Boort to Kerang

Boort to Kerang = 52km
Cummulative total = 513km

Last night despite thinking the campground was overpriced we did have a nice setting and I managed to take a photo of it around sunset.

At this point the view was lovely but the temperature was starting to get cold, enough to have to put pants and the merino and polar fleece vest on!
For dinner last night we had steak sandwiches (and the steak was a little tough to bite into!) as we don't seem to eat enough red meat - generally veges or chicken! Dad decided to boil himself some eggs, so here is a photo of him doing 2 things at once! 1. boiling his eggs and 2. patting Kouta and giving hime some attention!

I know what Kouta is thinking while this photo is being taken 'Oh I hope phil gives me an egg' but that was wishful thinking Kouta!

Todays ride to Kerang was flat but a little tougher, we had a slight cross to head wind but that was no real drama and cruised along at around 16km per hour (instead of out 20km per hour with a tail wind!!!) The country side is still flat and I think it will be like that from now on and as we got closer to Kerang the fields were more lush that 100km south. But one thing we did have to battle with today and that was swarms of locusts. We had seen cars and trucks that have them splattered all over the front but for us they just get a head ache when they bang into us.

Generally they were in groups and some where actually quite thick in places. I couldn't figure out why they always were going from a left to right (and never from right to left).

We took regular breaks today for dad as he doesn't like head winds and to break the journey up we would stop every 14km or so.

Our first rest stop we had to park in the middle of the dirt road as this area and alot further a head is 3 thorn jack country and I do not want these in my tyres so to play it safe I try not to take the bike of the roads!
Our lunch break was at Lake Merang and we stopped at the telstra exchange like we normally do and Neil was over taking a photo of us and he came across this letter box and thought the concept of "no junk mail" on someones letterbox out in the middle of nowhere was really strange. It is not like there would be an abundunce of coles, woolworths, kmarts, reject shop etc way out here to even warrant brochures! But is was still funny that someone had put it on their letter box.

As you can tell it is a lovely warm day and with this north easterly wind came warmer temperatures - I think around 24 degrees which is fabulous to ride in!

I think Dad at this point was happy to see the turn off road to Kerang! Only 2 more kms to go!

I haven't been into town but Neil says there is a woolworths so it must be a reasonable sized town to have one of those.

The campground is okay and has a small camp kitchen and rec/tv area with tables so at least that is better than last night. There is a big camping area which Kouta can run around in.

Tomorrow is a nice short day to Koondrook/Barham so Dad can get his first look at the Murray (at least I think it is his first real look at it) and we will stay there as a rest day. And I think the northerlies are with us for the next few days but somehow I don't think it is hot enough to go for a swim in the Murray!

Wedderburn to Boort

Wedderburn to Boort = 48km
Cummulative total = 461km

this is a bit late as there was no internet reception at Boort, in fact the signal was very weak so I am doing this from Kerang.
The rest day at Wedderburn was great, very relaxing. We toke a small walk around the reservoir which was at the back of the campground. I would imagine the reservoir would be very nice in the hot weather that they can get up here, but when we walked around it somehow I don't think it was very inviting ... a wee bit too murky for me!

The Wedderburn campground is really nice and I highly recommend it - cheap and clean with all the facilities a cyclist needs but can't carry on the bike! Also opposite the office is a little hut with a great deal of history. Originally it was at the back of the reservoir and in 1983 it was moved to its current location in the caravan park. The hut was built by an 11 year boy (with guidance from adults) and he built it for some woman called Nancy Stokes who previously lived in a make shift tent that was patched together and the little boy thought that this woman couldn't live in the tent like that. So between the 2 they built this hut and she lived in it until 1979 (which is only 31 years ago!) and she was 93 years old! Marvellous story it was!

Our campsite

Nancy Stokes hut/house

So the ride to Boort was relatively uneventful, we had to wait for dad for a long time while he got himself packed up. Below you will see a photo of Neil and we have titled it "the waiting for dad pose" LOL!!!!

So we knew the ride to Boort was going to be easy - flat and a raging tailwind! And dad was very happy with the cycling today!

We got to Boort around lunchtime and it did cross our minds to continue another 51km to Kerang since the wind was so strong, but I think that would be pushing it for dad!

