Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 110 - Mount Gambier to Bordertown

Day:  110

Date:  Monday, 19 October 2020

Start:  Mount Gambier

Finish:  Bordertown

Daily Kilometres:  186 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  11483

Weather:  Cold and overcast

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Quiche, donut/cupcake

  Lunch:  Chicken & bacon melt sub

  Dinner:  Chilli con carne/Chicken parmigiana & vegetables, ice-creams 

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Around noon, we turned off the busy Adelaide-Mount Gambier highway onto the relatively minor road to (the imaginatively named) Bordertown.  The traffic noise was replaced with the loud primeval screeching of squadrons of white cockatoos and the less cacophonic high-pitched cheeping of flocks of galahs, seemingly following us along the road lined with magnificent old eucalypts.

Lowlight:  The highway out of Mount Gambier was busier than expected, with plenty of trucks.  We had to stick to the narrow road edge, often rough bitumen and barely six inches wide, for safety.  The scenery was good, but most of our attention had to be on the road.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Given we had 180km+ to ride today, we made an early start, riding north out of the dark Mount Gambier, accompanied by a surprising amount of traffic, at 5:15am.  It soon became apparent that the highway was the route of choice from Mount Gambier and south-west Victoria to Adelaide, meaning that we had plenty of traffic for the first 125km on a road not kind to cyclists (see above).

On the plus side, there was a following breeze, the road grades were gentle, and the rural scenery interesting.  Initially, it was mostly lush grazing country but, as we neared Penola, where we stopped for breakfast at a bakery, there were vast vineyards and many familiar winery names (even to me).  The vineyards continued the other side of Penola for many kilometres and then became less frequent, with more grazing country and some crops.

We reached Naracoorte around 10:15am, with 102km done, and stopped at a service station on the outskirts for a snack and to buy lunch for later consumption.  While stopped, I booked accommodation in Bordertown, our goal for the day, having heard nothing about changes to New South Wales regulations for entrants from regional Victoria following the latter's eased COVID-19 restrictions today (read yesterday's blog).

After Naracoorte, the surrounding lush rural countryside became a little hillier, though the cycling remained easy, apart from the volume of traffic.  We were happy to leave that traffic behind when we turned off the busy highway to take a relatively minor road towards Bordertown.  Suddenly, apart from the birdlife (see above), peace and tranquility reigned.  There was little traffic and the wide roadside easement was a forest of magnificent eucalypts, later joined by prolific grass trees.  With 40km to go, we stopped for a picnic lunch on a patch of roadside grass, before continuing on to little Bordertown, the birthplace of the famous Australian, Bob Hawke, where we arrived about 3:45pm.

We stopped in at the town supermarket to buy some snacks and drink, but didn't buy microwavable dinner because the motel had said our room didn't have a microwave.  Of course when we got there, 1.5km outside of town, our room did have a microwave.  So, after unloading the bikes I rode back into the supermarket and bought some frozen dinners.  Not a big deal, but not something I needed at the end of a long day.  Just one of those travel hiccups.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 109 - Mount Gambier

Day:  109

Date:  Sunday, 18 October 2020

Start:  Mount Gambier

Finish:  Mount Gambier

Daily Kilometres:  17 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  11297

Weather:  Cold, overcast and windy

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs on toast

  Lunch:  Fish & chips/

  Dinner:  Spaghetti & meatballs/Chicken pops & vegetables, apple crumble & custard

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Umpherston Sinkhole was an unusual and interesting sight.  A sinkhole (collapsed limestone cave) was developed in the late 19th century by a wealthy landowner as a sunken English-style garden, then fell into disuse before being restored in the late 20th century.  It was unique, like a terrarium nestled in a hole, with creepers forming a curtain around the sides and lawns, paths and exotic plants at the base.

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a day off in Mount Gambier today, partly as a rest and partly to await the scheduled announcement about the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria.  We are only 32km via our originally intended route from the Victorian border, but we don't want to go into Victoria, which has been fighting an extensive second coronavirus wave, unless we can get back into New South Wales (NSW) without undergoing two weeks of self-funded hotel quarantine, as is the case now.  [One hundred metres from our motel is another motel, temporarily-fenced and guarded by police and military personnel, with a row of neatly parked civilian vehicles outside, which we presume is the compulsory quarantine site for people entering South Australia from nearby Victoria.]

