The day out of Adelaide I cycled through the town of ‘Hahndorf’, an old German settlement founded in 1838.
Hahndorf is classified as Australia’s oldest surviving German settlement and each year thousands of people, young and old, enjoy its charm and the hospitality. Hahndorf is the jewel of the Adelaide Hills and one of South Australia’s most popular towns.
It was as being back to home. German and Bavarian flags, Hofbräu Bier, roads and buildings like in the old days at home. I stopped to take some photos for my German friends & for a special Bavarian friend with wife, who may now regret that they did not come to visit me on this tour, like they did in 2008, when they traveled to South Africa, to meet me in Cape Town. I went to Otto’s Bakery, to see if I could get a Brezel, but was immediately sure, it wasn’t a German baker at work anymore, when I saw the display of breads and cakes in the shop. However I got an ‘apple swirl’ (Apfelschnecke), which I saved for a later breakfast in the fields. The French seem to invade this territory, too. However in a friendly manner, how else could a Brasserie and the Hofbräuhaus go together?!
The first 20 km were quite nice to ride, although it contained most of todays elevation gains. It was again quite cold and since riding through pine tree forests it stayed cool for a while. However, the forest had a big benefit; it sheltered us from wind. This changed soon, when the ‘French TGV’ past us in high speed and stirred up the air. From that time on we cycled all day in wild turbulences. The ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign was permanently illuminated at my handlebar dashboard. I formed again a peloton together with Lydia. Shirley and Dan joined us for the last 40 km to lunch. Chelsea and Doug managed to find a nice, sunny and almost fully wind protected spot. Good to warm up a bit in the sun. The ride through the forest felt as if riding through a Canadian or Scandinavian forest, except there were no moos crossing the road. I started solo again after lunch as we were now officially riding along the Great Ocean Road, which started right after Portland. However not yet very spectacular or scenic, thus I rejoined Lydia for sharing to break the wind until the camp in Port Fairy, a nice little town with a special flair.
Hurrah! Another rest day! A well deserved, after a 670 km ride into the wind.
Another deviation from the direct route to camp led me to the ‘Granites’, the first real beach access to the Southern Ocean, just 20km north of Kingston S.E., 3 cycling days south of Adelaide. The endless beach is used by 4x4s to drive along. I had a race with a quad …
… after having already 145km in my legs that day I happily accepted the 2nd place.
Everybody was happy to leave the ‘storm center’ of Australia and headed eastwards into the wind. In the morning I cycled with John and we shared the work to break the wind for the other. I warmed up myself with a nice breakfast stop in Millicent, with banana bread and a pot of tea. In the afternoon I cycled with Lydia, who joined us in Adelaide for the final stages to Sydney. In Mt. Gambier we decided to detour to the Blue Lake, a crater lake which changes its color, twice a year. We were told at the information center, that it is a huge climb up to the crater and lake. Well, huge in connection with elevation gain has a different meaning for Australians. It was only 60m up within a few kilometers; nothing for an Indonesian ‘certified’ rider. The circumvention of the lake on the rim was stunning. I’ve never seen a lake as blue as this one. Definitely worth the extra 7 kilometer, even on an already long and wind battered day. The camp ground in Nelson is away from the sea and sheltered from wind. We got kangaroo/wallaby visits at dawn. Some of them seemed to be used to humans and stayed right between us.
Today I took a detour from the town Mt. Gambier to the Blue Lake, a crater lake that changes its color every year in summer and winter. A blue I’ve never seen before.
There is a 3.5 km scenic cycling route along the rim of the crater (TdA should add this alternate route to Nelson to their ‘tour bible’)
There are 2 more craters with lakes, but too much to add on to another wind battered cycling day.
A shorter cycling day with an early arrival. The wind in Beachport was blowing all day and night
Short enough to ride solo into the SE-wind and still arrive early in camp. This morning was kangaroo parade; more than 50 spread over a few 100 meters. They outnumbered the cows on the fields this day. Even an Australian rider said, he’d never seen such a large group of kangaroos. Only a short 3 km extra to see the Woakwine Cutting, a 1 kilometer long cut into the terrain, 34m at its deepest point, to drain a swamp and gain more land. Beachport was reach before lunch. Camp was only separated by a road from the beach. It wasn’t easy to setup tents in the blowing wind. The majority decided to rent cabins or apartments for a saver sleep. After all tents were setup, the caravan park owner offered us to use a more wind sheltered campground. A few of us, including me, took to offer and relocated our tents to the new ground, with little wind that rattled on our tents. I used the afternoon to ride along a scenic route, with a salty lake (7 times saltier than the ocean), nice beaches and the second largest jetty in Australia. In the evening we had wine tasting and dinner in Gerald’s ‘shelter’ and a photo slideshow on his TV.
