While going the usual motions of packing this morning the power went out for an hour. The forecast was for heavy rain and I was expecting a similar effort to yesterday with hills, but a bit further to pedal.
For the first hour on the bike it was great riding, with light rain and cool temperatures helping. And the lush rain forest on either side was awesome to ride though.
At the tiny village of Genoa I tried the only place there, an old hotel, for a hot drink. I could not have been more out of place and found it very amusing. 2 old fella locals were enjoying their 11am beer and talking about the various merits of shotgun vs rifle for getting the fox that got 3 of his chooks early that morning.
The instant coffee in a polythene cup still tasted pretty good after the hills I must say!
And then leaving Genoa...came the rain. It poured. It rained like it does in The 'Nam...and I should know...I've been there (man).
In all seriousness...a couple of times it was a case of pulling over because I couldn't see the road, and nothing could see me despite my gash fluoro jacket and lights. I also picked up my 2nd puncture of the trip here, and was struggling to keep water out of the tire when switching the new tube on. A motorist pulled over to check I was OK which was very kind. In fact all day there were honks of the encouragement from passing cars - definitely helped keep me moving!
Crossing into NSW felt good...my 2nd state border crossing in Aus by bike. Shame there was no sign though, or maybe I just couldn't see it!
Just before Eden there is a final cluster of steep hill sections and the last 5km seemed to drag on forever. Probably because I was down to walking pace by that point! But job done, passed half way on the trip and will take a day off tomorrow and spent some time maintaining the bike and having a good look round.
Overnight showers fell pretty steadily
but thankfully never really getting too heavy and I stayed dry in my tent. After packing up this morning, I headed straight for a
little cafe I'd spotted the night before: the 'Two Little Owls' Cafe, that
looked a bit different from the usual bakery at reminded me of a
mate.
There was a waft of warm baking smell
emitting from their kitchen on going through the door, and the
proprietor was busy cooking and serving on their own, in true small
business multi tasking style. I had an amazing muffin, scone and
coffee and nicely fuelled up for the day. Much better quality than recent bakery’s.
Today was going to be a short day but I
was expecting a lot of hill work. Also the weather forecast wasn't
looking good...earlier plans to camp in the area between here and NSW
had to be caned.
After a few km's down the road the rain
went up a couple of levels. I put my lights and fluro vest on, and
it was a bit of case of head down and grind up and down the rolling
hills. At the hamlet of Cabbage Tree Creek there is a cute cafe and I
stopped for a welcome hot drink.
It was a bit of a shame about the
weather here as this area was one of the best sections of the trip
for little side trips to explore. The rainforest looked lush and
alive.
Arriving at Cann River early, and
utterly drenched...I checked into a motel and spent a few hours
updating the blog...first wifi access in a while! It was an easier
day in terms of distance, but with 1220m of climbing...the thighs were feeling it.
Tomorrow probably will be the crux of the trip....
I had an itchy night in the tent after
serving myself for dinner to the insect community of Lake Wellington.
As I was packing my bag, this beautiful red parrot came down to check
out my stuff. I wished it had been around at dusk to take out some bugs for me...too late buddy! I got on the move early.
My first waypoint for the day was
Bairnsdale. I'd given 'Bianca' a quick check last night and a couple
of rear spokes felt too lose. Bairnsdale has the last bike shop for
the next 400km so I was hoping to get that checked out before heading
into the more remote area of East Gippsland, and the big hills.
Rivera Cycles were awesome. They tuned
up the the wheel straight away while I stocked up on supplies for the
next leg. Really glad I did this, could easily have resulted in a
busted wheel if left unattended.
From Bairnsdale the East Gippsland RailTrail runs for 97km to Orbost and is a great alternative to the
Freeway. Though with limited supply options along the way. It was a
bit of a risk taking Bianca down the trail however. Laden with
panniers and running on thin 25 mm tires, handling on gravel and sand is
poor. The 30-40 kg on the bike makes a big, big difference. I thought I'd at least try, as there were plenty of places
along the way to re join the road if it proved to tricky.
The first section is sealed but bumpy,
and OK, just. I came off twice, at low speed...as the front wheel
would slide in the gravel when trying to dodge the bigger stones. But
the track was stunning and lovely having a break from the traffic.
I came across a big group of kids doing
their 'silver' level Duke of Ed challenge, and it was good having a
chat with with their support team who were like minded. They kindly
offered me some water, as so far the day had been another roasting hot one. I was having to carry 4-5 litres...but rain was coming...and it
arrived in style!