So, we slept in late, ate Julie's microwaved scrambled eggs on toast (delicious), watched (me) the Sunday morning current affairs programs on TV, and then rode our unloaded bikes to two of the local scenic highlights.  Firstly, we cycled up to the rim of The Blue Lake, a water-filled volcanic crater dating from just 5,000 years ago.  It was very impressive with sheer walls descending to the mirror-calm 70 metre deep lake, which apparently changes colour at different times of the year.   The rim trail also gave excellent views over the very green rural countryside and the large town of Mount Gambier.  We rode the 5km lap, stopping at various points to admire the views and take photos, before descending through the centre of the historic town and pedalling out to the Umpherston Sinkhole.

The Sinkhole was unusual and spectacular (see above), and we locked our bikes to a pole (which we later realised had a base plaque saying it was a heritage gaslight pole!) and descended into the exotic garden for a look around.  It was lunchtime by the time we left, so we rode back to our motel via the local fish and chip shop and supermarket.  After lunch, Julie did the laundry while I watched Australia get trounced by New Zealand in the second Bledisloe Cup rugby match on TV.  It's called division of labour!  Later, we returned to the supermarket to buy some microwavable dinner and other supplies, had dinner in our room, and had an early night.

Victoria did announce some easing of restrictions, but not enough to allow us to follow the coast through Melbourne back to NSW.  However, restrictions in regional Victoria, which already has looser restrictions, were also eased and there's some chance NSW might change its regulations to allow regional Victorians to enter NSW without quarantine.  In the absence of such a change, we will head north tomorrow, paralleling the Victorian border, for three days and then cross into NSW and head for home.  If NSW favourably changes its policy regarding entrants from regional Victoria in the next couple of days, we may turn eastwards and at least ride some of western Victoria including the Grampians and the Great Ocean Road before heading home.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 108 - Robe to Mount Gambier

Day:  108

Date:  Saturday, 17 October 2020

Start:  Robe

Finish:  Mount Gambier

Daily Kilometres:  137 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  11280

Weather:  Cold, mostly overcast and windy

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Apricot bun & donut/Sausage roll & apricot bun

  Lunch:  Chicken, bacon & cheese met sub

  Dinner:  Pulled pork & rice/Lamb rissoles & vegetables, apple pie & custard

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  On the road out of Robe, foam whipped up on one of the small lakes by the wind blew across the road.  Out on the highway, we were buffeted by the raw south-westerly, straight off the Southern Ocean, under a gloomy heavy overcast with occasional spits of rain, as we rode past dunes and across flat farmland.  It was elemental and invigorating ….. at least for the first hour or two.

Lowlight:  There were no easy kilometres today.  The cold blustery wind was either across us or against us, and never gave us a break.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

As usual, we both groaned when the alarm went, this morning at 5:15am.  It's always hard to get out of bed, but once we do, we each fall into a routine that generally sees us packed and on our bikes in 30-45 minutes.  There are never any groans when we start riding, just a pleasant anticipation of the day ahead and what surprises it might hold for us.

We rode out of Robe at 6am, aiming for the the small resort of Beachport, 52km away, for breakfast.  It was cold, gloomy and windy (see above) as we followed the coastal dunes to the south-east. Initially, it was flat with a mix of coastal vegetation and farmland, but further along we encountered some gentle hills and rolling green pastures.  Near Beachport, the country was more open and the cold wind fierce.  We stopped to look at the resort's wind-whipped ocean beach, before riding into the town along a bike path which passed a surprisingly well-patronised, but very bleak, caravan park.  It was hard to imagine what outdoor activities the holiday-makers could have on their menu for today.

We bought breakfast from the deli/newsagent on the tiny main street and ate it at an outside table, shivering in the wind.  We didn't hang around and rode back out of town around 9:30am, bound for Millicent, 32km away.  This area is known as the Limestone Coast, and the white rock could be seen in small outcrops and in bare patches in some of the fields.  Despite the wind and cold, the increasingly undulating countryside was varied and attractive, populated with plenty of well-fed cattle.