Nevertheless of the headwind, Henry and I decided to take a 7 mile gravel detour along the shore of the lake. It was a cloudy, fresh morning. Somehow someone forgot to tell the birds that we were coming to see them, thus there was little extra, besides rabbits, flies and cattle. With 10 km more in the legs we returned to the main route. It was a long day, but the wind was in many sections not as strong as the day before, thus I decided on another deviation from the route at 131 km. A parallel road, closer to the ocean with a beach access to the Granites. Here I had a short swim in the cold ocean and a ride along the beach. With 16 km extra I arrived late but not last in camp. The beach was directly next to the campsite, with pelicans on the sea and a seal on the beach.
One of the hardest day so far in Australia. Cold morning. A climb out of camp and strong headwind for the last 80 km.
This was a tough start into the 7th section – The Great Ocean Road – especially for those who just joined us in Adelaide. Not only the distance was a challenge but also the climbs and the cold headwind. We had 2 choices on how to get out of the camp. One was a scenic ride up and along the ridge of the surrounding hills, the other shorter through the valley, but with a steep ‘walk the bike’ gravel section. I opted for the first, to get a chance on a look over the plain and Adelaide in the morning sun. Traffic was not as bad as assumed. Most of the cars were heading into town and only a few in my directions. The climb through the eucalyptus forest was easy, compared to what we had in Indonesia. However after 5 weeks of cycling more or less flat, the climbing muscles needed to be reactivated again. After the first major peek, both routes joined again. Soon we reached a town, easily being recognized as a German settlement by its name: Hahndorf, founded in 1839. And it really was. There were several hotels and restaurants with German beer, like Hofbräu Haus or Beck’s and schnitzel. Bavarian banners all over the place and lederhosen. I stopped at Otto’s bakery to get some good bred rolls. I immediately recognized by the available bred and cakes, that the baker can’t be German. And I was true, only the name of the place remained, the rest was typically Australian. Nevertheless I bought an apple swirl (Schneckennudel mit Apfelfüllung) for 3.70$ for a second breakfast, later on the road. With the fast downhills to lunch a bit of time lost in the climbs could be recovered. 90% of the 1300 m climbs were already done by lunch, at 83km. But, whoever thought the remaining 76km in the plain would be a walk in the park was taught different. I strong headwind for the rest of the day made travel really slow and cumbersome. I managed an 18km/h average, which meant a 4 hour battle against the wind. It wasn’t a question of ‘if’ I would reach the camp, but ‘how long will it take me’. Camp is nicely located at Lake Albert, a huge freshwater lake, with pelicans and other birds around. Unfortunately due to the late arrival on this long cycling day, not much of it could be enjoyed for long. After sunset the temperature was already to cold for staying outside, thus everyone returned to the tents and the camp died down sun in silence.
Tomorrow is another long day, with 148km and probably all day into the headwind.
I was always feeling a bit cold, even with my jacket and the temperature reaching upper 20th. This was mainly because of the strong wind, that chilled not only me. Many fellow cyclists went shopping the last days to by warmer clothes, sleeping bag, etc. because it is unexpectedly cold, or we are not used to it anymore, after 5 weeks in the outback oven.
Leaving Adelaide. Not in an hot air balloon, no, but climbing the eastrrn mountain range.
The start into today’s riding felt a bit like the good old days in Indonesia …
No, we weren’t woken up by prayer calls and we didn’t have nasi goreng for breakfast, but we started with a real climb out of camp. And we are still enjoying it.
Shirley and Dan
Other than that it was cold today and the road signs reminded me that I am still down under.
to see if I could get a Brezel, but was immediately sure, it wasn’t a German baker at work anymore, when I saw the display of breads and cakes in the shop. However I got an ‘apple swirl’ (Apfelschnecke), which I saved for a later breakfast in the fields.
The French seem to invade this territory, too. However in a friendly manner, how else could a Brasserie and the Hofbräuhaus go together?!
