It rained lightly for most of the night (or most of the time we were awake it was raining), but it started to clear from first light. By the time we had breakfasted it had stopped raining but the skies were very grey.
Coastal view
Month: Aug 2018
Apollo Bay another hilly day Day 148 Thursday 30th August 2018
Overnight there was a good strong wind blowing, so everything was dry this morning. Again it was The Great Ocean Road all day today.
Looking out to sea from Lavers Hill
Lavers Hill and uphill it was Day 147 Wednesday 29th August 2018
No rush to pack up as we had no tent to dry or sleeping things to pack away, it is nice to have a room once in a while. Leaving Princetown you take the first gravel road on the right, the Old Great Ocean Road, what a lovely 15 km of cycling this gives you, almost flat, decent surface and we only saw one car and a tractor the whole time.
The start of the Old Great Ocean Road
Princetown via some magnificent coastline Day 146 Tuesday 28th August 2018
The whole of todays cycle is along The Great Ocean Road finishing in Princetown and what a fabulous day it has been darling (you need to say that using his Strictly voice), you know that when you take 60 pictures.
A general cliff photograph
Peterborough and The Great Ocean Road Day 145 Monday 27th August 2018
For a change we had a dry tent this morning, so it was a rapid pack up and breakfast then on the road for 8.15 am. To begin we cycled 10 km along the A1 (Princess Highway) the first 5 km was dual carriageway with a cycle lane then it drops to single carriageway.
View of the Hopkins River
Warrnambool by the rail trail Day 144 Sunday 26th August 2018
It was a very dull grey morning today, quite chilly in fact. However we have a nice traffic free cycle today. There is a 37 km rail trail (cycle path built on a disused railway) starting in Port Fairy and finishing in Warrnambool. We were very surprised how little it is advertised, only stumbling onto it by chance.
Bumping into two other cyclists at the start in Port Fairy
Port Fairy yes we actually cycled there! Day 143 Saturday 25th August 2018
We can confirm that having a Koala above you in a tree is a very noisy night time experience (they are a nocturnal animal in case you didn’t know or are a PE teacher and similar to a PE teacher sleep 18 to 20 hours a day).
Our usual 8.30 am start, cycling up the main street in Portland eventually on to Dutton Way, where we are able to cycle parallel to the main A1 for about 10 km. It follows the coast with some lovely views out to sea and the biggest bonus no traffic at all.
Looking back at Portland ships waiting to load
Portland a nice place to stay Day 142 Friday 24th August 2018
After a completely still night the tent was still very wet when we packed up and left. Immediately onto the very busy road, cycling was not pleasant as you were constantly on edge. Even though the towns are nice as a cyclist I would bypass it completely it is not safe with the heavy truck traffic.
After around 10 km of what would normally be very nice countryside cycling we pulled into a rest area, here Rick had stopped to give his dog a break and grab a smoke. We chatted a while then asked if he could give us a lift to Portland. He very kindly said yes, the bicycles and our things just fitted in.
The next 60 km we found very easy never even breaking into a sweat! Even as a car (Ute) driver not wanting to travel at 110 km/h the truck drivers would catch Rick up then be flashing their lights for him to hurry up or pull over, they really need to remember it is a public road not their road.
As we drove along Rick told us about working for the Bureau of Meteorology spending a lot of his time in Antartica supporting the scientists / meteorologists there, very interesting.
Rick on his way back to Tasmania
Nelson a day cycling again Day 141 Thursday 23rd August 2018
After camping at Bailey’s Rocks we drove the remaining 100 km to Mount Gambier, filled up with fuel (hire car was full to full) then back out to the airport to drop it off.
It took a while to assemble and repack everything in its correct place on the bicycles before leaving the airport but we still managed to get away by 10.00 am.
The 10 km back into Mount Gambier felt a little strange, what is this? our legs complained. Out of town we follow on road all the way into Nelson a further 38 kms total.
This is the first view of the sea I a long time (way way in the distance)
Bailey’s Rock Campground Day 140 Wednesday 22nd August 2018
Almost the last day of our holiday but the last day with Pat and George, after the compulsory bacon and egg breakfast we packed our worldly belongings into the hire car and said goodbye. It has been so lovely stopping here in Mildura at Pat and George’s home, although if we stopped too much longer I am sure we would not want to leave at all, thank you again it meant a lot to us to stop with you.
Pat, George and Janet
Cycle Travellers 