Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005
To:
touring@phred.org
From: “Michael Ayers” <michael@terminalia.org>
Subject: Gondwana - Velo
Ventures through Victoria
G’Day Phreds,
Well, I’m making slow but steady progress, and have
now finished riding through Victoria, mainland Australia’s smallest state.
Conditions have improved a bit, so that is nice, but
there is more rain forecasted for tomorrow, so we’ll see.
The ferry from Tassie dropped me off right on schedule
in Melbourne, with just enough time for me to ride the easy 5 km to the city
center and catch a commuter train to Frankston, which got me out of most of the
traffic of the city. From there I had a short, flat ride to Stony Point, where
I caught yet another ferry to Phillip Island. On board that one were 6 blokes
off on holiday to French Island National Park. The ferry stopped there first to
let them off, where a bus marked “French Island Eco-Tours” was waiting for
them. They began unloading the mountainous pile of gear, which included several
cases of a local malted beverage (a real “Eco” Tour, eh?), and I glanced up
just in time to see my tent being tossed onto their pile with the rest of there
junk. “Ooops” one fellow said, “I thought they said
take everything off!” Close call there.
By the time I was off the second ferry that day, there
was not too much daylight left, so I chose to take it a little easy in the
afternoon, and not ride very much farther. In that regard, I decided to stop in
and visit the Phillip Island Koala Sanctuary. I wasn’t originally planning on
going there since I thought it might be a little touristy, or too much like a
zoo, but it turned out to be really nice. It was basically just a protected
grove of eucalyptus trees fenced off from the surrounding area where a bunch of
koalas went on with their daily routine, which is sleeping followed by a few
hours of munching on eucalyptus leaves. They were as endearing as all the
photos I’ve seen over the years had suggested, and it was probably a good idea
that I stopped there as I may not see any more as I continue on. They are scattered
fairly widely across the countryside, and spend all of their time high in the
trees. So, craning my neck skyward looking for them as I ride along is probably
not such a great idea. Especially with all the log trucks in
the area.
From there I had a couple of days of flat terrain
which was quite a relief after hilly Tassie. That allowed me to take slightly
longer rest breaks and still cover a reasonable distance. I also took my first
complete rest day (I had planned for, but skipped, two or three more by now) in
Port Albert, a tiny, historic port town which had its heyday in Victoria’s brief
19th-century gold rush. Now it is a small tourist stop, but since it
is the off season, it was practically deserted while I was there, which was
kind of nice.
East of Lakes Entrance, on my last day in Victoria,
there was a range of small mountains to cross, which was a little more tiring
than I had expected. They extend down to the southeast to form Cape Howe, which
I saw from the sea on the Direct Kestrel, and which forms the southeastern
corner of Australia. Once I crossed them yesterday, I made the turn to the
north that I had been looking forward to, and am now heading generally north
towards the warmth for the next 6 weeks or so. Longer days will slowly come into
play as well which will be most appreciated. In fact, I was able to start
riding at 7:03 AM this morning, just a few minutes before sunrise, and about 20
minutes earlier than most days so far. So I am slowly gaining more daylight.
With the winter solstice being just 11 days from now, and me heading towards
the equator, I should be gaining even more shortly.
This afternoon, I will head up the coast a little
further, as far as Bateman’s Bay, and then will turn inland towards Golburn, Lithgow, and Moree, in order
to bypass the Concrete Jungle of Sydney.
Also, I was planning on mentioning in my previous post
that all of my gear was working perfectly. However, just before then I
encountered two really annoying problems (one bike, one non-bike) which I will
hopefully have dealt with shortly. I will save griping about them for a future
post, however.
No Worries,
Mike
--
The Tour of Gondwana
May 02005 - Oct 02007
http://www.terminalia.org/tour