Millicent is quite a large town, but looked desolate today, with the cold wind whistling down the very quiet main street when we arrived at 11:30am.  We bought a snack for morning tea, which we ate on an exposed bench outside the Visitors Centre, as well as a sub which we carried with us for a later lunch.

After Millicent, pine plantations became a common feature, which was good for us, because they had a dampening effect on the wind.  We had one final break, to eat lunch, on an exposed picnic table by the road, before cycling the remaining 30km to Mount Gambier, our goal for the day, which we reached about 2:45pm.  It is a large town, and it took a little while to get from the outskirts to our motel, during which time it began to rain. Fortunately, the rain abated and we checked in, very pleased to have finished the day and to get out of the elements.  Although not a huge day, kilometre-wise, it was hard work, offset by varied scenic interest.

After showers we walked to the nearest supermarket, 600 metres away, to buy dinner, and got caught in a light rain shower on the way back.  After a microwaved dinner, we (well, me, anyway) watched the football finals on TV, enjoying the warmth of our heated room on a very wintry evening.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 107 - Policeman Point to Robe

Day:  107

Date:  Friday, 16 October 2020

Start:  Policeman Point

Finish:  Robe

Daily Kilometres:  148 (click for Julie's Strava and photos and here for Robe sightseeing)

Total Kilometres:  11143

Weather:  Cold and overcast in the morning, mild and mostly overcast in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Ham salad roll/Cheese salad roll

  Lunch:  Pastie & donut/Sausage roll & vanilla slice

  Dinner:  Bangers & mash/Chicken Kiev & vegetables, ice cream & chocolate pudding

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  The morning riding with Coorong National Park on one side and grassy farmland or dense coastal forest on the other.  We only got glimpses of The Coorong (lagoon) itself with much of the ride through a tunnel gnarly malaleuca forest that opened occasionally on the left side to reveal low hills of grassy farmland, some of it almost golf course-like.  It went on and on, bringing home how vast and isolated this area is.  As a bonus, we even saw three emus.

Lowlight:  We were dive-bombed by magpies several times during the day.  Having read that a Victorian man had been hospitalised earlier in the week after being attacked in both eyes by a magpie, there was a certain tension as the birds repeatedly swooped, but we survived unscathed.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Although we had a relatively short 140km day planned, the forecast was for a cold day with headwinds and we were a little apprehensive about how hard the day would be.  We decided an earlier start was required, though not too early given the forecast temperatures.  Accordingly, we were on the road soon after 6am in chilly conditions (feels like 5°C, said the weather app) to find there was a headwind, but not as strong as feared.

We rode for a little over two hours along the edge of the Coorong National Park enjoying the remote coastal area's views and forests (see above) before stopping in a rest area for breakfast.  It was somewhat protected, so wasn't freezing, but was cold enough for us to decide to leave our extra layers of clothing on for the next leg.  We split the 50km to the town of Kingston SE from our breakfast stop into two with a break in another chilly rest area.  The country was becoming more rural, but there remained a long line of high sand dunes to our right, beyond which was the ocean, and there were still ponds, lagoons and wetlands around.

At the outskirts of Kingston, reached a little before noon, we made a detour through the small town to the coast where we had a look at the grassy foreshore reserve with no discernible beach and the relocated (into town) Cape Jaffa lighthouse.  We didn't hang around, and returned to a bakery we had seen on the highway for a nice lunch made even better by the heated interior where we dined.

We thought we might need to break the remaining 46km into two legs given the wind was still blowing, but it wasn't too bad.  Initially, it was through flat verdant farmland, but became hillier closer to Robe with some vineyards and pine plantations.

Robe is an historic small port (with a foreshore monument to the thousands of Chinese gold miners who landed there in the mid-1800s before trekking to the Victorian goldfields) which has become a popular beach resort.  We stopped in at our booked motel at 2:45pm, unloaded our bikes, and then spent an hour riding through town and around the adjacent cape known as The Tip on a challenging little bike path admiring the jagged limestone coastal cliffs and offshore rock formations.

