Portland - somewhere in a pine forest = 55km
cummulative total = 469km

We could not get internet reception in the pine forest last night so I have left it until we got here to Mt Gambier.
We woke this morning to grey threatening skies and were debating whether or not to leave. After listening to a rather vague weather report on the radio we decided to leave Portland and to try to make a rest area at the turnoff to Winnap which meant a 55km ride.
The 192 road is a good road, it is used for forest logging trucks but since it is a Sunday today I doubt if there was going to be any trucks on the road and I was right!
However tomorrow I think there might be one or two! There was a bit of local traffic on the road I assume they were coming back from fishing at Glenelg River/Nelson. Alot of tooting and 'thumbs up' at us today. It is a gradual climb to Mt Richmond in fact you hardly see that you are going up but you definitely know that you are climbing as it is rather hard on the legs. Although that may have something to do with Neils' addiction to "orange stickers" which can be found at a supermarket and in particular in the bakery department. In fact I think I have to ban Neil from doing the food shopping while cycling as he has over done it with bread and cake. We left this morning with a few extra kilos that we didn't really need. But we do have a lovely Chocolate Butter cake to celebrate Valentines Day! Woo hoo what a valentines day to remember - a smelly wet dog in the tent, no showers, sandwiches for a romantic dinner and rain water to toast with!!!!
Anyway back onto cycling to Mt Richmond - by the time we got there it had begun to drizzle lightly and was getting heavier so we pulled over at the town hall and luckily they had a rainwater tank so we got rid of our disgusting Portland water and refilled with lovely rain water. Mt Richmond town hall is a lovely spot to camp sheltered by tall cyprus trees.
After a little while we restarted with our rain coats on and Neil is forever the optimist and constantly said "oh yes this is clearing" why he says that when you only have to look to the left and you can see the fine mist coming across at us! It wasn't a torrential down pour like when we arrived at Portland but more a heavy mist - enough to get wet and have to wear a rain coat. The road after Mt Richmond was a little disappointing in fact to widen the road all they did was tack a piece on the left hand side and obviously they don't "ice cakes" as their hobby as the join was as rough as anything and unridable so we had to stick out a fair bit! But that only lasted until Kentbruck. By now the scenery had changed to Pine Forests and also alot of ups and downs and at times the drizzle became quite heavy. Kouta was okay in his wagon - the shade cloth protects the majority of him from getting wet when there is only a drizzle but his face gets wet as he sticks that out but he didn't seem to mind and if anything I think he enjoyed the mist on his face!
Just before we got to the rest area we saw 2 emus on the side of the road but when they saw us they darted off in the pine forest.
We got to the rest area at around 1pm but decided there wasn't alot of protection from the rain and decided to camp in the pine forests. So after haulling the bikes across very rough, soft terrain to get to the forests we found a lovely, dry and sheltered spot just inside the treeline. I had never camped in a pine forest before but Neil assures me it is safe with no snakes (as there is no food for them) but only kangaroos, wallabies and emus .. but I keep thinking "Blairwitch" movie!
So you will see from the photos below our lovely little campspot and we really are protected from the wind and any really heavy rain.

Since everything was damp I used the pine trees as 'clothes airers'!

Tomorrow we should make Mt Gambier and will have a rest day there.

Rest day @ Portland

We are still here at Portland, we decided to stay an extra day. Yesterday we went on a small bike ride around Portland and out to the Aluminium smelter and along the port, however, Neil didn't bring the map along so we didn't really know where we were going! Not only that but we also forgot to put the memory card back into neils camera and so any photos taken of the port and Aluminium place were on the internal memory. Not only that! but we didn't bring the usb cord to transfer those photos to the computer so I can't put them on the blog ... do you think anything else could go wrong? ... well I forgot to bring the memory card from neils camera down here to the laundry and that has the photos from the lighthouse that we took when we did put the memory card back in the camera!!!
Never mind - you can look at the photos that I took this morning as we did the historical town walk - you see I organised this and funny enough I remembered to take a map and memory card in the camera!
Below is my favourity photo so far of Neil and Kouta sitting in some art piece that is on the foreshore.

One of the places we walked pass was the church where Mary MacKillop worshipped.

Below is the old post office building on the right and the custom house on the left.

I loved the ornate verandah on the Macs Hotel building - although the railings were put there later.

Last but not least the old town hall.

