Sunday March 30, 2014

An early start from Yarram (8:30) we were up before it was light and had a good breakfast.

The route was fairly flat with a couple of minor hills, and we arrived in Sale at around 1:30 pm.

It was quite a warm day by the time we arrived in Sale. Gerard was already having a coffee at the local coffee shop and approached us.  He had just finished a Tri and was heading back to his house.  He gave us directions and we got to his house shortly thereafter.

Warm showers host are very generous, he allowed us to do our washing and made us a lovely Thai curry meal for dinner.  He also asked if we would like to stay an extra night, which we did.

Saturday March 29, 2013

Due to our late night we got up a little later, expecting to still be on the road by 9:30.  No, we lingered over breakfast and had more great conversations, we eventually got on the road at 11:30 – great breakfast lots of good conversation.

After hurtling down the hill from David and Deb’s house we followed a lovely road to Yarram.  We met another couple of touring cyclists from Germany who told us Yarram has two campsites.

The route was fairly flat with some very gentle hills we arrived in Yarram at 2:30.  Yarram was a nice sized Town with a good cafe, with nobody around. Most of the stores were all closed apart from the bakery and the Info Centre.  When Ralf commented that the Town was very quiet he was told that Yarram Footy Club were playing and that was where everyone was.

We went into the Information Centre and they had a really interesting art exhibition – the exhibition used ceramics and most of the pieces were related to global warming.

We stayed in a quiet camp site.  Now we are no longer on the Great Ocean Road the prices for the camp-sites have come down.

Friday March 28, 2014

We followed Ken’s route to the rail trail and joined the trail in the small Village of Buffalo.  It was a great trail and we were riding quickly doing a comfortable speed of 20 kph.  Doing 20 kph on a rail trail is quite unusual, usually you have to deal with odd surfaces and generally have to go a little slower.

We caught up with two cyclists and discussed where we were going, well unfortunately we were going in the wrong direction.  We had cycled 10 ks in the wrong direction.  No idea why, Ken had given us good directions, it felt as if we were going the right way!!  The cyclists had a good map of the trail and told us if we turned around we would get to Foster (25 ks).  Or if we continued we could pick up the South Gippsland Highway (16 ks).  I wanted to turn around because I knew the highway would be hillier.

It was shorter on the highway, so we carried on along the road.  It was hillier, much hillier, but beautiful views and great downhills.

We called our warm showers host, who said he lived up another big hill and if we liked he would pick us up.  Yes please, we would like that option.  David and Deb picked us up.  The bikes went in the back of David’s car and I went in the car with Deb, who is not cycling.  It would have been a very steep climb.

We had a wonderful evening with them and stayed up very late chatting until 11:30 pm.

David and Deb have a beautiful house in the hills with stunning scenery.  David built it himself absolutely beautiful.

Thursday March 27, 2014

A late start this morning and it was raining.  The first time we have had to fold up the tent in the rain.  We had decided to stop at the Koala Conservation Centre.  It had stopped raining when we got there so we stopped and spent about an hour and a half looking for koalas.  The Conservation Centre is a managed area where the koalas are allowed to do what koalas do, which is not very much.  They sleep 20 hours a day, then eat and groom for the remaining hours.  The centre has put up boardwalks and information signs near where they think the koalas might be.

We saw about 20 and Ralf got a good \”movie\” of one that had just woken up,  she had a little scratch of her backside yawned, then went back to sleep.  It is exhausting being a Koala. They were so cute.

We also saw a couple of black-faced wallabies.

We left Phillip’s Island across the bridge at San Remo and had lunch at about 12:30.  The route to Inverloch was quite pretty, undulating with the best kind of hills, go down one side and get up the other side without having to pedal very much.

