We set off from Gus and Clarry’s in Adelaide on a slightly overcast but warm day, ready to enjoy what we hoped would be a fairly flat and beautiful coastal ride down and across to Melbourne – over a couple of weeks. We were both ready to get back on the bikes and into our ‘normal’ routine.
As it turned out, this stage of the trip didn’t quite go as we had imagined, and ended up being some of the toughest riding we’ve done since leaving in April, both physically and mentally – proving again that this adventure is always ready to surprise us…
Ever the optimist, I’ll start with what went well:
A stopover at Sonya’s
Amazingly enough – Gus is not the only friend we have in South Australia! Sonya (an Australian ex-colleague of mine from when I worked in London) now lives on the Fleurieu Peninsula, having bought a lifestyle block up in the hills with epic views, and moving into her brand new home only a few months ago. We were her lucky guests for a night as we headed East out of the Adelaide area.
We eventually got to hers a little later than expected (more on why below), tackling a surprising amount of climbing to get out of the city. It was totally worth it though. Sonya treated us to a roast lamb dinner (demolished by us both!), champagne(!) and copious quantities of red wine (grapes grown in family vineyard…) We stayed up far too late enjoying Sonya’s company followed by a cooked brekkie the next morning before our departure. We were really taken by where Sonya has made her home and how she’s done it – completely ‘off-grid’, she has solar panels, rain water tank – the works. And more plans in the works to extend the property. We left feeling jealous and happy that Sonya has found her happy place. Thank you so much for your hospitality 🙂
Seaside towns of South Australia
For anyone who has looked at a map of South Australia – there isn’t a hell of a lot going on once you leave Adelaide and its surrounds. We loved a couple of its premier coastal towns though, especially Robe and Beachport. Robe is a popular spot for domestic tourists from Melbourne and Adelaide we’re told and is home to the best brewery tap we’ve ever been to! I say this having lived in Hebden Bridge and enjoying lots of visits to Vocation but the Robe Town Brewery was level up. Amazing beers, a ridiculous selection on tap, the opportunity to try any we liked (Matt was even given a couple of freebies!) We also enjoyed our second Aussie fish and chips in Robe – delish.
Beachport was more chilled out but with glorious beaches and a really quiet campground (apart from the Australian magpie family who were in our camping spot – or we were in theirs…)
Wildlife
Oh wow – so this really was a highlight and something we had really been looking forward to about Australia. Whilst snakes, spiders and sharks all get top billing in the list of things to worry about when coming here – these were not the wildlife we were lucky enough to spot whilst en route from Adelaide to Melbourne. Instead we were lucky enough to see more kangaroos and their little brothers (wallabies), koalas and even emus! The koalas were amazing to see up close in the wild and watching an emu running at full speed with its neck at full stretch – incredible.
(The less good bird experience was when an Australian Magpie ‘swooped’ me on the run into Mount Gambier. I kid you not, this was (nearly) as scary as a Turkish doggo chasing me…)
Camping – Aussie style
We spent the vast majority of the nights on this stage camping – and whilst not every campsite was perfect, we have become accustomed to really good camping experiences in Australia. Reasonably priced in most cases (between £12.50 and £20 maximum a night in South Australia/Victoria), with hot showers, laundry facilities and camp kitchens. Not something which is usually found in European campsites (in our experience) and definitely not in Japan, Aussies love a camp kitchen. Normally fitted out with a couple of rings to cook on, sink, fridge/freezer, microwave, kettle and toaster – we have enjoyed the relative luxury of being able to cook a bit more easily than on our little stove. And toast – ahhhh how we’ve missed you!
The Great Ocean Road
One of the main reasons we were keen to cycle from Adelaide to Melbourne was that we had heard really good things about the Great Ocean Road. Slightly foolishly we had imagined that the Great Ocean Road went all the way from Adelaide to Melbourne. Whilst there is a lot (a lot lot) of road between the two big cities which goes alongside/or somewhere near the ocean – the Great Ocean Road ‘proper’ starts in Warrnambool in Victoria and heads generally East, ‘ending’ in Torquay. Once we got onto this part of the route we could see where the ‘Great’ came from.
The road took us past some amazing limestone rock formations including the Twelve Apostles (not actually twelve!) and Loch Ard Gorge as well as up and over a couple of climbs and then hugging the coast with dramatic views all the way from Apollo Bay into Torquay – Australia’s premier surf town.
For those of a certain generation we were also lucky enough to visit the original ‘Round the Twist’ lighthouse, where ‘strange things happen’. Exactly like in the iconic 1990s TV programme (except for an absence of the strange things).
Whilst this was all good stuff – what was less good was the weather. And when I say less good, I really do mean it (look away now if you are already getting irritated reading this from the cold temperatures of December in the UK!)
Wind and rain – really Australia?
Yup – the thing that made this stage really challenging was the weather, which having had a bit of a ropey start for our drive from Brisbane to Adelaide, really took it up a notch more or less from our departure from Gus and Clarry’s.