Near enough to lunch Neil and Kouta were just about getting sick of this old blue stone buildings but I like this sort of stuff and love looking at them imagining what it must have been like around here 130 years ago!

Tomorrow is a bush camp unless we get a raging tail wind that will blow us to Nelson which is around 70km away.

At least the rain has gone but it is very windy - in fact it blew all last night. So hopefully it is a tailwind tomorrow.

Yambuk to Portland

Yambuk - Portland = 58km
Cummulative total = 414km

A little bit late with getting yesterdays blog up but we had some serious rain yesterday!
But first let me continue on with our evening at Yambuk (after I did the blog). We decided to go for a short walk and near the campground is a lookout point so we ended up climbing the stairs up. About half way up is a community slide and as tempting as it is to go down it or send Kouta down it we decided not to give it a go just incase either of us injure ourselves! After a days ride it is pretty hard climbing stairs but we managed it and at the top we were greeted by glorious views (despite the seamist) and a black wallaby watching us!


Kouta has no trouble going up stairs - he just bounds along as if they are nothing! Whereas I still manage a smile at the top! or is that a grimace!

It is a shame the evening was so cloudy as the coast line would have been spectacular to see. Below is a photo taken from the top of the lookout tower looking inland to the Yambuk lake.

And the photo below is looking out to the coast.

We had an early night since we were both tired. By the morning the clouds still hadn't lifted and listened to the radio to hear reports of wild storms in Melbourne and North of there ... lucky we weren't in those storms.

So it looked like we were going to have a nice cool day cycling with no sun. Actually we both thought that the cloud would lift and the sun would come out ... but no.

We began quite early and both of us had tight legs which didn't really loosen up until the first break at around the 18km mark. Unfortunately we had to stay on the A1 for most of the days ride as there was no alternative back roads to Portland. So the riding was 'so-so' all day as the shoulder was pretty bumpy and so we rode on the actual highway itself and everytime a truck overtook us we just pulled off onto the shoulder so it was pretty hard cycling in the sense that you constantly had to concentrate on keeping a straight line and controlling the bike so you don't waunder out into traffic! and since the dog moves in the trailer it causes the bike to move as well - so basically I spent the whole day trying to keep kouta and I as close to the white line as I could. In doing this I missed most of the scenery!

At Alletree we turned off to go on a nice quiet coast road that led us into Portland. This was around lunchtime and by then there were threats of showers but none had occured. Once on the coast road the wind had swung around to a southerly and so slowed us down alot. At around 2km to go it just bucketed down. We sheltered under some huge pine trees but the rain was so heavy that we ended up getting drenched. We hoped the rain would ease but after standing under these pine trees for around 30 mins Kouta and I began to turn purple, so we thought we can't get any wetter so we continued on to the campground.

We waited until there was a slight easing of the rain to put of the tent. We managed to get it up without getting the inner too wet and again it just poured. Poor Kouta he was drenched and his basket was soaking! So we dried Kouta with the tea towel (the only towel we have unless we use our towels!) and threw him in the tent along with the bedding, clothes and sleeping bags. Lucky my bags are waterproof so the food was okay but Neil didn't put his waterproof liners in his bags so the contents were a little wet - in fact is was my pillow that was wet and nothing else! (typical isn't it).

So it rained for most of the afternoon and the everything felt a little damp and the inside of the tent smelt of wet dog!

Kouta felt very lost without his basket and wanted to sleep on the thermarests! Once it stopped raining Neil ducked out to get dinner - marked down dry chicken pieces from Woolworths and bread!

This morning we took a walk and noticed that a ship had docked last night (as it wasn't there when we walked last night). We think it is being filled with wood chips for paper. I wonder if it will be there tonight and will the lower red part of the ship be showing or will be below the water line as the ship is filled up with the weight of wood chips?!!!

We walked into town to find an op shop to buy some books as the campground laundry has no library in it! While there it began to rain lightly again and we had left a few bits and pieces out in the hope that the wind will dry it ... but with the sprinkling of light rain it got wet again! On our way back we saw the Portland community tram and I tell you this is a very expensive tram to take $35 for a family of 2 adults and 2 children to go a few kms up a road to no where but that pass will last you all day! $15 for an adult! damn no wonder the tram was empty when I took this photo!

Depending on the weather this afternoon we may take in a few of the sights around Portland - the pier, the aluminium smelter and a few other things. There is quite alot of things to see here in Portland (it is the oldest town in Victoria I think) and there are lots of lovely old buildings (of which most have been converted to Accomodation!)

