Wednesday March 26, 2014

We have decided to skip Melbourne.  We could have cycled up to Melbourne and then back down the coast road, but when all is said and done Melbourne is another big City that is having a few issues with cyclists at the moment.  It appears there is no love-lost between cyclists and car drivers in Melbourne.  There was recently a lady who was doored and the debate over car drivers and cyclists has erupted – cyclists should be licensed, they shouldn’t be allowed on the roads, cyclists want cycle lanes etc etc. basically exactly the same as anything you hear in Toronto, London or city’s in the States.

People always ask us if cars and trucks give us enough room. For the most part on the rural roads where there isn’t a shoulder the cars and trucks have been great.  Today, we were going up a hill and we heard a transport coming behind us.  There was no shoulder for us to cycle on and it was a narrow two-lane road, we pulled of onto the gravel.  The truck driver gave us a very cheery toot ta toot toot toot and a wave.  He was happy and so were we.  A little bit of consideration on both sides and we will all be happy and safe.

Yesterday, we took the ferry from Queenscliffe to Sorrento and today we carried on eastwards towards Stoney Point to take the ferry to Phillips Island and Cowes.  We cycled to Stoney Point from Rye with a head wind for most of the way.  The first part of the route was along the shoreline and then we turned towards the hills. Along the shoreline there were lots of colourful little beach huts.

The hills were good not too steep, but necessitated the granny gear on one of them. We arrived in Crib Point in time to see about 20 Jaguars driving through the Town.  This one had to stop for refuelling.  Ralf had a chat with the owner while he was refuelling an 80 litre tank.  If you can afford to drive this kind of car you do not worry about the cost of fuel.

We arrived at Stoney Point at 1:00 pm and waited for the ferry to Phillip’s Island until 4:30 pm.  Only 2 ferries run a day one at 8:00am and the second at 5:00 pm.  Ralf called the ferry company to make sure it would be running as it was quite windy.  Quote of the day “It doesn’t look too bad to me, the ferry will be running so long as she don’t sink between now and then”  Encouraging!!

We had to remove all our panniers from the bikes and lift our bikes onto a very small boat.  The bikes and panniers were on the back deck.  It was a rough crossing and I recalled the ferry crossing from Portsmouth to Cowes (Isle of Wight) with my Mum and Dad many years ago.  I was a little nervous about the waves, Mum would have had a heart attack!!

We arrived in Cowes at 5:45 pm and found a camp site in the Town.  We set up the tent, showered and Ralf went to get us some groceries for dinner.  We met a lovely couple from Canberra who have invited us to stay with them if we go to Canberra.  We are still trying to decide whether to go to the Capital City or not.

We are now on a new map Melbourne to Sydney!  Here comes the next 1,000 kms 🙂