertown. (Neil liked the sound of the lamb pie, and so did Collis. They enjoyed theirs as much as I did mine) For a little energy boost Di and I both had a sweet treat. We seem to have no problems burning up the calories on days like this!

Back to the Fray


We took quite a long break for a change, partly because we felt we needed it and partly because Collis and Kathy wouldn't be leaving for some time. Once we did set off we thought that the wind might have abated a little, but it must just have been that we were a bit refreshed from the break because it wasn't long before we found ourselves in the same battle as before lunch. So, once again head down and bum up beating into a southerly buster. Here's a from the Bureau of Meteorology showing the conditions at the time as measured by the weather station nearby, with actual & apparent temperature highlighted along with wind direction, speed and gusts ...

So it's cool and windy. Just get on with it!

While I'm at it I might as well show you the direction we were travelling today ...

Salt Creek to Robe
On we drove into the wind. I started to get a little tired and called Di through a couple of times to give my legs a break - before they broke down! At least the sun was out adding it's cheer to the situation.

Collis had nominated 25 kilometres down the road as a spot to have a pause and refresh. Just before arriving we came through some beautiful vineyards - this area is known as the Limestone Coast - and is a popular destination for wine tourism - at other times of the year than right now! We stopped briefly to record the nicest spot on video ...


Just after this Collis came past, but Di and I thought we might as well push on as it was only another 19 kilometres to our destination for the day. The landscape became more rolling for a while, which broke the monotony of plugging away into the wind on flat ground. But soon it levelled out again and I found myself searching for some inspiration to keep the legs going around and I found it in, well ... what else but a song about the wind.

Chilling in Robe



Eventually of course we did arrive. Collis and Kathy pulled in shortly afterwards.  Jacquei, who seems to most enjoy riding at her own pace, then arrived and the three of us helped unload the trailer before Collis and Kathy repaired to a cabin - no doubt in search of relief from the cold. Once Di and I got the tent up my main priority was to soak in a hot shower. I am very grateful to Di for her keenness to get the laundry done which she undertook before getting to the showers herself. Neil arrived and after a bit of a sit down in a camp chair for a while rather than his bike seat put up his tent and got into the showers. Gentleman Jim towed Jen into camp shortly afterwards and we were all united once again.

Di and I have since had a wander into town with Neil, a refreshing drink, did the shopping and had a great feed of curry cooked up by Di. Although it's only 8:45 I think everyone else is off in bed. It's Sunday - the best night for the best television in Australia ( the ABC of course!) and there's a TV here in the camp kitchen. But maybe this open-air kitchen doesn't provide the best conditions for TV viewing in the winter, with the apparent temperature currently at 5 degrees Centigrade.

We are very pleased tomorrow is a rest day. I'm off to bed shortly myself. But you know, Di and I have been musing about what it's going to feel being home in under two weeks with this epic journey done and dusted. We are both wandering souls at heart, and have got increasingly addicted to long, self-propelled journeys since we've had more time on our hands. I guess we were both born under a wand'rin star ... and with that, good night!