Transitions

Day 36 (12/10): Willaura to Ballarat (bike) 125 km, 18 kph; Ballarat to Lilydale (train); Lilydale Motel


Just another day riding, no hikes, national parks, etc. Not! First I must explain my route and inclusion of a train segment.


After drying out yesterday in the Willaura hotel, I checked out the forecast and noted "fresh" winds out of the south Thursday and heavy rain expected Friday. My latest current plan was to ride south to Port Campbell Thursday--which would be about 150 km against the wind, then ride the Great Ocean road (GOR) Friday and Saturday--which now would be in heavy rain. Neither prospect appealed so I decided to bag the GOR and head east instead to Ballarat and there catch the train into and past Melbourne to the eastern suburb of Lilydale where my Melbourne to Sydney leg would begin. I also liked this idea because it would give me several extra days to do this ride segment before my flight home and would let me ride the "black spur" from Lilydale on Thursday in good/dry weather (this is a northbound ride too--remember the wind forecast). Seems like its getting complicated doesn't it?

Anyway, put this plan into action in morning by turning east toward Ballarat. Ironically, about half way through this ride of 120+ km, I ended up on a rail-trail instead of the fairly busy highway. As pictures show, this was very scenic and basically deserted (saw one other cyclist and two pedestrians in about 50 km). Got to Ballarat later than hoped at about 5:30 pm but caught the 5:57 pm train to Melbourne. This 100 mile train trip cost me a whopping $10 and that included a transfer in town onto city train to eastern suburb of Lilydale.

From third picture below you can tell I enjoyed the train, it was exceedingly comfortable, especially after a long hard bike ride. Plus my bike was safely parked 5 meters away in the luggage area (where I could access it to change cloths, get food/water, etc.). The only bad thing was that when I got to Lilydale at 8:30 pm (dusk), I ended up having to ride about a kilometer on a busy road to the ONLY motel nearby, which thank goodness was not full. It even had a KFC next door for quick dinner and Aussie HBO on my TV! Turned out to be quite a day--so much so it even got its own Blog posting.

The Grampians And Row Row Row Your Bike

Day 36 (12/9): Wonderland Loop Hike (6 km); Halls Gap to Willaura (bike); 75 km; 18 kph; Willaura Hotel

So this turned out to quite a day--had its moments but a very good day in the end as well. Obviously I must elaborate. Please note the first picture is from afternoon before when I arrived at Hostel in Halls Gap. Classic powernap, awake one moment, asleep for 12 minutes, back to planning/cooking/etc.

Anyway, next morning (12/9) got going on hike in Grampians after a 4 km ride from hostel up steep hill to trailhead/parking lot. Hike was not very difficult but was very scenic, especially for being fairly short. The first photo is what they call the Grand Canyon--it was nice but grand may be a bit much. Next is me on an outcropping at the Pinnacles. This spot had awesome views back down about 500 meters (vertically) to Halls Gap and surrounding area.

After hike got back on bike and headed for Lake Bolac (was to be about a 90 km ride). About two hours out it started raining and steadily increased in intensity from a drizzle to a steady rain. By the time I reached Willaura, about 15 km short of Lake Bolac I was soaked, cold, tired, and had had enough. Town turned out to be smaller than map led me to believe and it only had a hotel, which fortunately DID have rooms (remember, Australian "hotels" are mainly bars/pubs, only some have accomodation as well). Turns out I was only one in rooms so I had my bedroom and the common room (kitchen/TV/couch) next door all to myself. Owners gave me a space heater and a rack so I could dry out all my soaking wet stuff. Also made me a full steak dinner for $12 (half normal price here). Plus there was food in fridge in common room that I raided as well (bread, jam, oleo, milk). My room also had a mascot/guard bear. As I said, day turned out very well thanks mainly to this place!

Hoist The Sails Its Payback Time!

Day 31 (12/4): Strathalbyn to Meningie; 100 km, 21 kph; Cabin in Caravan Park


Day 32 (12/5): Meningie to Kingston SE; 148 km; 23 kph; Caravan Park



Day 33 (12/6): Kingston SE to Penola; 145 km; 23 kph; Caravan Park



Day 34 (12/7): Penola to Hamilton; 135 km; 19 kph; Cabin in Caravan Park


Day 35 (12/8): Hamilton to Halls Gap; 100 km; 19 kph; YHA Hostel


As the observant viewer can see above, the distance covered each day have risen dramatically. There are two reasons for that. First, with my Christmas return date and desire to ride from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney, I have set a fairly rigorous schedule for myself in terms of nightly destinations. More importantly, I got almost three days of tailwinds in the last five days riding (with mostly sidewinds the rest of the time). Yippee! For those of you who ride, imagine covering the last 60 km of day 33 in just over two hours on flat ground. Good thing it wasn't like this those first couple of days out of Adelaide last month--I would have tried to ride the "big loop" and would be a dried up shriveled sobbing mess somewhere out in the outback between Katherine and Fitroy Crossing (get out your maps everyone)!


