Lorne to Thredbo by Phil

Well, its all over!. Other than for the ride home, our around Australia adventure is completed. It only seems days since we started out , not 5 weeks. The ride from Lorne to Lakes Entrance on Thursday was accomplished without any problems. We caught the vehicle ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento as something different and then had a pleasant ride through the Mornington Peninsula where we found some interesting roads. But the reality is that we were now back amongst "civilisation" with all the traffic. The expressway from Morwell to Lakes Entrance was as boring as ever but it was noticeable the many were saying (including us) of how tired they were from the days riding.Lakes Entrance was the last day we would all be together in the same accommodation so we had a last meal together and speeches were made and farewells said. It became quite emotional at times in a nice way.Most were in to bed pretty early prior to our final days ride to Thredbo. Ian and I left Lakes Entrance just after 8am (our latest start all trip) as a few stops were planned by the organisers along the way and out thought was to catch them up along the way and this worked out well, finally meeting up at Nimitabell for a mass ride into Cooma, complete with police escort. In Cooma, a part of the street had been sectioned off just for us to park. It was terrific and the locals had really made an effort to welcome us. People lined the streets and there were cameras and other media everywhere.The Steven Walter Foundation had tents set up selling Snowy Ride merchandise and it was also a registration point for the Snowy Ride itself so there were bikes everywhere. Nothing like seeing large numbers of bikes together and their riders mixing together. Much astonishment from the locals ( non riders) that we would attempt such a trip on bikes. About 12.30pm we all set off together for Thredbo and got in about 2.00pm. A barbeque was set up for all the Around Australia Riders, support crews and organisers. Many spouses had come down to welcome the travelers home and they joined us also.Also present were kids from Cancer wards in Sydney along with their parents and siblings. The kids had the job of handing all the riders their medallions, which was a nice touch. The usual round of speeches thanking sponsors and supporters was made and after a bit to eat we slowly broke up and moved to our quarters. Very sad time in some ways as over the 5 weeks many friendships have developed and although we will most likely never see many of them again, some will stick. I will be writing a retrospective on the whole trip sometime over the next few weeks with Ian and introduce to you through word and photo some of the real characters of the trip, and there were some beauties. It was nice to be able to sleep in this morning although we were both awake as usual at 5.30am. Leisurely breakfast this morning and just lazing around today for me. Ian is braving the cold at the moment having a look around Thredbo and checking out the bikes. Ken, Paul and Rob are presently riding up to Thredbo to welcome us home and should be here soon. Another mate, Patrick, arrived last night.I will have to break out he earplugs again tonight as they ae all great snorers.The main reason of course for the whole enterprise was to raise money to enable research into childhood cancer. The total raised, as of yesterday is well over $300,000, helped along yesterday by a $100,000 donation by the Snowy Hydro Authority. The same amount has been guaranteed for the next 2 years also, so a great result.That's it from me, I am sure Ian will add some of his thoughts and emotions shortly.Thanks for following us all the way.

Lyndoch Hill to Lorne

What a nice place Lyndoch is. We had a really good time there for our rest day in very pleasant surroundings. Maybe the realisation that the ride is in its end days made people relax more and everyone was mixing together really well.Lyndoch is at the edge of the Adelaide Hills and so our morning run on Tuesday was through this very pretty countryside.We meandered along for some time heading towards Murray Bridge.Those I was leading began to think I was lost and did not know the way, but this is not true. My innate sense of direction had us on the right road, eventuality. I was unfairly maligned at dinner that night and awarded the dreaded tutu to wear today because I got lost. Got on an expressway at Murray Bridge and at Tailem Bend took the ocean road south. Very green countryside after much rain. The road was not good at all with the bitumen very rippled making riding somewhat tiring. At Kingston we stopped for lunch at the big Lobster. No lobster on the menu as the season had just opened the day before. We turned east after Kingston towards Millicent some 110km away. Dead straight road with few curves and very flat. Lots of sheep and some cattle and they looked in good condition with lots of grass present. Millicent is a pretty country town about about 50km from Mt. Gambier. Weather had been reasonable with only a few showers but unseasonably cold (15c or 16c max.) but much colder when windchill is factored. Arrived at Mt Gambier just before some rain and settled into our rooms. Came over tired after dinner and was in bed and asleep by 9.30pm Today's ride was only 400km but took some time. Checked out the Blue Lake Crater before we left. Very heavy overcast so the full effect was negated somewhat.The first 100km to Portland was showery and very cold once again. Did a quick tour of Portland and its port facilities and moved on. Weather started to improve with some sunny periods.Stopped at Port Campbell for lunch. Rugged coastline here with lots of shipwreck history. About 14km past Port Campbell we stopped at the official 12 Apostles tourist site. Ian and I hopped a helicopter and flew over the apostles and surrounding cliffs. Very impressive when viewed from 1000m.Leaving here we were soon into the twisty bits of the Great Ocean road. Over 100km of slow to medium corners Some wear finally put on the edges of our tyres.It took a while to get into the groove again as it has been so long since I did any of this type of riding. Great fun but Ian and I both commented on how physically tired we felt when we got to Lorne, where we are now snugly secured. Tomorrow sees us heading to Lakes Entrance, about 450km.