We arrived in Inverloch at about 2:30.  The Information Centre was very helpful and centrally located.  As we were checking the map for the camp site we got chatting to a fella who told us about the Victorian Bike Ride that happens in November every year and we told him about GOBA.  Two very similar bike rides.  He went straight home and checked on GOBA and is going to sign up for next years ride.  He also came out to the camp site to tell us about a rail trail we could take which would keep us off the main Gippsland Highway and avoid the hills.

While we were setting up the tent there were a group of campers opposite who invited us over for tea, coffee and cookies.  They were a church group who got together twice a year at various campgrounds around the Melbourne area.  This time there were 46 couples getting together.  We were also invited over for dinner, but I needed to give Joy and Dad a call.

Ralf once again went into Town to get the meal for the evening.

Inverloch is a very nice seaside area with really nice friendly people.

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 🙂

Tuesday March 25, 2014

The not really 73 kms is because I had left my Garmin on while we were on the ferry so it recorded the ferry crossing distance as well 🙂

We left Torquay under a cloudy sky.  We had our jackets on primarily because of the wind, not particularly because of the cold.  We cycled out to Point Danger and then followed the Esplanade and a nice quiet road out of Torquay towards Barwon Heads.  One of the grounds people at the campsite had given us good directions to get to Barwon Heads along the coast road and then said once at Barwon Heads you can’t go wrong because there will be ferry signs to Queenscliffe.

Whilst we were at Point Danger we chatted to a road cyclist who invited us for a coffee at his house before we left.  It was already 9:30 so we declined but it was nice of him to offer.

We cycled into a headwind for much of the time to Barwon Heads, but it was a nice route.  We managed to get a photograph of a live kangaroo.  It was just sitting by the side of the road, eating grass.  I even rang my bell so that it would pose for the camera and it did.

Then it just bounded away.

At Barwon Heads we cycled into the Town to look for a bicycle shop.  Barwon Heads is noticeable for two reasons Cadel Evans has a house in Barwon Heads, the second is that there were no bicycle shops.  For those who don’t know who Cadel Evans is – he is the Australian who won the Tour de France a couple of years ago.  Apparently he is a very nice guy.

We cycled on into Ocean Grove, which had two bike shops.  We stopped at a bike store that sold Trek bicyles, Ralf got his brakes replaced and we both had air put into our tires.  The owner of the shop ?  put me on the spot by asking for my 10 most memorable moment while touring!!  As our touring experience is only limited to 4 months, it was tough.

•  Dog Leg corner and Mount Cook – NZ
• Rimutaki Rail Trail
• Great Ocean Road before the 12 Apostles
• The kindness of strangers

We got great service at Hendry’s bike shop.

We then headed out to Queenscliff where we caught the ferry to Sorrento. We had time before the ferry to have lunch and a little walk around the Town.

Could you imagine living in this house during its hey dey.  I think I would probably be working \”below stairs\” and not living the high life upstairs.

Arriving in Sorrento.

We figured we would have the time to get to Rye and find a caravan park.  The caravan parks are different along this stretch of the coast.  They are referred to as foreshore caravan parks, which means that they are run by not-for-profit committee.  It also means that they are stretches of land between the shore and the road, about 50 to 300 metres wide.  We stopped at a couple but they didn’t have a camp kitchen.  We eventually found one at Capel Sound foreshore, which has an open air camp kitchen.  The toilets and showers are clean, which is the main thing.

Monday March 24, 2014

I thought I had posted this last week on our rest day, but realize I hadn\’t oops.

We woke up to rain on the tent.  Perfect I can get the blog updated.  That is what I have done, hope you enjoy it.

The sun came out mid-afternoon, so we were able to get a load of washing done as well.  Ralf went for a walk around the Town and got us some lunch.  He also bought a map – Melbourne to Sydney next leg of Australia.

We should be in Melbourne on Wednesday.  We were going to go to Tasmania but have decided against it.  The boat is cost prohibitive $940.00 and we don’t want to pack up the bikes for another flight just yet.  We also want to save the money to go to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Alice Springs.  We will have to fly there from Brisbane and I know that isn’t going to be cheap.  But we cannot come to Australia without going to Alice and Uluru.