Anyway, couple of other hightlights from last five days. I was thinking the other day about maybe not needing a spare tire or more than one tube as my new 700*38 Armadillo tires were so burly. Less than five minutes later I had my first flat of the trip (I am not kidding, this is how it happened). Fixed it no problem. Riding yesterday towards end of long, difficult (hilly!) ride I noticed that I was really slogging on what appeared a fairly flat road. Finally stopped for a snack and noticed I had another flat! After fixing it and getting back on I immediately sped up by at least 5 kph--what a relief though I felt a bit silly. You may also notice "cabin" or "caravan park" listed. Caravan park means I just camped (Aussies call their campgrounds caravan parks). In Meningie I got a cabin kind of on a whim--it ended up raining for about three hours that evening so my whim was good. Last night I did not get to town until 6 pm--setting up camp and figuring out dinner, etc was not appealing so cabin it was. For about $50 US I got kitchen, bedroom/queen bed, TV, porch, ensuite (that's a bathroom/shower in the unit). It was sweet though it didn't rain.

Also, the boat shown below is the Wellington ferry which I rode on day 32 as well. According to the pilot its the saem actual boat Sandy and I rode in 1992 (going the other direction). Below that is shot of Coorong National Park--sort of like our Everglades but long and skinny.


Finally, riding yesterday amongst large gum tree fillled fields I came into an area where there must have been a thousand white cockatoos milling about. I caught one photo of a group of them--see below. It was hilarious albeit a bit nosiy.


Tonight I am in Halls Gap at the cleanest hostel I have ever seen. This town is at the north end of Grampians National Park, which I rode through on the way here today. Tomorrow I am going to hike in the park before riding on to my next town in the afternoon so look for some good pics in next post. Weather forecast is a bit suspect the next couple of days so everyone cross something that I luck out. Mainly I don't want to have to start riding in rain. Once I am on bike its not so bad when it starts, you've got no choice but to suit up and ride on.

Running low on time (only bought an hour of Interent time) so better get on with it. That's why this posting probably seems a bit rushed--it is! Oh hey Jeff, I tried putting captions on pics but its not working and I'm out of time. Will try again next time I get free web at a library. Its a good idea.








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Retransition

Day 30: Port Pirie to Adelaide; 220 km (car); Adelaide to Strathalbyn; 61 km; 17 kph (bike)


Time to turn in my trusty, if somewhat decrepid Hyundai Getz. It got me about 8,000 km around the "big loop" of Australia despite having two bald front tires, a slow leak in a rear tire, two "star" cracks in windshield, and a dented rear bumper (all done BEFORE I got car). It served me well, but I am glad to back on my bicycle.


Speaking of which, what a surprise, back on the bike and riding into a headwind. That's actually ok as I didn't have too far to go today and the forecast is for better wind conditions in days to come. I'll take a headwind on a 60 km day and a tailwind on a 140 km day anytime!

The ride out of Adelaide was actually quite stunning; to exit town to the south as I did, one must immediately climb into the Adelaide Hills and they are pretty high, more than 1,000' vertically! What went up (me) on a great bike path alongside a very busy freeway eventually got to come back down on quieter country roads, eventually into the eclectic little town of Strathalbyn. This town has a pretty podunk caravan park where they have on-site vans and campers parked on beautiful bent grass lawns and they send tent campers to the worst grass in the place along the back fence. Granted it was fairly quiet once the ever-present birds went to sleep and overall worked out fine.

Town itself is truly lovely with a great lake/stream park right "downtown". I ate my picnic dinner at table shown below amongst about 300 screaming cockatoos (not shown). Also not shown is the historic restored Victoria Hotel/Motel and--get this--a 50-meter public swimming pool. It was too late for me to try to swim when I saw it, but 50-meter pools are quite rare even in good-sized cities and I always try to use them when I can. This was one place it's too bad the Timberline trip didn't get to ride through. It was slated to be the last stop on the second tour and would have been perfect, a real treat to close out the trip.

Wow, as I type this I realize I am all caught up on blog posts. Thank goodness for the library in Menengie, South Australia where I've been sitting at a free terminal for more than two hours. Couple of other things on my Internet "to check" list so I'll close. Although I am not answering everyone individually, thanks for the comments and emails. I'll do better catching up when I get back to the states. I'll be doing some pretty high mileage rides in the upcoming days so will probably fall behind on posts, etc. again.

The Long Way Round

Day 27 (11/30): Port Denison to Norseman; 1,000 km; Budget Camper at Caravan Park

Day 28 (12/1): Norseman to Nundroo Roadhouse; 1,050 km; "Backpackers Lodge" at Roadhouse

Day 29 (12/2): Nundroo to Port Pirie; 710 km; Caravan Park

Covered a lot of ground in this section, much of it stunningly beautiful and exceedingly difficult emotionally. Obviously I must explain. Between Norseman and Nundroo, Highway 1 crosses the border back into South Australia. In this section, the road goes along the Great Australian Byte for about 200 km and also crosses a short stretch of the Nullarbor (tree-less) plain (the bulk of the Nullarbor plain--it is hundreds of miles wide--is further north of the coastal road). When Sandy and I rode here in 1992, this was probably the best couple of days riding on the whole trip. Driving back through this section and especially stopping at a couple of the places we stopped at then (they have not changed) was pretty much heart wrenching. There was a maelstrom of thoughts going through me contributing to this but probably the easiest to express was that I was not able to look back on those times with joy, I was just sad at what I/we lost and all the pain that that has entailed. Once I get this whole thing figured out I'll just have to come back and once again feel the joy this place has to offer.