First challenge was the wind. We were heading pretty much due South for the first few days. So the wind? It came from the South (of course) and over the course of those first few days picked up more and more as we made our way towards and into Victoria. We started off in ‘we can do this’ mode – taking it in turns to ride on the front and even smashing out a 150km day from Meningie to Kingston cycling straight into it with very little shelter. Both of us did go a little crazy that day with the (beautiful) monotony of endless kilometres of flat, straight road. But we did it!
Unfortunately, our initial energy/optimism waned somewhat as the wind continued to pick up and then decided to swing around as our direction turned south-east and then more east.
We were not to be beaten though, so after having a day off in Nelson (mainly to give our tired quads a break) we changed things up and headed inland and Northwards to beat the wind at its own game. Mission partially accomplished as that day and the following we managed to get a little bit of tailwind. Only partially though, as the Nelson to Hamilton day was also the day it started raining.
We know rain in the UK – we’re quite well rehearsed at it. And of course, on this trip, we’ve had our fair share of downpours. This was a truly biblical day though which left us both soaked to the skin and cold. Matt had the bit between his teeth though and spent the entire day ‘on the front’ cycling in what I call TMZ (The Matt Zone – don’t ask) whilst I hung on for dear life and regretted all of my life choices up until this point!
From then onwards the wind and rain continued to plague us which whilst not completely spoiling the official Great Ocean Road bit of the journey, did mean we didn’t quite see the Victorian coastline we’d hoped for. The end came on our last day cycling from Torquay – the wind had become 80kph gale force with torrential rain. Not remotely safely cycle-able. We managed 17km before catching a train into Melbourne. Done.
Before I round off the mega-weather moan it’s worth noting that yes, it isn’t as cold as it is in December in the UK (I’d hope not as we’re in Australia which is located in the Southern hemisphere) BUT not only are we cycling in the elements, but living in them too. A further reminder of important weather is to all things!
Of course this is all a choice – our choice to be here, doing this, in this way. But getting up every day to the wind howling and latterly the rain falling to get on the bike and ride into it (after packing everything away again, having only put it up not many hours earlier)… this got to us in a different kind of way than previous bad weather spells, probably as our resilience was being drained on a number of fronts simultaneously and reality wasn’t matching expectations (Australia to us Brits conjures different images to the ones we were experiencing in real life). Sorry everyone – hope you’re keeping warm and dry back home too!
Other things that tested us
Whilst I have had a couple of tumbles off the bike (so far) including the time in Japan which ended in camping in a random farmyard, Matt has managed to stay upright. It only took one day of touring in Australia for this record to be broken (luckily only the record was broken and not any bones).
We were heading out of Adelaide, which whilst boasting some great cycle infrastructure, did feature the classic ‘bike lane which runs out abruptly’ phenomenon which is common in many towns and cities across the planet (in our experience). This duly happened and we suddenly found ourselves stranded on a narrowing lane with a lot of cars, approaching some serious looking roadworks. No matter – Matt who was cycling ahead spotted that we could swing onto the pavement to avoid the worst of it.
Unfortunately though the sloping kerb that he thought he had seen wasn’t actually sloping at all and so Matt and his bike managed to hit the kerb with some force, throwing Matt and his bike straight onto the floor. All a bit dramatic to observe from behind… He had landed heavily on his left side including onto his left hand, elbow and knee which were all badly banged up. Somehow nothing was broken as already mentioned, but after a week of quite a lot of pain in his left thumb and gradual recovery ever since – it is still a bit bruised and immobile five weeks later, but improving. But his ego remains intact – the same day as the fall, we had to cycle up a notorious Tour Down Under climb (Willunga Hill) – which he did one handed!
Which leads me onto how we found the cycling infrastructure/roads en route along the south coast. I’d say overall (particularly having come from the slow moving traffic and quiet back roads of Japan) – this wasn’t great. We always do our best to pick the quietest routes possible (and of course wherever possible dedicated cycle lanes and routes). These were scarce (almost non existent) and with such a low population density there just aren’t many roads. Couple that with a lack of hard shoulder (or really rough ones on occasion) – and whilst it could have been worse, it wsan’t great either. A real shame as Australia has so much to offer for cyclists, but (for now) the (very large) ute or car is still very much king here.
Melbourne
After all of that you might not surprised to know that we were pretty happy to arrive into Melbourne – a city we absolutely loved when we last visited and enjoyed re-discovering this time. We enjoyed staying in an apartment for three nights enabling us to catch up on washing, sleep, exciting and varied breakfasts (making the most of being able to buy food for more than one day in one go), meeting up with Steph (a work colleague of Matt’s from NZ) and of course the highlights of the city.
Over a cocktail in a lane way (very Melbourne we thought!) we discussed how we were feeling after a couple of hard weeks. I admitted I was feeling a bit ‘muh’, and even homesick – we’ve been away a long time at this point and whilst there is so much that is amazing about this mad adventure, I was feeling the less amazing things a bit more intensely. A good pep talk from Matt and a resolution to try and slow down a bit more in the next phase got me ready psychologically for… more cycling in a destination even further away from home! Tasmania awaits…
PS – Your questions
Thank you so much to everyone who replied to Matt’s post asking for your questions. We will share our answers very soon as a Christmas gift to you all – we have loved how they have provoked our thoughts. Not too late to ask anything you’ve been wondering if you haven’t already 🙂
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