What a treat today. We stayed dry all day. Sunny and warmer than the past weeks. It was a short riding day, if you decided to take the main road. Optional, but unofficial, the rail trail could be taken. Because it was loose gravel, sand and rocks, and a bit washed out, after the rain of the past days, the rail trail was not recommended for the road bikes. After the Great Ocean Road, I wanted to ride at least a few kilometers on the Great Alpine Road. Therefore I stayed the first 20 km on the main road, before I switched to the rail tail. Not a bad idea, as the start was quite scenic and the low clouds covered the hills and green fields into a nice picture. It  was a beautiful ride on the trail. Only myself and dozens of kangaroos/wallabies, a wombat and a giant water dragon were on the trail this morning. Henry, Ursula and Rae were far behind, as they also cycled the first 20km. The kangaroos were almost on every corner, starring at me before they hopped into the forest. At the Stony Creek Trestle Bride, a giant water dragon appeared out of the deeper grass and slowly founds its way around me to walk deeper into the woods. It was definitely harder to ride on the trail than on the road, but worth every inch. Mostly far away from the road, there was only the sound of the birds and wind in the trees. Although I was one of the latest in camp, it was still early in the day to enjoy the warming sun and stroll through the small town.

Show options Hide options Additional options

Avoid highways Avoid tolls KM Miles

Get Directions Print Directions

After yesterday’s fantastic ride on the rail trail, we stayed all day on the busy Princess Highway. Too many trucks, and fast going cars, very noisy. It was not very enjoyable, but obviously no alternatives to get us to Bairnsdale, or next rest day location. The first 100km I did a solo ride, with Lydia slipstreaming me for the last 60km. Then I made a joke and said ‘I am on strike’ and let me fall back a bit.  Lydia obviously took this very serious and went ahead, leaving me back on my own.  However, I soon closed up with her again, when she stopped to help an injured bird. I stayed behind her for a while. Not soon later she asked me ‘are you still on strike’? I confirmed that the German Cycling Union had called off the strike and took over the lead again. Along the highway there we signs, telling the motorists ‘to not tailgate and to keep a 3 seconds distance to the previous car’. Lydia asked me if this also applies to cyclist, to what I replied ‘in principle Yes, but if a someone tailgates you for 100+ kilometers, this combination is called a tandem for which the rule does not apply’. We arrived at the new campsite at 12:30pm. I did laundry, shopping and bike and equipment maintenance, and prepared for a real rest day. There is not much to do in Bairnsdale, especially being trapped in the tent on another rainy rest day.

Getting ready for the grand final – 7 cycling days left.

It may look, as if the final cycling week into Canberra and Sydney could bring us back a bit of the sun and dry weather we liked in the outback. Enough of the cold and wet weather that we have since we arrived in Southern Australia, about 3 weeks ago!

Show options Hide options Additional options

Avoid highways Avoid tolls KM Miles

Get Directions Print Directions

10000 kilometers done! Shortly before our current campsite, the 10000 kilometer EFI marker was passed.

It was a fantastic ride today. Although still cold but not raining anymore, with good supporting wind it was nice to ride. Everything covered in green and in numberless shades. Huge ferns along the trail and frog concerts wherever there was water. The old Southern Railway track is transformed into a bike  & hiking trail, with a sandy, but compact surface that lets you fast advance. Too fast for a second breakfast in Fish Creek, as we arrived too early. I considered a detour to the most southern point of Australia, that we passed today. However, adding an extra ~70 kilometers on a cold day was too much to enjoy, thus I skipped this thought. The ‘signs’ at lunch indicated rain. A local farmer explained: “If all cows are standing it means ‘fine weather’, if there is a mix of standing and resting cows it means ‘drizzling rain’. However if the majority is resting in the grass it means ‘rain showers’. I asked Bob, who wasn’t riding today, but supporting Doug with lunch, to make sure that the majority of the cows will get on there feet! It seemed to work. On arrival in Yarram the sky opened and sunshine broke through. I did not go straight to camp, as the odometer showed just 98.5 km. Instead I continued to town, found a bakery and had tea and cake, before I turned and got to camp, ensuring I made another century (100km).

Show options Hide options Additional options

Avoid highways Avoid tolls KM Miles

Get Directions Print Directions

Just 57 km on the board to ride today. Lydia, Eric and I added 9 extra kilometers to ride though the Koala Reserve on Phillip Island. It continued to rain during the night, so back to rain coats and wind breaker jackets, with the hope of improvements in the afternoon. We made it quickly to the park and rode the trails, scanning the trees for the cute little bears. Wallabies, rabbits and some kangaroos looked quite puzzled at us, riding in our fancy outfit through their territory.  I detected 1 sleeping koala in a tree, but not more. Unfortunately the conservatory opens only at 10am, more than 2 hours later, so we couldn’t go into the sanctuary, where we would have seen more and much closer. At least 1 in the wild, more than Eric had seen since Adelaide. Back to the main route we stayed the first 40 km together. I decided to take an alternate route on a sandy hiking trail, away from the busy main road. An extended breakfast stop in town delayed my arrival to camp by another hour. However the sun was already breaking through the clouds and heated the air. So I could dry my tent, and all clothes, including the sleeping bag and liner. What a great feeling, after the last few days in moist! After updating the blog I ‘ll suck in some sun, before I work on selecting some more photos to publish later.

Tomorrow we will cross the 10000 kilometer mark, with 9 cycling days left to Sydney.

Show options Hide options Additional options

Avoid highways Avoid tolls KM Miles

Get Directions Print Directions

The rain set in during the night and never stopped all day, until we reached Phillip Island. And it was a cold and wind battered rain in Melbourne. Day temperatures 20°C below normal. The ‘Melbies’ seem to be unimpressed by such conditions. There were quite some runners and cyclists on the trails this morning. We also passed two sport events, which took place this morning; a women run and a triathlon. So we were not the only ones sent into the cold …

Today was a race against the time. 96 km in the cold headwind to Crib Point, from where the ferry should start at noon to take us to Cowes on Phillip Island. The next would go at 4:30pm, if we miss the noon one. I was riding with Eric and we advance quickly. However, we missed a turn in Melbourne, but thanks to Garmin and Google Maps on the smartphone, we found our way to Beach Road and reconnected to the route. At lunch at around 63 km we saw a bit of a sun through thinner clouds. But soon it was grey in grey again and continued to drizzle. 30km left to the ferry port. We arrived there at 11:50am just to be told, that there will be no ferry today, as the weather was too bad. What!? We were cycling all morning in bad weather, how can a ferry be ‘grounded’, if we can ride under such conditions. Nevertheless, Andreas was already there and soon we were on a train back to Frankston, leaving our bikes behind. From Frankstone we had to take a bus to Dandenong, from where another bus would take us to Cowes. Five and a half hours later, cycling clothes were almost dry again, we arrived at camp, just in time to setup our wet tents and enroll the wet sleeping bags and matrasses. No time to dry anything. Dinner was almost ready, although Mark was sick today and most of the other staff members were busy getting back to the ferry port to collect bicycles and remaining cyclists, who were not with us on the public transportation. It was 3 am the next morning, when Max returned from the last trip to Crib Point. Big Thanks to all that all the bikes were ready the next morning, to continue into another day. Due to the late arrival in Cowes, we were not able to visit the ‘Penguin Parade’, a beach 12 km away from our camp, where the penguins come to the beach at dawn.

Show options Hide options Additional options

Avoid highways Avoid tolls KM Miles

Get Directions Print Directions