East of Bruthen thunder rumbled closer,
along with menacing looking clouds. I felt rather too exposed and a bit like a
mobile lighting rod along the top of the ridge, and when the rain
started it was getting trickier to stay on the bike. So at Nowa
Nowa...had to opt out and get back on the main road.
Rail trail riding
For the final section of the day the
legs felt awesome and I smashed the last 30km to Orbost in the rain,
wheeling into the only camp ground in town hoping to get a roof over
my head for a wet night. Unfortunately, all the cabins they had were
taken up with Telstra workers repairing recent fire damage, so had no
choice but the tent. But awesome day all in all...and great to be in the trees again.
Overnight some light showers came over
so the tent got packed up wet. This always seems to make a difference
as I'm conscious of getting to my destination with at least a tiny
bit of daylight left to dry it out before use. My tent is an ultra
small, ultra light 1 person MacPac Microlight – I'm really happy
with it and it will keep you dry...if pitched dry.
I got a nice early start anyway and was
on my way out of town before 8.30. The South Gippsland Highway was
blissfully quiet too. Today's plan was an indirect route eastwards
off the main roads as much as possible. I wanted to check out 90 mile
beach, which would add quite a bit of distance on.
Turning off the Highway, I was rewarded
with a cyclists dream down Giffard Road. This was 1 lane, freshly
re-laid bitumen that wound its way through a mixture of forest and
farmland. Eventually this hits the coast at the town of Seaspray.
Here the coast stretched off in the distance with barely a soul to be
seen...just one older women doing Yoga and 'Saluting the Sun' which
seemed superbly apt. I was hoping to find food here but with only
takeaways on offer, had to stick to some spare crackers. It was with
a great deal of reluctance I got back on the bike to moving again!
From here, it was north to Sale. The
entrance from the south was very busy but I found a bike path that
avoided the freeway bridge that runs into town. It really warmed up
as the afternoon wore on, so filled up on water for a third time,
before leaving town and heading east. I thought maybe I had a chance
of reaching Paynesville or Bairnesdale...but as the heat of the
afternoon beat down...I found myself low on water yet again still
with at least 30km to go before either of those options. Google maps
showed a camp ground at a town called Meerlieu I which was my 'Plan
B'. As it turned out, the camp ground is a good 7/8km further south
of the town down an unsurfaced road that was pretty rough on my road
tires. By the time I hauled into camp I was hot and knackered...this
camp ground almost looked a little derelict. There was hardly a soul
to be seen! The women running the place looked very surpised to see
me, and only charge me $10 to pitch my tent. Money well spent for
some water and a shower even though the place was pretty run down. Can't really complain with that price...plus, there was this:
Lake Wellington when the sun when down:
This coincided with a massive invasion
of midges, mosquito's...and all other things small and crawly. They
attacked every inch of exposed skin...I foolishly had no repellent.
Walking to the toilet after dark I wondered what the bright lights
reflecting off the ground were, only to get close and see they were
spiders eyes! My wife would not have liked this place...
Big day all up though! And very
rewarding.
Day 3 Distance: 147 km
Number of bug bites: lost count. Too many to the head.
The dew was down this morning so a wet
tent got packed away...though I'd had a big sleep and was raring to
go. The day started with a section along the Bass Coast Rail Trail.
Surf was up, it was a beautiful spot to stop for moment, with the sun
still low on the horizon.
I didn't have a set plan for the day
today, but hoped to connect up with the Great Southern Rail Trail,
and then get as far east as I could. The Bass highway out of Kilcunda
is busy and it's best to take any detour you can on a bike. I stopped
in at Inverloch and enjoyed 'sitting on the dock on the bay' for a
little while until forcing myself up to get cycling again. Via a trip
to the local bakery first, of course.
I meet up with the Great Southern Rail Trail near the
town of Buffalo. What a great ride this was! It's a dirt trail but
packed down enough (just) for my thin road tyres to cope OK.
Great Southern Rail Trail - from Helmet Cam
As you
can tell by the title, it's a former railway line, great news if you
are pedalling as you know any gradient will be gentle!
Fish Creek was convenient place to
stop, and I called in for coffee and a feed at the cow themed cafe
with friendly staff. Just out of town I was wheeling the bike through
some long grass torejoin the trail, one of my mates is always trying
to wind me up about getting bitten by a snake on these trips, and I
was thinking...”gee this is a great place for snakes”. Just as I
was mounting the bike again, one crossed the path in front of me! It
was brown, about a meter long, and moving quite quickly. To be honest
it looked a lot more interested in hiding than biting cyclists.
