Warburton to Bayswater

Warburton to Bayswater = 47km
Cummulative total 140km

The campground was really quiet last night despite being quite full. We spent yesterday afternoon just chilling out and reading in the warm sun ... you can tell Autumn is arriving as it is really pleasant to sit in the sun!

The ride back to Bayswater was great, we rode the rail trail the whole way back to Lilydale instead of getting off at Mt Evelyn and cycling back to bayswater from there, we caught a train at Lilydale and got of at Croydon and picked up the bike track from there to home.
You don't realise just how much of a down hill you had going from Mt Evelyn to Warburton until you do the return journey back! Although the gradient is nice and easy and Neil and I found it relatively good going and even Dad thought it was okay. From Mt Evelyn to Lilyday it is nothing but down hill although we did get a bit lost and thought the trail continued on from the funeral home but we couldn't find a continuation and if there was one it came to a dead end at the school.
The train was late and we had to split up into 3 different doors and I think travelling on the train with the trailers is alot more stressful than cycling up a hill with traffic. But Dad had his mind set on the train and there was no going back! I think Neil suggested it because the roads would be bedlam due to easter and places finishing early because of the long break ... but we managed to get on and off without any real dramas!
Good to be back home and it is strange sleeping in a bed - I have become accustomed to sleeping on the ground and at the moment have no trouble in adapting to either sleeping in a bed or on the ground!
We stay here for Easter and will resume our riding on Tuesday after Easter break and will start our trek North!

Upper Yarra Reservoir to Warburton

Upper Yarra Reservoir to Warburton = 23km
Cummulative total = 93km

A wee bit cooler this morning but after a relatively good nights sleep (there were a few young babies in the group that created a big circle that blocked off our access to the kitchen) and they cried throughout the night and since echoing is big up here their cries were alot louder than normal!
For me the ride back to Warburton would be easier than coming up here as we had eaten most of our food and so my food panniers which were 15kg coming up here from Bayswater were probably around 5kg now! On any trip the route seems to always be alot easier than getting there. In this case I would say it was alot more down hill than up hill returning back to Warburton.
On our way up to Upper Yarra Reservoir we passed a car that was down an embankment and since I came across it and there was no glass or anything around it I thought that maybe it had just happened so I waited for Neil and Dad and Neil had a look and no one was in the car. I do remember the night before in the early evening there was sirens going to the direction of the Upper Yarra so we assumed this is where they were going to. There were a few skid marks so maybe the car was speeding down the hill and lost control and skidded off the road but managed to squeeze the car between an electricity pole and a tree shrub - lucky s/he didn't hit the pole as I think they may have come of worse than what they actually did. Anyway that happened when we stayed at Warburton on the first night and I forgot to put the camera card back in the camera so I couldn't take photos of it on the way up to the Upper Yarra Reservoir so I thought I would take photos on my way back but when I did remember on the way back I couldn't see the car from the other side of the road ... but Neil did see the car and knew where it was so he took these photos of it.

We are also going to assume that the car will most probably stay there and not be retrieved - silly though as the number plates are still on it!

We got to Warburton just on lunch and Neil convinced the manager to give us a designated camp site rather than just anywhere around the shelter. Lucky as when we passed the shelter there were huge tents and grouped that dominated the shelter and it would have been awful for us. So we had a great spot near the river. During the rest of the afternoon and night there were people coming in and setting up their campsite in preparation for Easter and then leaving to go to work (we presumed!).

Warburton to Upper Yarra Reservoir

Warburton to Upper Yarra Reservoir = 23km
Cummulative total = 70km

We woke this morning to a wet (but not cold) tent and bikes. All my washing had been rewashed with the rain from last night! There were pools of water everywhere around the tent but luckily everything inside the tent was dry, however I think a few of Dads things inside the tent became a bit damp but I think that is more from the condensation or from where the fly touches the poles and in heavy rain it just seeps through and since his inner tent is nearly all mesh the droplets just drop down on the things inside the tent ... his tent is good for summer minus rain!