Ian's Bit:

Well the Adelaide hills were very nice, we did a very comprehensive tour courtesy of Phil's navigation skills. Finally on the right road and on our way, some showers and by time we stopped beside Lake Albert for coffee the rain had become constant drizzle.The Most memorable part of the ride was the last 100 ks into Mt Gambia, nice road with some bends. This day did not hold a lot for me, perhaps due to the weather , did not take many photos and was pretty glad to stop for the night. Separate rooms in Mt Gambia, Phil said he sleep well, my chainsaw snore he was without!

Mt Gambia to Lorne was a good day for me, started off in S.A but after crossing border , Phil slowed in the cold wet conditions, I was liking the road and got well ahead of Phil. Called into Portland, and got a few shots. Fueled at Port Fairy, very old and pretty town, caught up with with Donna and Dicko, Donna rides a Ducati Street Fighter, and Dicko had a Radar detector, my Wood Ducks ! Got going from Port Fairy at nice road pace, road was very nice and we cruised at an interesting speed. Stopped at the Bay of Islands, on the Great Ocean Road, some Photos. On to Port Campbell and caught up with Phil, easy to spot in the Tutu. Off to the 12 Apostles, heli ride and waited for the rest of the riders so we could do a mass ride out for the cameras.

Put the video on my bike and chased some riders through the curves, very nice riding, with some care needed for the wet patches. Was getting pretty tied by the time I got into Lorne, worked out a pretty long day with some more bike work required now that we were encountering corners,

Dinner with the gang, we are all starting to swap phone info and will be sad to see this adventure come to an end.

Hope it is dry for our ride to Lakes Entrance , last night were we are all together.

Ceduna to Lyndoch Hill by Phil

During our overnight stay at Ceduna 50mm of rain fell and it was still raining heavily when we left in the morning. It was also very cold and a strong cross wind was blowing in from the sea. Riding conditions were very challenging and continued so all the way to Port Augusta our overnight stop. A 500km ride in these conditions is tiring and it was a sodden and weary team who rolled into PA.Shame about the conditions because it would have been a nice ride. Ian stopped at a couple of the viewing points for some photos of the ocean cliffs and to look for whales, with no luck.Mainly scrubby all the bway except for a 100km stretch of more wheat farm. The landscape around Iron Knob, Whyalla and Port Augusta is different again. Very low extremely dense scrub about calf high I would guess, but green, Everywhere is green and it is obvious that the whole region has had a lot of rain over the last few months.Early to bed and up again early for the ride to Lyndoch Hill some 300km away. Still raining so waited a while in the hope it my lift. Everyone was leaving at different times and going by various routes. Some got wet others not. We did. Ian took a detour into the hills before Port Pirie and we escaped further rain, but it remained bitterly cold. My gear is not at its best in these conditions and my extremities were like ice.The main region we road through was the Clare Valley and it would have to be some of, if not the most beautiful pastoral land I have ever seen. Green again mostly with paddocks of wheat, canola and of course vineyards.Lyndoch Hill Retreat is located about 60km northeast of Adelaide in the Barossa Valley. Very picturesque. There is supposed to be 2.5 million rose buds in the garden at present.Its a rest day today and certainly needed by me after 8 days of continuous riding. I will ride into Gawler today, the nearest large town, and pick up some warmer clothing as the forecasts are for more rain and low temperatures. We haven't experienced any hail yet but it has been snowing in Thredbo we hear. Hard to believe that in only a weeks time we will all be home again. Check in later.

