bikes shoorams

Before I get to today, a little update from last night...I met my neighbor, Dave, when I commented on his nice tent (it was also an MSR like mine, different model though). Dave is from New Zealand, but currently living in Melbourne. He is doing a couple of weeks of car touring from Melbourne to Adelaide. He is also a cycle tourist, which meant we had lots to talk about. We ended up walking in to town for some pizza. It was a great way to spend the evening. This morning, I was fixing my breakfast while he was fixing his coffee. Before we parted, I took this photo. Nice guy. He later passed me on the road. I hit the road at an all-time earliest start of 7:30. My destination for the day was a rest stop called Tilley Swamp. Sounds lovely doesn’t it? According to WikiCamps, it was 82kms away (but...was that as the crow flies???). Because I suspected there would be no water, I wrote myself a note to get water in Kingston, the only town I would go through today. The weather, while chilly to s...

It rained off and on throughout the night, so I thought I would be prepared by putting my shoe covers on. It wasn’t actually raining, so I just made sure my raingear was on the top. The sun managed to come out, so I took the shoe covers off in the first little town I came to. I also took the opportunity to use the toilet. I thought the sign on the door was pretty funny. There was also this sign about the history of Rendelsham’s Chicory industry. Rendelsham was the only town I actually went through on my way to Robe. Besides these signs, there wasn’t much else to the town. Beachport was off the highway a bit, so I didn’t go into the town. I didn’t really need anything.  The route was not terribly interesting. I saw the odd dead kangaroo, so I spent much of the day looking for live kangaroos. I didn’t see any. I saw a sign for wombats. I kept an eye out for them too. I didn’t see any. The only live wildlife I saw was a fox. It was sunning itself on the side of the road. I thought it ...

Once again I said goodbye to Dorothy. Maybe we will cross paths again, but as Dorothy said, they will do in one day what takes me a week. Dorothy and I  Beverly (Dorothy’s sister), Dorothy and I Beverly’s daughter, Frances, was still asleep when I left. Bev and Dorothy will spend a week in Mt. Gambier with Frances, so who knows, maybe I will see them again??? Because I hadn’t planned to stay in Mt. Gambier, I didn’t have too far to go today. That was good because I wanted to stop at Tantanoola Cave, and...the wind was not the best. The cave was open, even though it is ANZAC Day (if you don’t know this Australian, and I imagine New Zealand holiday, you can Google it). Prior to getting to Tantanoola Cave, I rode by another cave called Fossil Cave. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye along the side of the road. It’s not a public cave per se. Only certified cave divers allowed. Entrance That blue is water.  There really are tons of caves in the area. Most all are limestone,...

I didn’t have far to go today to get to Mt. Gambier, but the weather was less than cooperative. As soon as I left Nelson, it started to rain. I thought I had heard thunder in the distance, but it was sunny, so I wasn’t sure (maybe it was the surf or something). It was thunder. As the storm passed over, there were cracks of thunder and lightning. As I’ve done in the past, I just kept chanting to myself, “Just don’t be the highest thing!” Ahead, I could see blue sky, but by the time I got to it, it was gone. At least it wasn’t raining anymore...for awhile. I crossed into South Australia. This is my 4th Australian State (Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia).  The rain began again about 10kms out of Mt. Gambier. However, by the time I rolled into town (on a nice bike path) it had stopped. I was following the directions to where I am staying tonight, when I went by a Subway. Even though it was early (SA is 1/2 hour earlier than Victoria), I decided to go ahead and check...

Today was a shorter day, but definitely more hills. In fact it was quite rolling the whole day. Nothing terrible though. This morning I woke to pea soup fog. I decided it would be a good idea to wear my rain jacket, as much to keep the moisture off me as to increase my visibility to drivers. I’m always greatful for the headlight and taillight on Tilmann. Portland is over there...someplace. Staying at Henty Bay was perfect as I only had to backtrack about 300 meters to get on the “Scenic Route” to Nelson. The road was C192 instead of the Princes Hwy. It turned out that the “Scenic Route” was not too scenic, unless your idea of scenery is log trucks. Yes, this was also the “Log Truck Route” (there was even a sign).  What timing, huh? I got one, and only one view of the ocean.  That’s it! At this viewpoint, I talked to a gentleman named Mark. He told me all the logs were going to Portland to be exported. Apparently, it is a bone of contention as the timber used to be milled here,...

Which is to say, there wasn’t much to look at today, but that was okay. Sometimes I just want to pedal. Today, I did that. It was my longest day at 97 kilometers. If I had gone all the way into Portland, it would have been about 103. It was pretty flat almost the entire day. I don’t think I used my easiest gear at all. Flat flat flat! Plus, the wind was either nonexistent, or somewhat behind me. It was quite overcast when I left Warrnambool, but the clouds eventually burned off, and it was blue sky and about 27 Celsius. I don’t know if you can tell, but these cockatoos have red on them—a different breed. As I was riding along the Princes Hwy (aka A1), nearing the town of Port Fairy, I saw a sign for a rail trail. It turns out the trail went all the way from Warrnambool to Port Fairy. Had I known, I would have definitely ridden it. As it was, I got to ride about the last kilometer into Port Fairy.  In Port Fairy, I found a bakery to stop and have a snack. As I was eating, I saw Jen ...

Today was my last day on the Great Ocean Road. There was still a lot to see. First I want to back up a bit to last night. The caravan park ended up being pretty full by the evening. I went to bed later than usual. I was asleep when the sounds of people laughing started invading my dreams. The noise ended up waking me up. I don’t know who it was, but it seemed like a large group of people walking back and forth laughing and talking really loudly. I looked at my clock and saw it was 1:45. Sheesh! Finally, Jen’s husband next door to my site yelled for them to “Shut up or there’ll be trouble!” The group kept talking, but moved on. Then, a short bit later they were back being almost as loud as before. Someone else yelled for them to go to bed. Well, by then I was pretty fully awake. I decided since it would be awhile before I would go back to sleep, and I hadn’t been able to upload my posts (too many people using the WiFi), I would go ahead and try again. The WiFi works so much better in th...

This morning as I left Bimbi, I was hoping to see a koala again, but alas, no. I was also hoping to get going through the construction before the workers got there, but alas, also no. In fact, there was a section of new muddy gravel that was so soft, I had to walk. At least the flatters were great about waiting for me before letting other cars through. Back out on the Great Ocean Road, I had some great downhill, then a flat section, then the beginning of the rest of my morning climbing. Just after the first small bit was Castle Cove Lookout.  Getting tired of these Coast photos yet? Looking back at the nice flat valley...goodbye flat *sigh*. I climbed almost continually until the town of Lavers Hill. I was very glad to get to the top. There was a cafe where I decided I’d take a break and eat some lunch. They had bird feeders. Now I know the difference between the Crimson Rosella and the King Parrot. People have been steering me wrong. What I was previously told was the King Parrot ...