I switched the helmet cam on here
hoping to get a photo, but of course didn't see any more. I bumped in
to another guy on a bike here and he gave me the awesome news that
the trail had been extended to Toora. This was awesome riding, a
smooth trail, loads of birds, and out of the sun and traffic.
At Toora it was back to the main road
and this section was horrible with no shoulder and seemingly no speed
limit. I pulled in for the day at Yarram and got the tent up. Feeling
pretty shattered actually, I don't think I'll be doing many longer
days! And the big hills are still to come.
Its tour time again! I'd originally
planned to do this ride last year, but had a few less days available
so ended up opting for Adelaide – Melbourne at the time instead. So
now, this tags along rather nicely from where I'd left off anyway.
Departure day loomed a little too fast in
the end. I'd come down with a good hearty bout of man flu and was
feeling really very flat all week...not to mention all the other
delightful symptoms that come with flu. But loom it did, until
suddenly it was 'tomorrow' and I still wasn't ready. So one final
scramble as always, and got my crap together ok to roll out of the
door this morning on time...just.
I gave myself a kick start on this one
to ease into the trip. I got a train out to Frankston and started
from there, this way avoiding crossing the whole city with a laden
bike and limited camping options after doing those miles. So a
slightly late start from Frankston and the roads over to Crib point
were bloody busy. I ended up detouring off the planned route which I
hadn't remotely researched, and used a series of 'D' roads to cut
round the worst of it.
When I got to Crib Point the next Ferry was several hours away so I doubled back a bit to explore the
foreshore reserve about 10kms back, which was quiet and a nice place
to pause in the sun and get in touring mode.
Heading back to the boat, the banter
with the crew was good fun. Of course they thought I was a nutbag for
riding so far. They asked what I would do if I made a wrong turn and
had to ride extra. I to said standard procedure is to sit by the road
and have a bit of a cry.
Its a 30 min ferry ride from Crib point
to Cowes on Port Phillip Island. No cars are allowed but bikes were
cool. A nice trip to, especially nearer Cowes. The problem for me
now, though was that with the delayed departure it was now 5.30pm –
I 'd hoped to get much further along the coast before camping...but
only had an hour or so's light left to play with.
Having said that, on this trip I'm
aiming to spread out the riding a little more than my last
efforts...so just had to remind myself not to worry about it. The
camp grounds at Cowes were all closed up so I made sure I had plenty
of water for camping wild before leaving town.
The sun was going down on my back and
the land was bathed in beautiful twilight colours...it was all a bit
to open for what I needed right now...so I had to keep going. In the
end I got lucky hear at Kilcunda which has a beautiful view out
eastwards along the coast.
Quick and easy lentil curry for dinner,
and I look forward to seeing that view properly tomorrow in full
daylight. It looks like I have 2 good days then maybe some rain. Hell
what does it matter, will be pedalling either way!
I live out in the West of Melbourne, and first of all, I must say,
I love it out here. But there is a storm brewing here for commuters as the place rapidly grows.
It's a problem that's been here for a while now, but gets worse with every
new land sale. And, with major new developments appearing constantly things are
not going to get any better any-time soon. There is a campaign which started soon toGet Wyndham Movingand this inspired me to have my say.
When I first moved to the area, I was warned about it. Whenever
you tell someone you live in Point Cook...the first thing they say is
"oh how long does it take to get to work then? This is despite the fact
that in terms of distance, it's actually closer to the city than many parts of Melbourne even remotely east.
Anyway, in order to commute to the city centre from here, these are your
main options:
Option 1. Drive the whole way. Roll the
dice, and hope for the best. You first major hurdle is getting out of Point
Cook. With only 2 major roads leading on to the freeway, it can take an hour to
crawl along the congested roads just to get to the on ramp, and then you have
such delights as the Princes Highway and the West Gate Bridge to look forward
too, if you get that far. You could try negotiating odd working hours with your
employer but you are going to have to leave home before 6.30 am for that to be
reliable enough.
Estimated Journey time: 60 - 90 mins at peak times
Cost: Fuel, parking, stress
Option 2. Drive to Laverton or Williams
Landing, and then get the train. On the surface this looks fine, but the access
roads to both stations share the same route as the access roads to the freeway
(what madness of urban planning led to that?! Especially in the case of the brand
new Williams Landing) . So it can still take an hour just to get to the station
when things are really bad. Seeing as though its a little too late to build a separate, new access road to Williams Landing, the only thing I can think of is road widening and designating 1 lane of traffic for buses only. It would then be a very quick journey to the station and therefore more appealing than the traffic jam in your car.One more point here: Parking at Laverton is not possible after about 7am
unless you park in the derelict field nearby, at your own risk! Williams
Landing seems to be OK still for parking.