Since it was going to be a small ride we started out a little later ... in fact it took dad his customary 3 hours to pack everything up so Neil, Kouta and I just hung around waiting ... waiting ... and waiting!
We started out at around 11am and I had covered Koutas basket with a rubbish bag to protect it from the wetness on the road and had placed another rubbish bag between his sunshade netting in case it poured with rain as we cycled along ... luckily it did not rain at all maybe just a few 'spits' here and there.
The road to Upper Yarra Reservoir was undulating but the climbs were easy, at least it was for Neil and I since we are alot stronger now, but I think Dad struggled a bit. The traffic was alot more than what we expected and at least 20 BMW convertibles passed us over the course of the ride ... we are assuming it was maybe something to do with the Grand Prix team as the cars were all of the same model. Despite the traffic which were very good to us on the winding road it was a pleasant ride up to the Dam and at least it was warm when riding despite the threatening grey skies.
We got to the Reservoir and it is a huge park and the DSE had been camping there for the past week (hence why we couldn't get in over the weekend) as they were doing controlled burning in the area and Upper Yarra Reservoir was their base camp. They were in the process of packing up so there were extra toilets and showers around the normal abolutions block and tents dotted here and there. But they had overtaken the kitchen and wet room so we had pretty limited access to that area for the good part of the day so it was around a 1 and 1/2 km walk to get hot water from the urn!
We did find a nice camp spot (at least we thought it would be!) and it was Dads' choice so we can blame him as there was 2 very noisy families that turned up just after we had set up camp and since we are in a valley the echoing was phenomenal so a normal tone of voice was exceptionally loud!

It was a nice campsite though and probably one of the only flat areas available! the noisy family camped just below us and one of the women spoke like "Prue" out of the Kath and Kim comedy series and like I said the voice definitely carried and the noise from the children was really loud as well but at least they were relatively quiet after 8pm!
In the evening before we had dinner we went for a walk up to the dam. We stopped of along the way to have a look at the outlay pipe, we think they were releasing water to the O'shanessy river, as the noise of crashing water could be heard where we were camping.

What sounded like it was going to be a tremendous site to see water cascading turned out to be a bit disappointing as all it was was like the photo above ... all noise and no action!
We continued up to the damn via a long winding road but Kouta didn't mind as he got to follow his nose!
The view up there is lovely and as the sun was going down the bush and hills looked very quiet and surreal.

Not too sure what Neil is thinking or smirking about here ... I do remember that Dad was 'gabbling' about something ... I have seen that look on Neil before ... he does that alot around my family!!!

A nice photo of the damn and I tried a closer one but lost the atmosphere of it.

It was a longer walk than we thought and so we got back and had to rush to get dinner made before it got too dark and we weren't sure if it was going to be a really cold night up here.

As you can see Dad is still 'gabbling' on about something while dinner was being made!

Lucklily it wasn't as cold as what we thought it was going to be at night and they campground was soooooooo quiet that it was eeeeeery!

On Tuesday it was a rest day and by now the kitchen was available so we didn't have to walk 1 and 1/2kms to get hot water.

We went for a walk this morning and didn't really have any maps of the walks and we couldn't find any boards detailing the walking tracks so we just followed anything that came along.

There was a car track that lead to the picnic area so we took that one and we were very surprised that we hadn't seen any wildlife so far, we saw their droppings and Kouta could definitely smell them but we didn't see any so that was disappointing.

Throughout the walk Kouta had his nose very close to the ground and he was loving it and I think he would have walked the whole day as long as there was a scent!

We found one walking track called the Doctors Creek track and took that - it was flat and followed a creek.

It was a bit like walking in NZ - due to the rain a few days ago the track was damp and there were alot of ferns and moss everywhere!
Once the track started to go away from the creek we decided to turn around and come back as we really didn't know where it went too and we didn't really want to get lost!

On our way back we came across McVeighs Wheel which was used back in the "olden days" (cannot remember the date so I will just call it the "oldend days"!!!) to generate power.

We got back late in the morning and come lunch time the DSE people where still packing up but they did give us a loaf of bread and everyone else was taking the excess bags of ice (we had no use for that!) but we did love the loaf of bread which we demolished over lunch (albeit a little stale but nothing that jam and nutella couldn't cover up!). I was thankful for the bread as we had to carry most of our food from Bayswater and we really had to budget the bread we were carrying so an extra loaf went down well!
For the rest of the afternoon we just lounged around reading. We did manage to watch some King parrots (they have a brigh orange head and chest) that were hanging around a tree that was near us so I got out the camera to take photos and there were at least 7 of them (mainly females) but there was this one male (as it is more colourful) that did stop and pose for us. Unfortunately the sun and strong light was behind him so the photos didn't quite come out as good as what I would have like them to.

Below is a close up of the same bird in a different pose!

Dinner that evening was the same as the night before only with a different sauce - veges and cous cous with some provencial sauce! It was nice though!

And even dad didn't mind the cous cous - I think it was because it is so easy to prepare!