Fingers crossed the weather clears to dry everything!

Warrnambool to Yambuk lake

Warrnambool - Yambuk lake = 52km
Cummulative total = 356km

We had a lovely rest day yesterday - didn't do much apart from chat to mum and Sharon, watch the last episodes of Survivor Samoa and packed the food panniers. And every now and then I went outside to see if Kouta and Sooty were alright.

Sooty is a lovely friendly dog that ate all Koutas food! definitely had a liking for Pedigree dry biscuits rather than Aldi dry biscuits so I think he was trying to tell Anthony something!
For dinner last night we got Pizzas from down the road and Anthony drove Neil and I in his MG - just how cool is this car ... I felt like I should have 'beehive' hairdo, wearing a frock and Neil should be in a suit with slicked back hair dragging on a cigarette (so "madmen"!!!).

Later on in the evening we went down to the Breakwater (I think that is what it is called) for a walk around the beach front (and every man and his dog was there!)

I always thought Neil was a fast walker but Heather and Anthony are REALLY fast so I just did my usual 'fast dawdle' behind them and blaming Kouta for the reason for being so slow - he was stopping and sniffing everything!

At our turning point we came back along the beach which still had quite alot of seaweed still on the beach from the last storm and you could see where they have bulldozed it up against the dunes.

By the time we were getting close to the car it was starting to get dark but it was a lovely sunset - I could definitely live here in Warrnambool and I think Neil could too!
Since we didn't have to pack anything this morning we left Heather and Anthonys' place quite early (7.45am!) and made good time to Port Fairy for our cuppa. To get to Port Fairy we took a combination of A1 and back roads. The shoulder on the A1 is quite good to Port Fairy and there wasn't alot of traffic. To get out of Warrnambool is just too easy as there is a bike line and service roads all the way out! (see why we could live here!). We arrived at Port Fairy around 9.45am and it is a nice place - but far too expensive to live there!

To get out we took the back roads passing the 'pea soup' and there is alot of new houses going up around there - in fact there are some really big houses!

We had to take the A1 all the way to the Yambuk lake turnoff and unfortunately the shoulder was really bumpy, not full of crap mind you, just uneven, lucky there wasn't much traffic so when it became too much we could duck onto the lane and come off when a truck came past us. At the turnoff to Yambuk Lake you can see the windmills that line the horizon and they a slowly turning. The campground at the lake is around 5km from the main highway and is a small council ran one. The Amenities are spotless, it has a very basic kitchen in the laundry (small fridge, microwave and kettle) and costs $15.50 for an unpowered site and I tell you our view is just great (despite the giant windmills!).

You probably can't quite see but this was taken as we were unpacking and Kouta is already in the tent trying to sleep! I don't know why he thinks he can sleep - it is only 1pm and we are ready to go for a swim ... which means he also has to go for a swim!

The lake is not great to swim in because of algae and weeds etc. so we went up and over the dunes to the beach which had no one on it! Kouta loves chasing the waves. We went in and the water is very cold! so we just went knee deep and Kouta kept wanting to come in with us and was constantly chased away by the oncoming waves!

The current was quite swift so we just swam around mid thigh height so we could still keep our footing. Neil tried to ride the waves a bit but I just went in up to my shoulders (I hate going under seawater - it might have something to do that I can't see without my glasses!) briefly and got out!

Eventually Kouta gets sick and tired of being chased by the waves and really wants to go back to the tent to sleep.

But he has to wait for us!

Tomorrow we head for Portland and it is around a 50km ride to the campground which is about 6km from Portland central and the closest one that will take dogs the rest are either too far out or don't take dogs.
Happy cycling!

Cobden to Warrnambool

Cobden to Warrnambool = 67km
Cummulative total = 304km

It was lovely riding today - slight tailwind except for the last 10km. We have ridden this route before but we did do one part different and that was to get to Ecklin South we took the road to Terang out of Cobden and then a small road and approached Ecklin South from the north - it is a nice quiet road and then we joined the C167 to Warrnambool - now despite this road being a "c" road it is really a busy 'A' road! we were overtaken by milk carrying trucks going to either Warrnambool cheese and butter or Fonterra factories and if it wasn't those trucks it was those damn Wettenhalls' trucks but all in all they were very courteous to us and the road was pleasant to ride.
We turned at Allansford and took the scenic road that took us to Warrnambool and the road was quiet and a bit up and down and the down is just before Hopkins River which is where we had a lovely swim in the estuary there and the water was so warm. We also unpacked the trangia and boiled up the water for a cuppa and while we were there there was a sea mist rolling in. This caused the sky to go very grey and to look at the photo you would think that it was going to rain. There was a cool breeze that came with it but if you were sheltered from the breeze the temperature was still the same - hot!