Ian's Bit:

Well we only need snow now to make it all conditions we have ridden in. Ceduna to Port Augusta was very wet, BM gear does not leak, and I did stay dry and warm, except after the first toilet stop and I forgot to zip the fly up, soon had a damp feeling and was wondering if this was a pre cursa to old age ? anyway did not stop to much, Phil worried me ,as we got separated, I knew he would be wet and cold, anyway did catch up later and all was well. I actually enjoyed the ride, think I was the only one that arrived dry. Temp was between 10.5 and 13 degrees c so pretty cold. I managed a few Photos of the group and around Port Augusta,I wasn't al that interested in getting wet taking pictures.

The next day was a short journey to Lyndock, this was wet to start and very cold? Seemed that the temp was colder but the temp gauge showed differently, wind chill ?? Got to some nice roads with bends, also cops and speed signs that needed to be obeyed. Phil was feeling pretty ordinary, so we headed to the accommodation and got Phil warm and settled before I headed to the BBQ organised. We were joined by a young man who had a similar cancer to the foundations name sake, he spoke about how he believed that the money spent on research had saved his life, he did lose a leg at 13 years of age, however is going to ride with us to Thredbo . It was also announced that the ride had raised over $300,000.00 to date, made me feel pretty good, also makes it when you see the people supporting us that have given up their holidays or taken time off work to support us, a very good bunch of folk to spend 4 weeks with.

This is a wine growing area, no interest to me ! Had a ride around, country is very pretty, love the lavender in the vines. Took some photos and have a few shots of the roses ??

Ceduna Shots ( Wet )



Port A. to Lyndoch

Border Village to Ceduna by Phil

Sunny skies but cool when we left Border Village for the 500km to Ceduna. Fairly boring run today with low scrub for the most part.It seemed strange to look to the right and sea the blue of the Great Australian Bight stretching away to the horizon and on the left a sea of green for as far as I could see. Ground cover is very green and similar in some ways to say, Madden's Plain at home. Bike is running faultlessly. Thanks Mig and Carlos. No animals other than birds seen. Road trains travel fairly fast out here and I had a near thing when one decided to overtake some cyclists while I was overtaking him. Its a bit scary when you have three trailers of beef cattle on your left shoulder and a gravel shoulder a metre away on your right. He saw me just as I accelerated past a returned to his lane. Hopefully he got around the cyclists as well. There's about 20 of them on a charity ride also from Perth to Brisbane. Crazy, but not the only ones out here. We passed one of those reclining bicycles today riding along the edge of the bitumen. He was totally enclosed in mosquito netting (for the flies I suppose)and crawling along into a strong headwind. He has a little flag on a pole but if the sun was low in the sky he would be all but invisible to a following road train or camper. They would squash him like a bug. Lots of them too.About 150km from Ceduna we entered the South Australian Wheat belt and scrub gave way to vast fields of cultivated wheat about half a metre tall. They have had some rain here so a good crop may be possible.Broken cloud overhead and as the sun peeped through it cast pools of light and shadow on the wheat fields. Very surreal in a way. Now in our motel room in Ceduna. Ian is a guest of the local constabulary. The coppers have taken him and others on a tour and tasting at a local oyster farm. Lock up your daughters!Think I got a little sun burnt today riding into the sun. I will go now and have a hot shower and see if that fixes things up.All well and having a great time. Until next.

Ian's Bit:

I am just getting the Photos up to Photo Bucket so I can load then. I had a great days ride again, I actually really liked the views, I was able again to detour and look at he scenery as Phil left before me. shot out to the Bight and got lots of Photos. Cool riding as it was overcast, no rain but cool 20 degrees and I was very comfy. I just can't express how nice the scenery is, for me to say this , I'm not considered very expressive, but I really do like the solitude. More traffic today, road is very good, after a few getting booked we traveled a bit slower, I was after a wood duck but didn't find oe so kept the speed to a respectable 120. Should have some photos up soon, this is our sixth day straight riding, two more days before a days break. Hope the Photos show how nice this place is. The local copper took us for a tto the Oyster growing area, had some fresh oysters Ceduna is Australias biggest producer of pacific oysters. Exports from Ceduna include Wheat , Gypsum , salt and mineral sands, mineral sands go for $1,000.00 a ton. very nice town with a beautiful sea line.