Need to move on from this place/post for now, couple of other noteworthy items. No pictures but the "backpackers lodge" at Nundroo was a hoot. For $10 (about $7 US), I had a large room with 5 beds, table and chairs, fridge, and TV all to myself (there were no other "backpackers" that night as I doubt there are too often). It was great and lodge even had picture window facing west to yet another amazing sunset, which I did get a picture of. Note that the camper shown below is the one I stayed in Norseman (wind was up so I passed on camping). This one set me back a whopping $20 Australian! Finally, between Norseman and Nundroo is also the longest straight stretch of road in Australia (used to be in Guiness Book of World Records, not sure if it still is). It isn't completely flat, but it is absolutely straight!

Swimming With The Fishes--Sort Of

Day 24 (11/27): Broome to Karratha; 830 km; Karratha Caravam Park

Day 25 (11/28); Karratha to Monkey Mia; 980 km; Monkey Mia YHA Hostel

Day 26 (11/29); Monkey Kia to Port Denison; 530 km; Caravan Park

First worthy of mention on this post was my night in Karratha. Here I ended up camping in a caravan park frequented mostly by "homeless" working folks, some of whom had campers, some of whom slept in their vehicles (parked in grassy "tent area" see below). After Broome, this was a breath of fresh air. Three of these guys hanging out when I arrived quickly struck up an interesting/friendly conversation, offered me a beer and a feed (dinner), and though hard-core working stiffs, were generally just nice guys. It was delightful and they were a hoot. Oh, like many caravan parks (with trees and water), this place was overrun with birds, many whie cockatoos.

Ok, though Karratha was nice, the highlight of this trip section was definitely Monkey Mia. Nice hostel, beautiful beach setting, and unique dolphin experience. Quick history lesson: Dolphins already frequenting this area used to follow fishing boats into Monkey Mia looking for cleaning scraps (1960's); a local woman started feeding them (late 60's); someone started selling buckets of fish to tourists who fed lots of dolphins all day (originally just a few tourists until they paved the road in then lots of tourists; 70's); dolphin juviniles started dying because moms fed at beach all day weren't teaching them how to survive (80's); government steps in to control situation (mid 90's I think).

Now, only five specific named female dolphins known to already have survival skills are fed no more than 20% of their daily fish needs each day between 8 am and noon. There is also a strict no-touch policy. So, up to three times each morning, the "annointed" dolphins swim into feeding area and just lay in the water until the rangers/volunteers feed them their two or three fish (from steel buckets--see picture); then they leave and we/humans leave. While this is going on, other dolphins (including children and grandchildren of moms getting fed) are frolicking around nearby in the water. It is a bit corny/silly but seems like a sustainable setup and it was cool to see the dolphins so up close.

Other than Karratha and Monkey Mia, the other notable item of this leg was that I moved south far enough that the weather has cooled off enormously. It still gets pretty warm inland during the day but nights are now in the low-60's--great sleeping temps. Yay. Enjoy the pics, hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. They don't celebrate it here at all so I had no turkey although my fellow campers did give me some chicken they had cooked up.

Also, as you can see from the stats above, I'm doing way too much driving, but there is a reason. Based on changing from riding to driving the "big loop" portion of this trip,I decided a while back I would probably return to the states prior to my originally planned 2/17/09 date. Contacted Qantas on 11/27 and found out I could only fly home with no penalty on Christmas day; pay big bucks to change to another January date, or stay with my original date. I have opted for the Christmas date. I hope I am making the right decision, doesn't feel completely "right" (whatever that means), but the riding I still plan to do will only take about three weeks (up until late December), so this date seems to make sense versus the alternatives.

Broome

Day 23 (11/26); Broome, West Australia, Layover Day

Like many of the places I am seeing on this fairly rapid circumnavigation of the northwest portion of Australia, Broome is another place I would like to return to and spend maybe a week or so (preferably not alone next time either). Tried to fit in a fair amount of sightseeing along with a measure of relaxation not driving for a change. Besides getting a nice run in early, probably the highlight of the day was a visit to famous cable beach. Probably the largest, most pristine beach I have ever seen. Not that I did, but you can drive on beach (as people seem to do just to get to where they want to hang out); few were doing so, just not that many people around for such a large expanse of sand.

The hostel I stayed in was a busy, bustling place but everyone was so intent on whatever they were up to, I actually felt a bit lonely there. I did really like the open air setup though. I think a lot of foreigners who were staying there were also working too; thus not the typical tourists generally interested in interacting with others of the same ilk. Did get two good nights sleep in a full 4-bunk room with no snorers; what a bonus.

As you'll see below, Aussies have a different perspective on right-of-way. I stopped once earlier on drive to let someone cross street, driver behind me thought I was nuts and almost rear ended me. Also, that is a Boab tree--I saw some much bigger but couldn't get a shot of them. All for now.