The campground at Boort was expensive $35 for the 3 of us and "listen to this" there was no facilities for us - only a shower, toilet and laundry! no sink to wash dishes, no kitchen, no power points at the bbqs and no real area for unpowered camping! but there are more bbqs in this park than actual people! So she stuck us in the corner near the water skiing facilities. But we did have nice view of Little Lake Boort (Neil said Lake Boort itself was dried up)
I don't know why but today while cycling we stopped at a place called Korong Vale and neil took this photo of this building so I have put it up here on the blog just for him!

I must admit there are some really lovely old buildings in some of the towns we pass through, most have been kept up and look great!

Tomorrow we head for Kerang.

Bridgewater on Loddon to Wedderburn

Bridgewater on Loddon to Wedderburn = 39km

Cummulative total = 413km

It was a nice short day today and we got here around lunchtime. But first the campfire last night was fabulous it was sooooooo warm around it and you certainly noticed the difference when you came away from the fire but I think we all went to bed nice and warm and I could still feel my face burning from the heat from the fire, not that we had a huge fire just a nice small cosy one!

Again it wasn't that cold either last night I think because of the wind.

Today we took the Calder Highway to Wedderburn and we had a shoulder the whole way and it was a relatively good one to cycle along.

Our first rest was at a place called Kurting. We sat in the local bus shelter and amused ourselves by watching Kouta dance around trying to catch the locusts ... even Kouta ended up jumping like them in the end. There are alot of locusts about and today at Wedderburn we saw the mobile library and the front bull bar, grill and window screen was full of dead locusts!

While sitting in the bus shelter Kouta sits next to Neil and I managed to take a photo of Neil and Kouta together ... take a look ...

.... one day Neil is going to get just a bit toooooo close to kouta and kouta is going to shoot out his tongue and manage to lick Neil!!!

So we continued along the Calder highway and we were expecting alot more traffic but there wasn't a lot really especially trucks ... maybe we have missed there run from Melbourne, Bendigo and onto Mildura and vice versa?

Listen to this ... at our next quick rest stop there was this information board with a clear perspect over it and we were all standing there reading it and I noticed that there was a male huntsman spider there and we are all thinking that it might be stuck and dead there so I go off to get my camera and came back to take a photo and bloody Dad decides to tap the perspect and it moves and that just sets me off completely ... here I am trying to take a photo and screaming at him to stop tapping and Neil is bloody encouraging him so I gave the camera to Neil and said to take a photo of it and I stormed off screaming and ranting and raving like you do when you are shit scared of spiders!!! Reminding dad that I don't like spiders and if there is a male huntsman there is bound to be a damn female one and she is bigger and meaner than that one Dad so I wouldn't be so casual about this so called little spider!!! ... did he listen to me? ... no!

We are having a rest day at Wedderburn and the campground is great, it has everything that we need - bbq, camp kitchen and mossies! Quite cheap to camp only $17 for the 3 of us ... the woman at the moment is only the caretaker as the owners are on holiday so Neil thinks she may have under charged us ... but that doesn't matter! There is a reservoir at the back of the campground so we may try and find the walking track to it ... you never know we may stumble across a huge gold nugget along the path ... but that is not likely!!!

Maldon to Bridgewater on Loddon

Maldon to Bridgewater on Loddon = 54km
Cummulative total = 374km

If you ask any off today what the cycling was like today I think we would all reply that it was the perfect cycling day - flat and tailwinds!!! Dad loved it and was happy to cycle today but did get a bit ahead of himself by suggesting we go to Wedderburn another 36km on ... but Neil quickly bought him back down to earth and reality!!!
The first 5km or so was down hill from Maldon and from then on a few bumps but by the Dunolly turnoff the road to Bridgewater was flat. For most of the ride it was a cross tail wind but from Newbridge on it was a full tailwind.
We made good time today and was able to get everything set up at the campground and then time to relax before making dinner.
Below is a photo of us cycling along, not too sure where Neil took the photo but it was definitely before Newbridge.

The area around Maldon and Bridgewater is very lush and green (we assumed from the heavy rain 5-6 weeks ago). So everything looks healthy.
At 36km we took a break at Newbridge, Neil and I had passed through here last November on our way to Dunnolly. Just a pub and general store there and whenever we have passed through here I have never seen a person so I assume the pub and general store are open.

