Three thousand

Well it's been a while since I used this internet thing. I have to try to remember what I've been up to... 

I had a bit of a stay-in-the-one-spot for a while because the "Melbourne long weekend" that is the Melbourne Cup time of the year, because I hate it when camping spots turn into mini-suburbs.  It wasn't just because THIS IS THE LAZIEST BICYCLE TOUR EVER.

Monday 25th October - Tuesday 26th October

Reeves Beach  -2 nights freecamping on Ninety Mile Beach. Lots of reading on the beach and in the hammock. 

Wednesday 27th October

Woodside Beach  - 1 night freecamping in the game reserve. I read on the sign at Woodside Beach that the history of the area is one Aborigine stuck a spear in one European and then the Europeans massacred up to 150 Aborigines. And now the area is a declared game reserve.  Bad taste? Anyway, it was off-season and the only people around was one farmer chick on her four-wheeler. The Woodside Beach barbeque area had a powerpoint so I charged my phone.

Thursday 28th October - Sunday 31st October

Paradise Beach - 4 nights freecamping about 10 kay from Seaspray. Lots and lots and lots of reading on this section of Ninety Mile Beach and in the hammock.

Monday 1st November

Rode to Golden Beach, then Longford (rotten egg smell from the gas plant), and then onto Sale. Stayed at the showgrounds for $5. The show had been to town that weekend and the carni's were still there with all the packed up rides and the generally-being-stereotypical show people. You know what I mean.

Tuesday 2nd November

Bairnsdale 1 night in the Mitchell Gardens caravan park $21

Clicked over 3000 km just as I arrived in Bairnsdale (well, my odometer wasn't working for a few days in October as I somehow lost the magnet, but nevermind) 

Wednesday 3rd November

On Leaving Bairnsdale, I headed out on the East Gipplsland rail trail (which I have ridden once before, in February 2010 when it was 43 degrees or something crazy). Shortly after passing over the Nicholson bridge I met Michael Oxer, who is the chairman of the management committee for this rail trail. We had a bit of a chat about the rail trail, cycling and public transport. He wanted to take my photo for rail trail advertising purposes, because I was a touring cyclist and they have plenty of pics of typical no-luggage trail users... but I'm not very photogenic. I think he said they had 1700 users counted on the trail last year and the number is climbing. This is excellent.

  

I had lunch at Bruthen where there are a few food shops.  Michael happened to mention that there is a micro-brewery opening at Bruthen sometime this year, and it's right next to the rail trail. I can see people getting off the train at Bairnsdale, riding the 30 km to Bruthen, having a reasonably well-earned drink or five, and then wobbling back on the trail to the train. Might have to try it myself when I get back around the Melbourne neck-of-the-woods in what will feel like several years from now.

The first 30 or so kilometres of the trail, for those who haven't yet ridden it (if not, why the hell not?) is a lovely jaunt through the rural countryside of Lucknow, Nicholson, Mossiface and Bruthen.

Another few kilometres and you're into the Colquhoun eucalypt forest. About 10 km from Bruthen, give or take, there is the turn off to the Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail, which is the direction I took. (Otherwise you keep riding on the trail to Nowa Nowa, 60 kays from Bairnsdale, and if you're keen, another 40ish to Orbost.)

The Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail is 25 km to Lakes Entrance. It starts off with a few uphills which I didn't appreciate much, but then there are about 7 kilometres of amazingly fun downhill meandering track through the forest and cuttings until you get to Logs Crossing Picnic Ground. I got up to about 20 km/h down this bit and there was lots of grinning. Then there was six kay of pushing my load up slippery hills and generally cursing Newton for inventing gravity.

Now, I'm pretty good at getting lost and being easily disoriented... and after three and a bit months of not getting lost, this day I kind of made up for all the map-reading and checking with a compass I usually do. I ended up heading in completely the wrong direction, by making a lot of assumptions, and ended up heading north instead of south. So, instead of having 10 kays left to go for the day, I ended up riding 15 kay on unsealed road. Early into this blunder I came around a corner too quickly, hit some soft gravel and ended up eating gravel. I got some skin off my knee and some more off my elbow. A day of firsts for the trip. I finally stacked it. Anyway I picked my bloody self up and kept riding (in the wrong direction still) up to Nowa Nowa Road. So anyway, I figure out by now I'm an idiot and I ride onto Nowa Nowa. That was a 90 kilometre day and I got to the Nowa Nowa 'Mingling Waters' caravan park at 8pm. Mike the proprietor let me stayed there for $10.

Thursday 4th November

Met Jeff and Fiona, two of the teachers from Nagle College who were staying at the Nowa Nowa caravan park with some of their year 9 'Duke of Ed' students. They had all ridden 75 k on the rail trail yesterday. Jeff asked if I wanted to join them all on a 10 km canoe trip in the Lake Tyers water system. Which I did. I got a lovely pink kayak. I clearly suck at kayaking as I went about 2 km at most  before being horribly behind the group who were paired up in canoes, so ended up getting towed by the boat for a while :) After morning tea I ended up in the boat for the rest of the day. Had lunch on the bank just near the start of the Lake Tyer Aboriginal Trust starts and helped start the fire for cooking some damper. 