Back at the motel, we did the usual showers and shopping before eating a microwaved dinner before watching some televised football and retiring.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 106 - Murray Bridge to Policeman Point

Day:  106

Date:  Thursday, 15 October 2020

Start:  Murray Bridge

Finish:  Policeman Point

Daily Kilometres:  133 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  10995

Weather:  Mild and overcast in the morning, overcast and windy with some rain in the afternoon

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & bacon rolls

  Lunch:  Ham salad roll/Chicken salad roll

  Dinner:  Pizza, chocolate pudding & cream

Aches:  Nursing a troublesome right hip flexor

Highlight:  Riding alongside The Coorong, the famous and internationally recognised 130km long lagoon system/wetland formed as part of the Murray River estuary and separated from the Southern Ocean by the long stretch of sand dunes known as the Younghusband peninsula.  In today's weather, it looked wild and unforgiving, with the shallow lagoon whipped into whitecaps, the dunes separating the ocean from The Coorong indistinct in the rain, and pelicans struggling to make headway and maintain formation as they flew overhead (it was the location for the movie, Storm Boy).  It seemed remote and inhospitable, with just a few fishing shacks in sheltered hollows, a couple of sheep stations, and the small town of Meningie, but apparently it was the most densely populated area in Australia prior to European settlement.

Lowlight:  I got stung by an unseen bee on one of my fingers while riding.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a relatively easy 130km planned for today, with a couple of towns en route and a light following wind forecast, so we didn't hit the road until about 6:45am.  We started by riding through the regional town of Murray Bridge and crossing the Murray River on the long bridge which, because of its narrowness, did not make it easy to stop and take photos.  We stopped on the eastern side and Julie ran back on the narrow pedestrian path, still wearing her helmet, to take the required photos.

From Murray Bridge we had a pleasant morning ride across rolling green pastures under cloudy skies paralleling the river to the small town of Tailem Bend where we bought some breakfast at a roadhouse around 8am.  We turned off the main Adelaide to Melbourne road soon afterwards, towards The Coorong (see above) and the small holiday town of Meningie.  Shallow lakes, sand flats, and marshy areas began appearing in the lower lying areas, while the higher ground remained green pastureland.  Near Meningie, we reached the broad expanse of The Coorong with the sand dunes separating it from the ocean visible in the far distance.  When we reached the town, we found a bakery where we bought sandwiches for lunch today and for breakfast tomorrow, along with a morning snack which we ate in a pretty foreshore park.

Soon after leaving Meningie, at around 1pm, the weather took a sharp turn for the worse, with a vicious cold south-easterly headwind springing up to make cycling very hard.  Our speed dropped, but time wasn't an issue as we only had about 40km remaining for the day.  We stopped for a quick lunch at an exposed little picnic area overlooking the windblown Coorong around 1:30pm and then struggled into the wind for the last 18km to Policeman Point, our destination for the day.

Policeman Point is no more than a windswept couple of houses and a tiny hotel-motel in the middle of nowhere, but it was a welcome sight to us and we checked in at 3pm and shortly after were enjoying warm showers in our room.  The rest of the afternoon was spent trip-planning and relaxing, after which we bought dinner at the pub and had an early night.  I think we are the only people staying here.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 105 - Adelaide to Murray Bridge

Day:  105

Date:  Wednesday, 14 October 2020

Start:  Adelaide

Finish:  Murray Bridge

Daily Kilometres:  82 (click for Julie's Strava and photos)

Total Kilometres:  10862

Weather:  Very warm and mostly sunny

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Huge Italian breakfast

  Lunch:  Ham, cheese & salad rolls

  Dinner:  Bangers & mash/Chicken pasta bake, ice-creams

Aches:  My hip flexor has been quite sore today 

Highlight:  Meeting up for breakfast with friends from home, Bec and Ron, who are in Adelaide for their daughter's wedding.  It was nice to see some familiar faces and we had a good chat over an exotic and huge Italian breakfast.