Estimated Journey time: 60 - 90 mins. 'Normally' about 75.
Cost: $12.12 return for the train +
fuel (From Williams Landing) or $7.16 Return + fuel From Laverton, which is a
zone closer.
Option 3. Get the bus to Williams Landing
or Laverton, and then the train to the city. Same traffic problem as above. No
parking hassle at least! No buses after 9pm, so don't work late or go out after
work.
Estimated Journey time: About 90 minutes
via Williams landing if the traffic is busy, but moving.
Cost: $12.12 return or $7.16 Return +
fuel From Laverton, which is a zone closer.
Option 4. Cycle to the train station and
get the train to the city. Not a bad option, but you first have to survive the
seriously scary access road also shared by all the traffic above. There are
possible alternative routes that will be far less direct depending on where you
are in the Point Cook (From Sanctuary Lakes for example, you can ride alongside
the creek bike path to the East). There is no dedicated cycle route that goes
the whole way. Also at Laverton there are no spots left in the cycle cage after
about 7:45am in summer.
Estimated Journey time: This is by far the
fastest option. You can ride past the stationary traffic and be at work within
an hour.
Cost: $12.12 return or $7.16 Return +
fuel From Laverton….both with the possibility of getting hit by a car en-route
Option 5. Cycle to theWestgate
punt, and then into the city. My personal favourite of course - but it requires a
reasonable degree of fitness. It takes about an hour and a quarter including
the punt depending on your pace and the wind. The route is wonderfully mostly traffic free,
along the coastal estuary shared bike/pedestrian path. The only hazards are
dogs off leash and the wind.
Journey time: About 80 mins depending on the wind and your fitness. Cost: $10 will get you 6 trips on the
punt. So $3.33 a day return...though you'll need a shower at work and a
decent breakfast for fuel.
The Altona bike/pedestrian shared path is beautiful
I was hoping, perhaps with blind optimism, that Get Wyndham Moving
pushes for better commuting options that don’t involve a car. Personally I'm a
bit of a ‘freak’ that doesn't mind a 60 km+ round trip on the bicycle, riding the whole way into the city. For me, I arrive at work exercised,
refreshed, on time and free of stress. I'm a huge advocate of the health and
environmental benefits of taking this option, and there is a small but growing
group of fellow West Melbourne residents who also do this and utilise the
brilliant Punt service to shorten the journey. Of course, I have to be realistic and
accept that this level of peddling commitment is not for everyone. But surely
more people would at least consider cycling to the train station if there was a
safe, but still reasonably direct route available to them ? And enough safe storage space at the train
station for their bike? Any solution to the traffic problems that involve driving, seem only likely have short term benefits at best, because road infrastructure can never keep pace with the population.
As for cycling to the local train stations...here's an example of the peril involved:
The issues with this road are:
-
Cycle
lanes are only present at intermittent intervals along Point Cook road. In some places, they
disappear quite suddenly, forcing the rider out into the traffic where there is
already very limited space. Having no cycle lane at all may actually be safer
in that at least the rider is then on a direct, and predictable line. The worst
areas for this are: South of the Sneydes Rd intersection , and north of the
Sanctuary Lakes roundabout before the Dunnings Rd intersection
-
The
roundabout at the freeway entrance near Laverton is still seriously dangerous
despite a recent upgrade. The Sanctuary lakes roundabout also pretty
intimidating and a regular accident site for cars. What is the safest route here...into the left hand turning lane, but then go straight?!
-
South
of Syndes road there is a bus stop with a section of unsealed road pushing out
into the lane. Cars travel along here at 70 km/h are expecting the cyclist to
stay in a straight line which they can’t do. The road here is also not wide
enough.
-
Cycle
access to Williams Landing does not seem to have been considered? Though there
are bike cages there that get used a little bit, I wonder how you are supposed to get across
the freeway over-bridge safely and directly without riding on the pavement which
is illegal in Victoria unless you are under 12 years old.
Finally, I was a little disappointed in opening up "what we need" section of the website that
there wasn't one single mention of cycling or related infrastructure. Is the
green bike logo on their cover just for decoration? Hopefully something more
specific comes from this as the campaign gets started. The 'race' sounds interesting at least. I'll be sending this in to Get Wyndham Moving to see what they say... EDIT: The big news only the day after posted this, is the public transport announcement that Zone 2 will be scraped. It will be interesting to see what the effect of this is, but will surely push more people towards the newer and further out train station here. The problem of course still exists I of how to actually get to the train station! And will a fare increase for zone 1 end up funding this? The budget details are "yet to be revealed".
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