During the day more people began to set up camp in preparation for Easter - there was a group of people set up in a huge circle that really blocked our path to the kitchen so we sometimes had no choice but to walk through their camp!

We know that us here at Upper Yarra Reservoir the campground is booked out this Easter ... not too sure how many people they allow here as the facilities are only 2 showers with 6 toilets (for the women) and so they have to restrict the amount of people camping so although they have the space they don't really have the facilities, in saying that most of the campers there bought up there own chemical toilets. And I would hate to be anywhere in any campground this Easter as it will be crowded and noisy ... this place is best during the week day and out of school holidays!

Bayswater to Warburton

Bayswater to Warburton = 47km
Cummulative total = 47km

Just a quick ride before we head off north after Easter! Unfortunately we were meant to head off on Friday but we could not get a camping booking at Upper Yarra Dam over the weekend so instead we will head there tomorrow and stay until Wednesday and then make our way back to Warburton and onto Bayswater on Thursday in time to avoid the awful Easter rush!
We started out at around 9.30am and believe it or not (and I actually managed to get a photo of it to prove it!) but Dad was actually ready first and was (dare I say it) WAITING FOR NEIL AND I!!!!

He was all packed yesterday whereas I had to pack up the food bags and couldn't do that until this morning and Neil had a few bits and pieces to pack up and so Dad was ready well before us!
So it was an uneventful ride via the rail trail to Warburton. Neil and I both noticed that the Montrose hill on Canterbury road and the Mt Evelyn hill were alot easier to do ... in fact Neil says that it was easy but I think that is exaggerating a bit and more like it was rideable and we both didn't have to stop and walk and found that our legs were stronger to cope with it ... Dad thought that it was tough but at least he didn't nearly dye of a stroke like Neil did on the Montrose hill when he first did it and he also coped really well with the Mt Evelyn hill.
There were heaps of riders and walkers on the rail trail today and here at Warburton campground there are a few campers. At least there are more people here than last time - we were the only campers and it was freezing!
Kouta is incredibly excited about being on the road again and is loving the camping and has spent the afternoon bounding around the grounds acting like a puppy!
We are camped near the shelter (like last time) and you will see from the photo below our tent (yellow) and dads' tent (green) ... the area between the 2 tents is what I like to call the "snoring zone" which basically means that the distance has to be great so we don't hear dad snoring!!!!

When we got hear around 2.30pm it sort of began to rain not really heavy just a spinkle and at the moment now it is trying to rain, although rain has been forecasted we are not sure if Warburton will get any (you would think it would being up in the ranges!) but it is still pleasantly warm at the moment.
There were quite alot of campers still here at that time - I think they check out late in the afternoon especially if they only have to go back home in Melbourne somewhere.

The above photo is the shelter that has a fireplace and tables and as you can see we certainly do spread out and currently have 3 days worth of food with us - around 15kg to be precise! As up at Upper Yarra Dam there are no shops (even along the way) to pick up supplies so we bought most of it in Bayswater and a few bits and pieces at Yarra Junction.
I remember last time I was here I don't think I got a photo of the Yarra River that runs alongside the campground. It is so peaceful up here and it is a shame that anyone is here really!

Not too sure if I will get internet reception up at Upper Yarra Dam so there maybe no postings until Wednesday. Until then happy cycles

check out my haircut!

Hey mum check out my hair cut ... it is a very unique style called "the I can't be bothered looking after my hair" style!!!!
Alot cooler under the helmet and it is not exactly a flattering photo as I had "helmet" hair when this was taken!

Winchelsea to Geelong

Winchelsea - Geelong = 44km

Cummulative total = 1144km

We woke this morning very early as the campground is right on the A1 and there were quite alot of noisy trucks going through at around 5.30am ... even though we woke up early doesn't mean we got out of bed to make an early start!

It was a cloudy but warm start at 8.30am and we decided to take a different route to Geelong instead of going through Inverleigh and Bannockburn. We rode 6km north on the Inverleigh road and then took a dirt road for 6km towards Gnarwarre. At first the dirt road was very sandy and soft but after a few 100ms' there were more harder sections on the road to ride on. Very few card used this road and there was one who couldn't believe that he saw bikes on the road that he had to stop and pull over and chat to us. I think he drives this road quite often and was very surprised to see us on it. After the dirt road we turned east onto a sealed road to Gnarwarre. It was undulating up and down to get to Gnarwarre but the road was fairly quiet for us. At Gnarwarre we had a very early cuppa at the CFA sheds.

Nearly every small locality has a CFA shed and they come in very handy for us to rest the bikes on!