Esperance to Border Village by Phil

For those who could not work out whether Ian or Phil was writing the particular blog entry we will put a tag on it in future. I will overlook the insult. We left Esperance around 7.30am after breakfast and headed to our first stop for the day, Norseman. There was a strong crosswind blowing which made riding for some not experienced in these conditions some problems. The wind dropped after a few hours and riding was o'k. This is the easterly end of the West Australian wheat producing area and some of the areas under cultivation are immense. Also saw lots of evidence of salinity and some of the areas were several hectares in size. Not a nice look. Norseman is the point at which we turn east towards home. Lots of straight roads and the landscape soon changed to scrubby bushes with an occasional farm. Uneventful ride to Balladonia, our overnight stop. There were a few light showers that we rode in and out of bu dried off quickly.Considering the remoteness of the place the accommodation was clean and the restaurant food was excellent. A bunch of us was sitting around before dinner watching an approaching storm. Without any warning a windstorm hit and dust and debris were flying everywhere. Steady rain followed for an hour or so before clearing away. Very dry around Balladonia so any rain is welcome. I hear that some roofs were lost in Norseman but no damage here. We have a hardy group of 8-10 who are camping out on this trip. Not very happy when the wind and rain struck and there campsite turned to red mud. After breakfast we left Balladonia for Border Village about 500 k away. Absolutely brilliant day for riding, cool and overcast but dry. Not far out of Balladonia we came to the famous 90 mile straight, and it is, straight that is.The countryside is not what I expected (mainly desert) but ewas green and would be wonderful cattle country, They had good rain a few months ago and it shows. Stops at roadhouses were about 180km apart so this was helpful. Had a fairly strong tailwind most of the way which boosted fuel economy greatly. I was getting 27km to the litre at a stady 125 kph, which is excellent. Very interesting country, particularly from Mandura on where an escarpment several hundred metres high in places was followed by the road. Unusual feature and I wonder how it came about. It was obvious we were chasing and slowly catching the storm front from the night before as we could see rain in the distance. We pulled in to Eucla for fuel just after a heavy shower and headed to our accommodation at Border Village some 10km further on. So we are now in South Australia. Light rain as we arrived but not wet. As I write this now it is belting down outside so a lot of the group following Ian and I are going to get very wet. It looks like we have broken the drought. One of the locals is taking any of our group interested in a tour of an oyster growing operation in the area. YUK! Our accommodation here is interesting. Our oom is about 9 square metres with a double bed, single bed, wardrobe, fridge, tv and cupboards. Oh, and an air conditioner. Shower and toilet are in a seperate room attached. Cosy, but importantly ,dry. I don't know when the notes for the last couple of days will be uploaded as we are in a dead hole out here at the moment. Will write again soon.

Esperance to Balladonia Photos



Photos of the Balladonia to Boarder Village Ride



I thought I'd better add my bit to this part of the Journey. left Balladonia in overcast cool conditions. The scenery is fantastic, scrubby with small trees, red earth and no one around, only sign of human life is the road. I just cruised slowly 120 ks with the stereo playing Pink Floyd's wish you were here !! Fantastic, I really can recommend this part of the world, seems every European nation has discovered how great the Australian out back is, need to do this again.

The road stayed pretty much the same, I was chasing last nights rain and every stop was reminded of the rain, but did not run into much. Phil had left before me so I was free to stop and take photos, and get on the gas when I wanted.Stopped at all the fuell stops just to chat and catch up with the other riders. as I approached Mundrabilla I rode down this pass, what a surprise, riding in flat land and then down a pass to the flats in front of the ocean Great ! Left Mundrabilla and was getting along pretty fast untill I was flashed by a car, slowed to 125 and then got flashed by a Police car, he must have been after those going faster, and in fact did book three of our group. Got into Border Village just before the heavens opened, did it rain poured ! Good fun night with the group and then to bed, clocks go back twoo hours so it would be and early start.