A misty, cold morning awaited us for the second day on the Great Ocean Road, with the supposed to be highlight of ‘The 12 Apostles’ . I added 2 additional lookouts on my way to the first major scenic attraction, the Loch Ard Gorge, where the clipper after the place was named, shipwrecked in 1878, loosing all 52 lives on board. There are many stunning lookouts at this place and time went by very fast. The next stop was the 12 Apostles, a cliff formation in the sea, from which only 8 are still standing, the other 4 vanished over the years in the rough weather and sea conditions. It was already 2 hours into the cycling day, and we had only 11 official stage kilometers on our odometers. Remarkably the 2 French riders, who usually are building the spearhead to camp, were also on a sightseeing mission and with me and Henry at the very end of the pack. Unfortunately the weather was not as good as yesterday afternoon, low hanging clouds, misty and drizzling, getting us wet and cold, and making photos very difficult. I took another breakout and followed the Gibsons Steps down to a beach. This is when I lost contact to the others and cycled on my own to the first Coke Stop at Lavers Hill, where I met others in a Café warming up with hot coffee or chocolate. At this point we had already 1000m of climb through lush and green rain or eucalyptus forests. A new Australia for us! A nice downhill brought us to lunch. The weather started a bit to improve. After lunch the downhill continued to sea level, leaving us with 500m meters to climb up again in the National Park, before we had a final 10 km long descend to Apollo Bay. A stunning view opened in front of us, when we left the forest, with a deep blue sea and white beaches, surrounded by green hills and blue sky and sunshine; Apollo Bay; what a difference to the steep limestone cliffs we had earlier.

A rest day after 2 short, but loaded cycling days. The little town (~1000 citizens) is a surfer or water sports paradise and a tourist attraction. Young people everywhere. Prices very high! After dinner I had an ice cream at the most awarded ice cream place. 2 scoops in a waffle, costs: 7.60$, but the ice cream what unbelievable good.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is not so good. Hope the showers do not realize and keep us trapped in our tents. Nevertheless, I’ll use the day off to publish more of my photos …

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This day was meant to be a treat, after the past hard days. Not only because it was short (just 98 km, without extra tours), but more important because someone seemed to have ‘hacked’ the ‘iWind’ application and modified the program to provide us with a fine tailwind. For me a day of joy riding. Almost no effort to get along, thus no hurry at photo stops or limited with side trips; which I had many today. Although my net cycling/hiking time was 5.5hours for the 116km, I arrived at camp just right in time for dinner at 6pm, with an elapsed time of 11 hours. I already spent 2.5 hours in the Tower Hill Crater Lake National Park with hiking and game watching, before I continued. It was worth the 8km detour and additional climbing. Koalas, Emus, Kangaroos, Birds in a stunning scenery, which I almost had for myself the first hour before the park officially opened. I informed Andreas, that I will be all day exploring off the beaten track, and nobody should wait at lunch for or sweeping me. I arrived at the 28km ‘marker’ – The Pavilion Café’ – at around 11:00, just right for a brunch! The other riders found it closed when they stopped there hours earlier. So I had another 7 hours to complete the final 70+km before 6pm. On the Great Ocean Road there are many sightseeing opportunities, besides the 2 mentioned on the whiteboard. So I followed my Garmin and the map I got from the Information Center in Port Fairy. It was a breathtaking afternoon. The sky cleared up and the sun painted the steep cliffs and the sea of the Great Ocean Road in fantastic colors. The time flew by and it was already 5pm when I left the last lookout point. From there I did not return to the main road, but followed the Port Campbell Walking Trail, a 4.5km hiking trail to town. It wasn’t a problem to ride it with my MTB, except for the final drop to the beach, which was via a very narrow and steep steps, cut into the rocks. So I had to walk my bike down to the beach which was right next to the campsite.

Tomorrow is another ‘short’ day, with many options to extend it.

I will sort out my photos tomorrow, as we will have another rest day after just 2 days of cycling and before we leave the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne!

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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.

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