From here the road continues east towards Geelong and is very undulating (but rideable!). Just before Ceres the road goes down a bit and I tell you there are some real "nuff nuffs" out there when it comes to driving - 2 in a space of a down hill! One old guy decides to overtake Neil on a blind curve and I am well ahead and can see him in my rear vision mirror and point to the other side of the road indicating that there is another car coming the opposite way but he stupidly stays out half on the other side of the road between Neil and I and the car coming the opposite way has to move over. At the bottom of this hill I am far ahead of Neil and another car overtakes me clearly seeing there is another car coming the other way but still overtakes and the car coming the opposite way has to get off the road! what is it with overtaking people on bikes are people just dumb?

We turned North just before Ceres and cross the Barwon River - plenty of water but it is not really flowing (stagnant).

We took a small break near the river - it is a lovely spot! Just a bit further up the road we pass a farm and at the corner of my eye (we both saw it!) I saw a huge bird and neil yells out that it is a wedged tail eagle. Now we are not too sure if it is a wedge tail eagle and we will check when we get back to Melbourne in the bird book, but it was HUGE! I thought they were only in the outback as we use to see them flying in the sky all the time. But this one was being harassed by 2 small birds on a farm and I have never seen one that close and I couldn't believe just how big it was!

As we were circumnavigating our way around Geelong I guessed we were probably around 10km out and we climbed a medium size crest and at the top was a farm that had these boulders. I suppose you are wondering why we took a photo of them .. well around this area if there is stones they tend to be the grey ones used on fences like at stoneyford but these were like smooth boulders - almost like the devils marbles!

So Neil stopped half way up to take a photo of them while I continued climbing to the top to get a photo of him and the area we just cycled through and I also loved the fact that around these boulders was this one little tree!

Neil and I must have been thinking the same thing - he takes a photo of me while I am taking a photo of him!

Not long after this we get to the main highway and have to ride around 4km on it (and it was the worst 4km of the day!) and I had time to reflect and so did Neil as we both came to the same conclusion that it must be "3rd time lucky" the first time we were here we had 50km per hour winds (headwind) the second time we had a heat wave and third time was just right!

Tomorrow we will be heading for home!

Colac to Winchelsea

Colac - Winchelsea = 61km

Cummulative total = 1100km

You know how Neil and I dislike going on any major highways ... well today had to be the record for kms' done to avoid the main highway! Normally it is 37km to Winchelsea from Colac but if you look at our map you will see that we decided to cycle the north roads (as we have previously cycled the south roads through Birregurra etc and decided we would like a different view!). It really is the loooooooooooooong way around to Winchelsea - 61km to be precise! Crazy aren't we!

It was a lovely road and the scenery is different too. Alot flatter and not so hilly like the Southern roads, but in saying that you are also exposed to any wind that might be whipping around! And believe me the wind was blowing from the South East so the final 30km was straight into the wind and I tell you at 10km out of Winchelsea I was just about over the fact that Winchelsea was still toooooo far away! And at that point I did think that we had made a mistake choosing this road with the final 30km into the headwind (the first 30km we had a tail/cross wind) as it just dragged on and on and on and on and you always hoped that over the next crest or just past the line of trees you would see Winchelsea ... but no the road just kept going!

But like I said the scenery was nice and not long into the morning we came across this bluestone farm house and outside were 3 alpacas (at least I think they are!).

They were incredibly interested in either Kouta, us, the bikes or all of us including the bikes! As they ran to the fence and were staring at us with such curiousity! They looked very cuddly and would make a lovely pet in winter!

Even Kouta was interested in them!

I liked the black one!
Also along the way we saw heaps of bulls out in the fields and there was one paddock that had these huge bulls and no amount mooing and noises from us could stir them to start running, not like other cows and smaller bulls which love it when we moo at them!

Not long after our cuppa break we came across this field of Sunflowers, we were not sure why the field had sunflowers in it but it was like they were deliberately there as they were growing close together like someone is growing them as a crop. Maybe they grow them to fertilise and nourish the field?

Mt Gellibrand is in the background - last time Neil and I saw sunflower fields was when we were in Montana and there were heaps of fields there!

We got to Winchelsea around 1.30pm and the caretaker Geoff and his little dog Fred were happy to see us.

Tomorrow we move on to Geelong and will take a different road from last time - just so we can mix it up a bit. I will have to look at the map and check which way the wind is blowing tomorrow as I don't particularly want to have the last part into a headwind (I don't mind it first thing when I have fresh legs!)