Lowlight:  None really.  It was a tough climb out of Adelaide, but we knew it would be and the beautiful scenery was more than adequate compensation. 

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were meeting Central Coast friends, Bec and Ron, for breakfast near our apartment at 8am, so we got up early enough to pack our bikes ready to go before walking to the cafe for a very pleasant catch-up (see above).

After breakfast, we returned to our apartment, checked out at 10:15am and pedalled south-east out of the city on a warm and sunny morning.  Our major cycling task for the day, climbing over the shoulder of Mt Lofty on the Crafers bike trail, began after a few gradually uphill kilometres of suburbia.  The bike path followed the route of the old major road out of Adelaide to the south-east which had been superseded by a freeway that could be seen for much of the early ascent.  The climb never got steep enough to require walking, but it was long and quite warm, and we were envious of the road cyclists whizzing down from the opposite direction.  Near the top, there were some spectacular views back over Adelaide through gaps in the peaceful bush bordering the road.

Once we got to the top, we discovered that we could not join the freeway as I had hoped (for easier riding), and had to follow some old roads through the Adelaide hills instead.  They took us on a winding and undulating route through the lushly beautiful mountain scenery, past lovely homes and cosy little villages, and on some exhilarating descents.

At Hahndorf, a very touristy and busy village set in an attractive wine district, we bought some lunch which we ate at a park 5km further along the road with 45km to go to Murray Bridge, our goal for the day.

On the Google elevation profile for our day's ride, it showed a steady descent after our climb over Mt Lofty, but it was anything but.  It seemed that every little village was in a valley that was preceded by a fast descent and followed by a grinding ascent.  There was a sporadic following wind which helped, but we found the hills hard, perhaps because we were out of practice after many days of outback riding.

As the afternoon progressed, the country opened out into farming land and the hills became less frequent.  An amusing episode occurred in the last 15km when we passed a guy wearing denim jeans doing something to his road bike by the side of the road.  I said "g'day" as we passed but he was unresponsive.  Then, a few minutes later he pedalled furiously past us without saying a word and then kept looking back to see where we were.  He even took a gravel road shortcut on a sweeping bend to get further ahead.  After another 5km, and going up a steady hill, we saw him up ahead walking along the road pushing his bike.  He looked back, saw us coming, and jumped back on his bike and began pedalling hard again.  We never did catch him.

We reached the town of Murray Bridge around 3:45pm and checked into our motel on the western outskirts of town.  Later, we bought some supplies from a nearby small supermarket and microwaved our dinner back at the motel.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 104 - Adelaide

Day:  104

Date:  Tuesday, 13 October 2020

Start:  Adelaide

Finish:  Adelaide

Daily Kilometres:  0 (click here and for Julie's Strava and photos of today's walks)

Total Kilometres:  10780

Weather:  Warm and sunny

Accommodation:  Apartment

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs, rissoles & bacon

  Lunch:  Egg & salad roll/Tandoori chicken roll

  Dinner:  Rissoles & vegetables/Steak & vegetables, apple crumble & ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Nothing in particular, but a very pleasant warm sunny day wandering around Adelaide

Lowlight:  Lukewarm showers in our apartment until a maintenance man found a previous tenant had turned off a valve (or so he said).

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a slow start to the day and enjoyed a home-cooked breakfast, for a change, before going for a walk around the downtown area including paths along the River Torrens, the Adelaide Oval, Rundle Mall, Pilgrim Uniting Church (where my sister was minister for a number of years) and the lively and interesting Central Markets full of appetising food and fresh produce stalls (and where COVID-19 seemed to be a distant memory).

We bought some scrumptious rolls from one of the market vendors and took them to the very pleasant Victoria Square where we joined scores of office workers eating lunch on a beautiful spring day.  After lunch, we caught a tram to the city's main beachside suburb, Glenelg, and had a wander around before returning to the city and collecting our serviced bikes from the shop near our apartment.  No major problems were found, which is a testament to the quality of the bikes given the pounding they have received over the past 8,000 kilometres with virtually no maintenance.

We had another home-cooked meal for dinner and a quiet evening.  Back on the road tomorrow.