IT'S ALL OVER NOW, BABY BLUE ...

Yep. We're done. And to salute, here's a fine Russell Morris rendition of that classic Dylan tune It's All Over Now Baby Blue.

Yesterday after we rode from Wye River to Rye I was just too bagged to do a blog post, so today's post covers two rides. It does feel kind of weird to suddenly stop any long journey so I'm sure I won't do justice to the end of this one, but here's how things panned out ...

Wye River to Rye

With another long day ahead including a ferry ride, Collis thought it would be good if we could be gone from camp by 7:30. It was a very cool start which was great because it meant that the skies were clear and the chance of any rain was negligible. We were so confident of staying dry that even Di set off without her rain jacket!

Neil, Di and I rolled out at 7:31, followed - according to Collis - almost immediately by Jim, Jen and Jacquei. The first milestone to tick off was Cumberland River, ten kilometres out of Wye River. It was the stopping place for the previous day's ride back in 2013, but the three of us were very pleased that Collis hadn't opted for it this time around. For one thing, it was that extra 10 kilometres further on top of an already quite big day - but also because it was deep in shade and absolutely freezing as we passed by. Just after we rode through the cold of the Cumberland River mouth and re-emerged in the sunshine, Di persuaded me to stop and record the scene looking back. You can see the road we've been riding along ...

The terrain for the section along the coast was very rolling as we climbed regularly over numerous headlands and descended the other sides of them. Cyclists started to appear intermittently from the other direction quite soon after we set out, and it was great to see like-minded people enjoying the early morning on the road.

Approaching Fairhaven, an amazing house came into view with the lighthouse silhouetted behind and I had to stop for a photo ...

Nearing Fairhaven

After descending this slope we were in Eastern View we paused to take a photo of the The Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch ...

Great Ocean Road Memorial

 Constructed by workmen and returned soldiers, The Great Ocean Road was constructed in the 1920's as a memorial to comrades lost in World War I. What a legacy!

Just going back for a moment to our departure from Wye River: when we arrived this lovely Grey Shrike-thrush appeared and was all over our gear, poking about and generally having a sticky beak ...

You nosy thing!

The photo doesn't do it justice, but it was a lovely little thing and reappeared the next morning with the same level of inquisitiveness.

Collis had suggested that we find somewhere to stop in Anglesea for morning tea, which we did. There was quite a climb out of that little holiday place, which is effectively the end of the Great Ocean Road. Once I got to the top of the initial section I paused to record Neil and Di coming up behind ...

The hill actually continued on for quite a way after this, but at a more gradual slope and then there was some nice riding on an elevated section of road through bush before the descent into Torquay. Collis had given us very clear directions for where we would find him waiting there. We got some more food into us before setting out again for Queenscliff, where we would catch the ferry across the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. 

The main reason for our early start on this beautiful, penultimate day of our journey was to try and catch the 1:00 p.m. ferry. Had we enjoyed a blistering tailwind that might have been a possibility. As it was, we had an light but steady headwind from the time we set out at Wye River, so there was no chance that we'd make that schedule. At lunch Collis reset the schedule, encouraging us to go for the 2:00 o'clock boat so off we went again into that headwind, which was gradually increasing the further along the coast we rode.

It was very pretty riding along the waterfront of Torquay, but I was a bit befuddled when Di wanted to stop again almost immediately. Of course I didn't realise it was a nature call that pulled her up, and was pleased when she re-emerged so we could regain our momentum ...

Are you ready now?!?

We went quite hard to try to comply with Collis's aspirations for the two o'clock ferry, but still had time to enjoy the last section from Barwon Heads to the ferry which took us alongside the water and through farmland and quiet small town streets and looked like this ...

Barwon Heads to Queenscliff

For those of you who don't know, Barwon Heads is the home of the great Australian champion cyclist Cadel Evans, one of only a few to win both the Tour de France and the World Road Race Championship (2009) - and perhaps the only one to do it clean.

We arrived at the ferry terminal with ten minutes to spare at 1:50. In fact, the ferry didn't leave until 2:06 and if Jen, Jim and Jacquei had arrived by 2:05 we would have been allowed to board. Apparently the strengthening headwinds finally took their toll and they arrived in Queenscliff half an hour after Neil, Di and I did. This meant that the three of us were pretty keen to get a feed before getting on the ferry, and had some great fish and chips at the special Seniors Price of $10 - and they were really, really good! Once the others realised they weren't going to make the ferry they stopped in Queenscliff proper for a meat pie.

We did manage to get on the 3:00 ferry together and enjoyed the ride across the entrance to the bay.

Then it was back on the bikes for the last section for the day from Sorrento to Rye, mostly along the beachfront, ...

Sorrento to Rye

... which was a lovely way to finish.

Collis had managed to organise for us to stay at a house owned by some people his daughter knew, which was fantastic. No need to put up and pull down tents!

Rye to Mordialloc

Our last half day of riding was pretty uneventful, apart from me getting a puncture and slicing open my finger checking inside the tyre for the offending article ...

... which turned out to be quite a large shard of glass. To save time I tried to pull it out without taking the tyre off the rim but that didn't work so off the tyre came. Once I turned it inside out the glass came out fairly easily, the tyre went back on, a new tube installed and I inflated the tyre with one of Neil's gas cylinders. Hey presto! Back in action.

On we rode to the Mordialloc Bicycle Centre where Di and I left our bikes for packing. We got into Collis's truck and rode back to the Ivey family abode with him, leading the rest of the troupe in. Collis had arranged for a couple of riders who had been on numerous trips with him and Kathy to meet us in Frankston and show us the way for the last 15 or so kilometres, which was kind of nice.

Here's the general route we rode ...

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It felt quite strange leaving my trusty steed for boxing up. Before I did I checked the final total for the number of kilometres since leaving Perth. In the end it was well short of the 5000 kilometres I thought I might ride if I did a few side excursions along the way. However, it is still a lot further than what I had ever ridden over a 52 day period - including rest days - before.

While it would have been nice to have more riders along on the journey to share the experience with, things went quite well in the end. Jen and Neil, the  two riders who joined us at Gawler, proved to be great companions. Jen had been on one of Collis and Kathy's rides before along with Jim and Jacquei and settled into riding with them. On our rest days she was pretty self-sufficient, taking herself off for walks to explore the particular environment we found ourselves in. I had hoped to get a photo from the back of Jim and Jen to illustrate the difference in their physiques as they were two such contrasting figures: Jim big and muscular and Jen diminutive and slender.

Neil ended up riding with Dianne and me after the first couple of days and we were most impressed with the way he coped with the demands of the trip especially - coming from Cairns - the weather, but also longer distances than he'd ridden for quite a while. He also was riding a relatively new bike that hadn't been very well set up for him. Once he changed a few things he hit his stride and was going like a train. The three of us had some great times together on and off the bike and Dianne and I look forward to catching up with Neil again before too long.

By the time we arrived at their place in Mentone, Kathy had assembled her and Collis's three children and two grandchildren to welcome him home after his six months away travelling around the country. She had also put together a terrific feed to celebrate the end of this, the longest single stage that they have ever run. Eventually Di and I said our goodbyes to the rest of the crew and headed off to our hotel - thanks for the lift, Collis! 

And that's about it for now. Feeling euphoric but also somewhat discombobulated, as you can probably  imagine if you've ever done a long journey like this yourself. Once we're back home and I have a bit of time to reflect I will probably do one last post to sum up the entire journey. In the meantime, thanks to Di for coming with me on this great adventure. It's been quite a ride!

Final Total Kilometres Ridden = 4722