Mike was at the tiller of the boat and I'd suggest if you're going to do the rail trail, stay at Nowa Nowa one night and slip Mike some coin for a bit of a chat about the local area - its history and its wildlife. He's a very knowledgable man and a top bloke.

I've uploaded one set of photos so far: BunurongMarinePark

Monday 11th October

I left Fitzroy North at about 1pm after sleeping in, and then doing some last minute bike tinkering. I made it all the way to Frankston! A lovely afternoon ride along the beach that I've done a few times before (without all the gear). Stayed in a dodgy motel as there are no caravan parks here and free camping in Frankston?... Well, no.

Tuesday 12th October

Another lovely day by the coast, with a lunch stop at Dromana. This was my birthday so I stayed in a 4 star motel for the night at Sorento. It started pouring by 4 pm. Happy? I was estatic. Finally, the weather has realised I'm back on the road and decided to make up for the two days of sunshine. Rainmaker is back!

Had a little party by myself in the room, eating junk, drinking too much, and rigging up my MP4 player to the TV and watching Boston Legal and listening to some tunes. It was very difficult to wake up next morning, but I'm a professional -I only slept til 9.

Wednesday 13th October

Had lunch at the Cape Schanck lighthouse. The next bit of the ride was a fun little downhill hairpin followed by me having to get off and push the bike up several very steep, windy inclines with no shoulder to speak of. Stayed at Flinders caravan park for $15.

Thursday 14th October

Had lunch at Merricks beach, then rode to Hastings. As it was still pretty early, I decided to keep riding til Tooradin where I camped for $15.

Friday 15th October to Sunday 17th October

At Tooradin I came to the realisation that the incredible number of motorbikes on the road was because of the Phillip Island GP race and I was heading straight for booked out caravan parks and conversations involving a 'sport' of wasting finite resources going around in circles. I'll pass, thankyouverymuch. So I decided to go and hide at Pakenham for the weekend. It rained most of the time. On the Sunday I took the bus to Fountaingate (i.e. Hell) to watch Tomorrow When The War Began which I enjoyed. 

Monday 18th October

Headed straight down to Koo-wee-rup where I grabbed some morning tea, and then onto the Bass Highway to Grantville. I could probably have got away with a free camp, but stayed at French View caravan park for $20. Watched the sunset down at the pier.

Tuesday 19th October

Had lunch and did a lot of reading at the beach at Coronet Bay which was nice and quiet. Then headed on to San Remo (more damn hills), did some more beachside reading (it's tough, I tell you), and stayed at the foreshore caravan park for $20.

Wednesday 20th October

Bass Coast Rail Trail

Heading back to the big round-about at Anderson, just here is the bus interchange and the start of the Bass Coast rail trail. Rode along the rail trail to Wonthaggi.

View at Kilcunda

When it gets to Kilcunda, there is a great view to the Wonthaggi wind farm and a less great view to the desalination plant construction. As I approached the access roads to the plant, I came across the desal protestors. There were several cars and a caravan with a couple of blokes sitting on top. They told me to watch out for the road damage the trucks and machinery have done, saying they "wouldn't want you to have to sue someone".  I heard later on the radio that these protesters ended up blocking an access road and causing some inconvenience.

Somewhere I read in a copy of Coast magazine a story of a surfer who fell in love with Hamers Haven so much he moved there and his devastation at finding out it was to be destroyed for an unnecessary and power hungry desal plant. Even if they manage to produce clean energy to power the plant, those wind turbines should be powering homes instead. Think about that when you turn the tap to water your suburban cancer, I mean lawn.

There are orange pipes being laid along next to the rail trail for a way and then it crosses under the trail towards the plant at Hamers Haven - or what is left of this haven. They've dug up a section of the trail and filled it in with loosely packed sand which has no warning signs. I luckily saw it in time and got off and pushed the bike through this. I still almost fell over it was so soft.

The trail also goes beside the first coal mine, which was black coal back then. In the Wonthaggi library there is an old poster that says Wonthaggi black coal, "clean, cheap and cheerful". As if the propaganda about coal is any better or less false these days!

I stayed at the Diggers Rest caravan park where there were at least five desal workers staying. They were wondering why I didn't join them for a chat by the fire. No offence guys.

Thursday 21st October
Had a wonderful day visiting all the sights along the Bunurong Marine Park on the coastal road to Inverloch. It's like a mini great ocean road. Camped at the Inverloch foreshore for $26 unpowered. Ouch.

Friday 22nd October
Rode to Cape Liptrap / Walkerville via Lower Tarwin. There is a bit of a boardwalk along a part of the Tarwin River that's nice. There were a few too many punishing climbs, but the views at the top from Gippsland and over the Cape Liptrap coastal park across to Wilsons Prom are fucking amazing on a clear sunny day, such as I had.