Sunday March 23, 2014

A late start today 10:00.  It was a little cool this morning and once again we were chatting to fellow campers about our trip.  A couple of the little kids were feeding the cockatoos this morning.  These are noisy, screechy birds, but very cool to see them.  They are almost as common as pigeons are in the rest of the world.

I have seen such an abundance of different birds here.  I really need a book on birds for Australia to be able to name them all.  There are a lot of parrot like birds, one that I particularly like is bright red and blue and it has a nice sound.

Today’s ride was undulating to start with,  it was a little cool and was forecast for rain. We came across this Memorial site for the Great Ocean Road.  Would you believe that the building of the Great Ocean Road was created as a \”Make Work\” project for returning service men from the First World War.

As we were coming into Anglesea we spotted this house on a pole.  It is actually one room on the pole and the rest of the house is connected by a walk-way.  You can rent this place for your vacation.

When we got into Anglesea we were told that if we wanted to see Kangaroos we should go to the local golf course as they are one of the ‘hazards’ there.  We were deciding whether to head out to the golf course when we were stopped by a car and were asked if we were Ralf and Jacky.  Our warm showers ‘host’ from Mount Gambier had arrived back in Anglesea earlier than expected.  Our plan was to continue on to Torquay but we stopped and chatted to Sandy and Kirsten for an hour.  We were so pleased to have met up with them.  We wish we could have spent longer with them, but we needed to get to Torquay.  Sandy and his wife are planning their own touring rides and Sandy is building their bikes.  He said it is cheaper for him to buy the component parts and put them together himself than to buy the bikes in Australia.

There was a good climb out of Anglesea and then a straight road with a great wide shoulder (a full lane width) all the way into Torquay.

We are staying at a Great Ocean Road Trust campsite and got a discount. We always ask for a discount for being carbon neutral.  Sometimes they give us one other times not.  They usually have to put it down as something else in their computers, we got a Backpackers discount this time.

It is a good site with an enclosed kitchen that has all the pots and pans we need.  Of course when we got into the kitchen someone had left dirty pots in the sink.  I had to stop Ralf from washing them.  However, he did manage to organize the cutlery drawer!  Ralf intends on leaving everywhere we stay cleaner than he found it.  That is his mission in life, I think.

Tomorrow a rest day.

Saturday March 22, 2014

We were ready to go by 8:30 this morning, it was only a short ride to Lorne.   We hope to meet up with Sandy our warmshowers host from Mount Gambier tomorrow as we cycle through Anglesea.

The route today was very pretty it was very similar to Cape Breton Island.  The road was undulating with not too many steep hills.  It was a lovely route, but unfortunately we were going in the wrong direction, we were on the left side of the road and the ocean was on the right.  Because it was a very windy road, we didn’t always get the best views.

I almost got hit by a kangaroo today.  We were stopping to take photos, when this ‘roo came out of this driveway right in front of me.  It was as surprised to see me as I was it.  It skidded to a halt turned around and bounded off.  No road sense at all these ‘roos.  That is probably why we have seen so many dead ones on the side of the road.

At one look-out we saw a bunch of road cyclists with a tandem in amongst them.  The tandem peeled off to talk to us. Another couple cycling the Great Ocean Road.  They were American and had 3 weeks to cycle from Melbourne down the Great Ocean Road as far as Port Campbell then they were going to cycle inland through the Grampians.  They have suggested that instead of going into Melbourne through Geelong to go down towards Queenston and get the ferry across and come in via the east side of Melbourne.  That is what we are going to do.

Lorne is a very nice Town. This lovely hotel was at the main entrance to the Town.  Needless to say I think we will be staying elsewhere tonight.