At this table there is alot of negotiations going on ... Neil will try to trade his piece of fruit cake for some biscuits from Dad as Neil reckons the fruit cake gives him bad wind ... but he still eats it!
So we got to Bridgewater on Loddon around 12.30 I think and the town is very small but has 2 caravan parks - 1 touristy one and the other is a public one. We are at the public one and it is long and narrow. Full of permanent holiday caravans but not a soul in site. for such a big caravan park there are few facilities and the camping area is at least 500m from the toilet block so we sometimes ride up here! So you could almost say we are camping wild but paying if you know what I mean. It cost us $7.50 each so we don't expect much for that.
We are camped along side the Loddon river and there is now forecasted heavy rain!

I don't know what dad is trying to do here I looked up and he had a branch in his hand and I think he was trying to sweep an area clear for his tent!

there is only 1 key for the shower and toilet block so we have to take it in turns to go and have a shower. I think Neil took this photo as I found it on his camera card and he must have taken it without dad knowing but dad has his trailer in the tent and uses it as a back rest!
Since this is such a small town and only has a very limited General Store we had to be very creative when it came to cooking dinner tonight. It was what I call a "dad" meal of potato, meat, veg and gravy and I threw in some cous cous to bulk it up. We had patties left over from last night that I froze and we had them for dinner, we managed to get a tin of peas and corn (yes I had to eat peas ... or I would have to starve!!!!) and I had 2 potatoes left over from yesterdays meal. So with only 3 small pots I had to be very co-ordinated when it came to cooking everything! The meal was okay but Neil and Dad loved it ... I think it was the gravy!

Right now Neil has started a small fire to keep us warm, we haven't made a fire while cycling so this was a first and after watching many episodes of Survivor we managed to start one straight away.

Not too sure how cold it will get tonight ... last night wasn't as bad as what we thought. We thought we would have frost but it was too windy last night for frost and we woke this morning and it was around 11 degrees so it wasn't too bad. They are forecasting a low of 5 degrees tonight so maybe the fire is a good thing.

Well I am off to enjoy the fire and hopefully they haven't used up all the wood that Neil and I picked up today with Kouta in tow. I tell you he loves this type of camping where he can roam free. I bet you by the time I get back he will be huddled up somewhere near the fire!

Daylesford to Maldon

Daylesford to Maldon = 48km
Cummulative total = 320km

Brrrrrrrrr it is cold up here at night I think tonights low will be around 5 degrees! Last night at Daylesford it wasn't too bad it alternated between raining and wind. But at least the tent was dry in the morning but the wind ... to coin a phrase Neils' mother uses ... it was a LAZY wind and it blew strongly from the west and south west all day and it was cold and we virtually rode most of the journey in our gortex coats ... that is how cold it was!

But first take a look at the above photo of dinner last night ... we had it outside the tent and turned the trailer upside down as a table and it is about the height of Kouta ... he could almost "sit" and eat at the table with us!
And this morning we found this toadstall that had popped out of the ground not far from the tent. When you look at it you half expect a smurf to pop out from behind it!

We weren't quite sure what the road was ahead of us whether it was down hill or up hill and busy ... well the road north to was quiet for most of the time but the condition of the road was disgusting, the shire that looks after the roads around Daylesford and Hepburn Springs are either short of money (and should increase the rates paid by people that live there) or they only have a baking rolling pin to flatten out the road ... I tell you it is a cyclists nightmare, it is dangerous and full of humps and bumps that you can't see until you go over them! The side of the road is very messy and sometimes you can have a 10cm drop down to the Lilydale topping, or sometimes there is just nothing there but a deep ditch for you to fall into should you have to get off the road to let the car drivers (that are not very cycle friendly) through. Crikey I am happy to leave that overrated dump of a town called Daylesford and another thing the "so called bike path" between Daylesford and Hepburn springs is nothing but a JOKE!
At Hepburn Springs we turned onto a quiet little road that was busy for a few kms and then the road was ours and once you got into another shire the roads improved remarkably.
Not long after Shepherds flat we past a place famous for the willows made into cricket bats and I didn't see it but Dad and Neil did but this oversized cricket bat in the field.