Camped at Walkerville for $21. There is a stunning view across Warratah bay from the top of the Walkerville road hill and this campsite comes complete with stunning views of the prom, resident wombats (I saw one barrelling past during the middle of the night - a rock with legs travelling at 40kmph) and many echidnas, rosellas and blue wrens. Here I met Steve and Dot who have been coming to the same spot forever and I can understand why. Had a thunderstorm overnight which was an interesting light show from my tent, and a dump of rain to send me off to sleep.

Waratah Bay

Saturday 23rd October
Rode a short distance to Yanakie free camp at the town hall, set up camp and unloaded my gear before riding to Duck Point and a bit of a walk around the coastline.

Sunday 24th October

A short ride to Toora along the charming back roads, with great views to Toora wind farm along the way. Toora wind farm is 12 wind turbine generators of 1.75megawatts each constructed in 2001.

Toora wind farm

Had lunch down at the Jetty which has a bird hide. Stayed overnight at a free camp just out of Toora (Agnes River rest area) where I hid behind a clump of tea tree and put some logs and dead branches around to disguise my 'swag'. A combi drove past in the rest area and didn't see me so I think I get a stealth gold star. I could see a couple of the turbines from the tent which meant I could tell which direction the wind was heading in the early morning this morning and whether it was worth waking up!

Stealth

Why I don't drive

Here's a little piece I wrote a few months ago about why I bicycle that I thought I'd share here

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Instead of driving a car, I get to places, do my exercise, de-stress and enjoy my surroundings - all by bicycle.

Life is all about choices. Quality of life is about having the power to make your own decisions.

When you hop into a car, you are handing a lot of decision making power over to other people. These people can't always be trusted to make the best choices.

You're letting others decide what good or bad things happen in order to accommodate your choice of getting around.

Someone else decides, for example...

• where oil is extracted - will it be a pristine environment and what dangers are involved if there is a mishap?
• how that oil is processed - the resources that go into the process, how waste is handled, and were humans and wildlife endangered during?
• what safety and environmental violations will be involved with extraction and processing of oil? - there seems to be always some violations
• what toxic fumes are emitted from the fuel you burn in your car and how these effect you and others.

Of course, when you ride a bicycle, you often still have to hand some control over to others

• how the materials that made your bike were extracted, manufactured in terms of environmental damage and treatment of workers
• how the waste in the manufacture of your bike was handled
• how the spare parts and bicycle maintenance products are manufactured

But none of these items go away when you drive a car. Instead, the resources involved in manufacture, maintenance and disposal of cars is a far greater burden on the environment - more resources required, more waste generated, and more space required. It is generally a lot easier to research what goes into  at least the waste stream and the treatment of workers when you purchase a bicycle. Bicycles are also a lot easier to keep going for years and years - many people still ride around bicycles that were made in the 1970s, just replacing spokes, chains, tubes, and tyres as required. 

When you ride a bicycle, you get control over how the vehicle is fueled and the impact that has. You can choose to eat food you grew yourself with minimal water and land requirements, and perhaps organically. You can choose how efficiently you ride the bicycle too as there is no need to ride at the speed limit.

Bicycles are freedom. They are the most inexpensive form of transport next to walking. It is the form of transport with the most options for when and how you get somewhere, which is freedom. It means you are almost entirely off the fossil fuel and gym membership bandwagons - freedom. Just riding a bicycle makes you feel free in a 'wind in your hair' way. You aren't trapped in a metal cage. Freedom.

Bicycles are democracy. You vote each time you get in a car, and you also vote each time you get on a bicycle. You are making a choice, and riding a bicycle is the best choice. Vote now and vote often.

Holier than thou

Yehuda Moon

My favourite photos of the last three months

A quiet country road early in the trip with a lovely wide shoulder of perfect bitumen - July 2010

Free camping on the edge of Pyranees State Forest - mid July 2010

Free camping at Lake Lascelles, Hopetoun on one of those rare days with glorious sunshine - early August 2010

An early morning shot of Lake Lascelles - early August 2010

The first 1000 kilometres, in the Mallee region here with a long straight stretch of road - August 2010

The Grampians looming up ahead - late July 2010

Late afternoon, my first glimpses of the Murray near Mildura - mid August 2010

Murray River golden sunset - mid August 2010

Woorlong Wetlands: This just looks like the end of the world to me - Mid August 2010

Free camping near Psyche Pumps with me trying to be stealth with fallen branches - Mid August 2010

Kings Billabong next to free-camp spot, just before a hail storm hit at sunset - Mid August 2010

Murray River flooding and fallen River Red Gum at Echuca (this tree was standing at what was the waters edge before the floods) - Early September 2010

River Red Gum carnage near the Goulburn River at Seymour - Late September 2010

Complete galleries available at http://picasaweb.google.com/mareebiketouroz