The Great Ocean Road Otway Cycle Event is happening today and Lorne is very busy.  It started in Torquay and did a loop up through the hills to Lorne a distance of about 140 kms.  When we arrived in Lorne, at about 11:30 there were hundreds of road cyclists, there were about 3,500 cyclist signed up for this event.

Once we got the tent set up we were way-laid by a group of six Cypriots.  We chatted for about half an hour.  Although they said they were from Cyprus, all of them have actually lived in Australia for 40 – 50 years.  Helen was very funny she kept saying I could never dream of doing what you are doing.  Her friends agreed with her, she loves her creature comforts, hotels etc.

We had time for a nice wander around this sea-side town.  Every other shop was a coffee shop, bakery or some other sort of eatery.  Lorne also has a sculptures exhibition on throughout the month of March.

Various pieces of sculpture are dotted throughout the Town.  Some are very interesting others, you just shake your head at.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder or ‘What drugs was he/she on to do that”.  They also had a mini-sculpture show, to encourage you to get interested in buying art.

The campsite is very local to the downtown and is right across the street from the supermarket. The campsite is run by the Great Ocean Road Trust and all funds are put back into managing the area and upkeep of the campsite and beach areas in Lorne and in Torquay.

The beach is about 100 metres from the site and is popular with surfers.  When you see this many \”beginner\” surfers in the water the theme music from Jaws immediately pops into your head and I wanted to shout SHARK.  I know I have a weird sense of humour.

I am not sure what Ralf said to make me laugh something about my fat arse I think!!

Ralf has a bit of an odd sense of humour.  These were the only 2 guys wearing suits in the whole of the Town.  Definitely spies according to Ralf or \”Men in Black\” – trying to catch the aliens.

Although very close to the downtown I have already heard and seen a Kookaburra.  Ralf spotted this bird not knowing what it was – yes it is a Kookaburra.

Heading out to Torquay tomorrow and we will have a rest day there.

Friday March 21, 2014

I woke early and turned over and went back to sleep.  The coffee shop where we were going to have breakfast didn’t open until 8:30 so there was no point in getting up at the crack of dawn.

We were up at 7:15 ish and were just about ready to pack up the tent when Ralf commented it was beginning to rain.  It is the fastest that we have got the tent down and packed – it was still dry when we packed it.  Everything else was packed and ready to go.  We went to the little café and had a lovely bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast.  We also met two road cyclists who were cycling the Great Ocean Road – the only thing they were carrying was a couple of Camel-baks.  They were staying in motels and had one change of cycling gear with them!!

As we left the café it had begun to shower, then it rained.  We got the panniers covered and carried on.  The first part of the ride took us down from Lavers Hill into Horden Vale. A lovely open valley, then we went back up hill to the Great Otway National Park. We saw our first Kookaburra.  We considered cycling down to the Otway Lighthouse – that was a brief consideration, as it was still raining and the road was 12 kms down to the lighthouse and, of course, 12 kms back up.

As we were cycling back up another hill towards the Great Otway National Park, I commented to Ralf that this is one of those days that we should not be enjoying, cold, raining and hilly but we were both enjoying the ride and the scenery.

It was only when we got to Apollo Bay and stopped cycling, we got cold then all we wanted to do was find somewhere to stay for the night and have a hot shower.

Of course, we got a cabin and have plugged everything in to power up and done a load of washing.  Some of our clothes can be put into a dryer, others –  the merino wool cycling shirts and t.shirts have to be hung to dry.  Our little cabin looks like a wash-house.

Apart from the computer Ralf wanted to be off-grid – however, our power consumption is huge. I am surprised they don’t have regional black-outs when we get into a place where we can recharge everything:

• 2 Garmin bicycle computers
• 2 cameras and 2 batteries
• cell phone
• data stick for web connection; and
• laptop.

We also have the heat on in this little cabin one to keep warm and the other to dry the clothes!!

Apollo Bay is a surfing town with lots of shops catering for the surfers.