Great Ocean Road Trip

I'm feeling a little rusty.  It's been a while since I've written a blog post.  It's also been quite some time since I rode a bike.

A couple weeks ago I quit a dishwashing job in Melbourne so I could get out and explore.  I bought a second hand bike from the classifieds and modified a couple backpacks into panniers, took the train to the city's' edge, and started riding.  My route was along the spectacular Great Ocean Road to the south west of the city. 

It's one of my favorite things about bike trippin-it's so easy to get up and go.  My planning and preparation was so minimal that I could have started two days after I had the idea.  Although it did turn out that I was under-prepared, having left without a raincoat.  Although it may have been better to have travelled in the other direction, or if I started off 5 hours earlier on my first day, everything worked out okay in the end - which is to say I made it.

The hardest part is always getting started.   Packing up and leaving home, I'm usually sure that I've forgotten something, but nothing is perfect so I leave anyways.  I was planning to depart around 10am and actually left at 3.  So by the time I got off the train it was already 5:30 and I was forcing my untrained legs to propel me into the wind as fast as I could.  I didn't know where I was going to spend the night, but I needed to get past the suburbs and housing developments, was determined to see the ocean by sundown, and hoping I could find someplace to pitch my tent for free.

I arrived in Torquay at dinner time and enjoyed peanut butter and cheese sandwiches for dinner (as much as one can enjoy such sandwiches) with a grand view of the ocean.  The beach before me hosts one of Australia's largest annual surfing events, but today the waves looked tame.  There were a few groups of surfers bobbing around in the breaking waves.  They appeared to be having fun.

After dinner I had a quick stretch before hauling ass out of town to the first grassy patch on the side of the highway that is hidden enough to pitch a tent.  I found a suitable near the "Please come again" sign.  There's an hour of sunlight left, so I waited for 45 minutes before setting up camp, thus lowering the chances of being spotted.  I'm exhausted, and sleep comes within minutes, drifting on the distant sound of waves, and the gum trees blowing in the wind.


 One thing I enjoy about living in a tent is eating breakfast in bed.  I don't bother getting out of the sleeping bag before I start loading up on energy.  I imagine I've got a ways to go, and as long as I'm eating, I don't have to get started.  I love riding a bike, but the first 10km of the day can be daunting.

The experience is well worth the hardship.  The vistas are breathtaking and plentiful.  Sometimes I ride beside the ocean, stopping at beaches and breathing salty air.  Other times I ride through the forest, enjoying the aroma of the gum trees and watching out for koalas.

Once I reach Cape Otway National Park, there are koalas everywhere.  They're easy to spot because:
a) They hardly ever move
b) There are large groups of tourists photographing them along the roads.

 They're super cute and I'm impressed by thier ability to sleep while they are wedged in the forks of gum trees forty feet above the ground.  I found the one pictured here all on my own.  I spotted him because he was actually moving.  I've heard that koalas are permanently stoned from some chemicals present in the eucalyptus leaves which make up thier diet.  This one must have just woke up because he was climbing his way down the tree.  I pulled over to photograph him, and inadvertently alerted a passing tour bus to his presence.  Sure enough it pulled over and everybody piled out for a photo shoot.  I don't imaging the koala came down from the tree any time soon.

I camped on some nice beaches in the Otways and walked around a lot.  I met another touring cyclist from Austria, and we talked for a while.  We were travelling in opposite directions, and we both believed we had been facing headwinds the entire time.  We agreed that the wind must change directions at our meeting point.

Sure enough, the following day the wind was behind me. I rode across a feeble wooden bridge which was closed to cars.  I was feeling lucky after my safe crossing, only to find myself cycling down a road which was aptly named "Sand Road".   I rode it like a sidewinder snake.  As fun as it was, I was glad when it was over.

The Twelve Apostles

That day I went far, carried swiftly by the wind and intese joy.  I made it all the way to the Great Tourist Attraction of the Great Ocean Road.  The Twelve Apostles were  magnificent.  They were also magnificently crowded. 

I joined the masses and took my photos and walked the boardwalks and ewed and awed and asked passerby to photograph me and clicked photos of anybody who asked.  And then I left.  I could hardly wait to get back on the road.




I camped that night in a burnt out stand of trees about fifty meters back from the cliffs whcih dropped down to the ocean.  When I awoke, the wind was still in my favor, and I knew it would be my final day on the road.  I stopped at all the scenic lookouts including the infamous London Bridge.


London Bridge (pictured at right) was once connected to the mainland, but the connecting arch collapsed in 1990.  Two people, a man and a woman, were left stranded on the new island.  They were later rescued by helicopter.  Alledgedly, the man had called in sick to work that day so he could have a romantic getaway with his mistress.  The rescue was televised, and Mr.  Unfaithful Employee/Husband was found out.  Bad luck makes good stories.

Shortly after London Bridge, the road turns inland.  Farmland stretches out as far as I can see.  The going is fast with the tailwinds on the flatland, and I'm soon at the Warnambool Train Station waiting for the train to take me back to Melbourne where I will hang out until I'm ready for the next step of my journey.