Neil reckoned it was around 6 feet tall!
We took a rest at Franklinford and we were making good time. The road to Franklinford was up and down but with a raging tail wind most of the time the going up the hills was relatively easy, not that it blew us up the hill completely, we still had to change down gears to get up them but I do remember coming to the top of one crest there was an almighty gust that pushed me up and over and down that I didn't have time to change up gears for the down hill part ... I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz being picked up by a tornado!
From Franklinford we continued through relatively flat country to Newstead, a few little bumps along the way but not that bad and the wind became more of a cross wind that would blow up out into the oncoming traffic so we had to be careful!
We had a lunch stop at Newstead and then headed further north past Welshmans Creek, from here it is a steady climb up to Maldon, I think the hill is around 8km long but again with the wind pushing you we could climb it in at least a gear higher than what we normally would go up hill in!
Now Maldon is a very old little town and I really thought Daylesford would be like Maldon but it is not! It is full of old buildings and has a charming little shopping strip that looks like something out of an old western movie!
Below are some photos of the township:

these 2 are of the main street.

I think this primary school was built around 1834 or 1874 and is still being used today.

Tomorrow we head for Bridgewater on Loddon and we have a tail wind which will suit dad immensely! At least the rain has eased up!

Our rest day @ Daylesford

Well it finally stopped drizzling and the mist blew away and we were able to go for a walk around 11am. We decided to go down to the lake, which is at the base of the hill before you go into town.
It really is a lovely spot and I think with the autumnal changing of colours on trees it really was a beautiful spot. Below are some photos of the lake and as we walked around it.

Below is neil and dad looking totally interested in the place!

And more photos as we began to walk around it.

Below is a photo that didn't quite come out - there is a holly tree with red berries on it and the red, green and yellow colours looked nice together although I didn't quite capture the colours really!

Now the photo below has bit of a story to it ... walking along and I passed this water feature and thought that it was nice, I turned back and took the photo as I was preparing to take the photo I thought that it was an odd place for a small waterfall and I wondered how it got there just as I was thinking that I took a step closer to it and took the photo and could smell something at the same time ... then I realised what it was but kept my mouth shut ... but Neil and Dad just had to comment - Neil said that it was drainage and dad made the comment that the beer bottle gave it away that it might be a drain ... all I could think of in reply to their smart comments was ... "but is it not the prettiest drain you have ever seen?" ... I knew as soon as I smelt it that it wasn't a water feature or waterfall but some sort of run off into a drainage pipe under the path ... but I couldn't let dad and neil know that!

Yeah looking at the photo now it looks really gungy but in real life it didn't look too bad!

We returned and had lunch and then in the afternoon I decided to walk into town which was a 2km walk down and up a big hill. But I thought that it would be nice to look at the town and I suppose I thought the town would be full of antique, crafty and collectable shops in old buildings and amongst them cafes and eateries ... well I was completely wrong! Walking up the hill towards the town there is a museum on my left and a few small collectable shops - a 50's shop and an organic toy shop, a very old tarot reading book place and another old curiosity shop and I thought yep this is going to be lovely to look at through the windows ... well listen to this (Katherine Tate again) ... I got to the roundabout at the top of the hill and what did I see ... you are not going to believe this ... but I saw a retrovision shop, a mitre 10 shop and a glorified $2 shop in amongst the cafe and take away shops ... I was absolutely gobsmacked with seeing shops that you normally see in a typical melbourne suburb!!! I walked down and did not see one craft, art or local shop! I did see a boutique dress shop but I was really disappointed that it was like being at a shopping mall in old shop buildings!

I only went to Coles so maybe there were more local, crafty shops further on ... but I doubt it. I thought Daylesford would be like Penola - heaps of gift, craft and antique shops but instead you get the local mitre 10, retrovision, and overpriced $2 shop and if there was a gift shop it was some obscure japanese bloody doll shop ... crikey I think Daylesford is over rated and I think Casterton, Penola and even Portland are far better towns than Daylesford! Anyway that is only my opinion and maybe if I had more time and inclination I would be able to find those little curiosity shops that have the hidden local gems!

