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!