Bacchus Marsh to Daylesford

Bacchus Marsh to Daylesford = 55km
Cummulative total = 272km

YIPEEEEEEEE we made it to Daylesford! .... just! It was a hard day even Neil thought that the day had A LOT of climbing of hills. Off the 55km - 10km was the down hill into Daylesford, at least 10km of flat and downhills along the way, so that leaves at least 35km of absolute climbing of hills (at least that is what I am guesstimating!) but I think Dad and Neil will agree with me.
So we started out really early this time I am sure it was before 8.30am! we made our way down to the freeway (and I still can't believe that we rode on the freeway but only as a last resort!) and fortunate for us there was no wind, in fact very little wind all day. So as you approach the freeway you can see the first of the hills as it meanders its' way along. It was 9km long but the gradient was easy and the shoulder was very generous and believe it or not relatively clean and free of glass, truck tyres and just general crap! After the first hill you go down a little bit and then start climbing again and then down and then another hill that is slightly steeper so vic roads decided that it was too steep for some cars and made it into a 3 lane freeway and we in the shoulder only had about 1/2m lane!!! Not long after that we turned off to Ballan and bid a found farewell to the noisy freeway - it was damn busy with heaps of trucks and the noise was just relentless.
At Ballan we had a long break and a cuppa before heading off North to Daylesford. The weather was relatively warm and clearish.
The road north to Daylesford was relatively busy and was an okay road, sometimes it had a shoulder and sometimes not, but you could feel it in the pedalling that although the road looked deceptively flat it was in fact gently going up! We decided to break up this section of road into 10km lots and took a break around every 10km.
Here is a photo of Neil turning to look for Dad.

and here is a photo of Dad reaching the top of the first gentle incline!

So going along this road was not as bad as what I thought it would be, I thought it would be more undulating and a series of ups and downs but instead it was just a gentle continuous climb with a few hills chucked in to remind you that you are heading for the top of the divide!

Here is a photo of Dad at our first 10km rest spot, it was at the turnoff for Werribee picnic area, we would have gone to the picnic area but it was 1.2km down an unsealed road and we weren't that inclined to see a river!

So off we head up the road and again you are just climbing and sometimes you get relief from a little down hill but most of the time you are climbing. The weather is starting to get cooler and the clouds have come over. Neil says that because we are sooooooo high that is the reason why it is getting cooler - I'm thinking we aren't that high to have a sudden 10 degree drop in temperature! I am thinking along the lines that a change has come through!

I had to take the photo below of our final 10km rest stop at Leonards Hill ... why you ask? ... well this is the spot where I got bitten by a bull ant! ... I have live here for 13 years and have managed to avoid being bitten by one and here I am sitting on the ground and I feel a very sharp nip on my butt and boy did I jump!

At this point I was telling Dad and Neil that we should be at the top of the dividing range, but I don't think they would believe me as there was only a sign to say "leonards hill" and nothing else like dividing range with a height, I am emphasising that generally we should be going downhill and in the true Australian way for roads of down, up, down to get down. Looking at the map I said that most rivers start from here - the Loddon starts in line with Leonards Hill, the Werribee river started just below and even the Lerderderg river starts in line with Leonards Hill but I still don't think they believed me ... but what do you know ... 25m up the road there is a sign "Leonards Hill 717m" ... now they believed me!

Wooo hooo it was generally 10km down to Daylesford from here. By now it was really cold and the skies were threatening.

But we managed to get to Daylesford at around 2.30pm and managed to set up the tents just before the rain ... and it hasn't stopped raining since! Acutally it has stopped now but there is a mist surrounding the area and I don't think that will move as there is no wind to blow it away. I would say it is around 16 degrees and we are in the camp kitchen and the manager saw us last night outside the tent eating dinner and he mentions the camp kitchen and we just tell him that we have a little dog and he kindly says that they will turn a blind eye to him in the kitchen ... now I thought that was really nice! So here we are in the kitchen keeping dry.

We will stay here today and rest and then head north doing alot shorter days so Dad will find it easier ... sort of forget that he is old and assume that he can still do the distances we do!

We will try to get into town later on this afternoon depending if the dampness hasn't got to us by then!