Here is Neil relaxing at Hopkins River.

From here we decided to go along Logan Beach Road to the Whale watching platform not that we thought we could see any whales but there is the slimmist of chances! but we saw known as the main season is between May and October. But as you can see from the photo below you can still see the sea mist rolling in. It was really thick as you couldn't see the coast or the town of Warrnambool.

After this we decided to go to Neils cousins (Heather and Anthony) place where we will spend a rest day here. Last time we came here Neil controlled the map and we got lost this time I had the map and decided to take an easier route (and also alot less hillier route as Warrnambool is built on a few short sharp hills!) As we were cycling along I could feel Neil doubting my skills at reading and following a map - but in the end we got here and to Neils delight it was far more easier than his chosen route!

So here we are, Heather and Anthony have a little dog called Sooty so Kouta has some company but Heather is very strict about dogs in the house ... in fact dogs are not allowed in the house!!! (Editors note - apparently Heather is allergic to dogs so that is why dogs are not allowed in the house!) So Kouta will have to put up with it at the moment, he seems quite content with it and loves to follow little Sooty around!

Tomorrow is a rest day and we will stock up on food and look into the rail trail to Port Fairy from here.

Colac to Cobden

Colac - Cobden = 52km
Cummulative total = 237km

Gosh what a day we have had ... as I was cycling along today I reflected back on our travels before christmas and thought we had a lot of happenings on that holiday and although we have only been gone a few days we don't seem to have much happening or there is really nothing much to report to everyone on this blog ... well today we had all sorts of adventures from blackberry picking, campground feral fights and a snake!
Firstly we left Colac late at around 9.30 and really the ride was picturesque through the back roads to Cobden. We have ridden these roads before so we knew what we were up against and also where the blackberries would be! At this time of the year there are alot of wild blackberry bushes on the side of the road and generally they are sprayed by the council but a local ... namely Flo informed us that the council hardly sprays anymore so I knew that the road between Bungador and Carpendeit would have blackberries to pick and sure enough I got my empty bowl out and picked a few for our desserts tonight.

Yes mum that is really me picking blackberries and yes it did bring back memories! but the bushes had very nasty thorns and there was also the fear that snakes could come out of the bushes so I only picked enough for desserts.
We arrived at Carpendeit at 12 so we thought we would have a cuppa here, believe it or not but I have a similar photo of the one below but it had dad in it (do you remember dad?)

Alas we get to our campground (if you can call it that!) at around 1.30 and as we cruise around the campground looking for a shady spot we hear some harsh fighting words coming from the locals - the campground is very basic at the back of a gas station and it tends to have mainly itinerant permanent people here. So we decided that we wanted well away from the permanents and selected a nice shady spot in the corner. As we approached it I saw that they had chopped down trees and had just left the chopped wood there and there was 2 piles which are hiding places for snakes but the thought of being around fighting ferals was worst! We set up the tent while being entertained by the ferals fighting and then it subsided.
So it was a quiet afternoon and Kouta quickly discovered that the farm next door had 3 goats that wanted to meet him. So he ducked over to their side while Neil and I growled at him so he came running back over and into the tent sulking! So I said to Neil pick him up and take him to the fence so he can smell them and they can smell him ... so Kouta was incredibly happy with that!

Not sure if Kouta has met a goat before but they were definitely interested in him. So the afternoon wore on and there was no more feral dramas so I had a wee nap and came out around 5.30pm hungry as per usual.
Jumped out of the tent and found Neil reading so he said we would eat and we will move to the other side of the tent in the shade so he picked up the food panniers and dumped them on the other side came back to me and I went over to the 2 food bags and about 1.5m away something black caught my eye and I thought that was a strange colour in amongst the leaves, twigs and branches and I looked again and I thought that it was also too curved for a stick and then I realised that it was a snake! so I camly stepped back and just casually said to Neil "I don't want to alarm you but there is a snake over there!" I also said to grab Kouta so Neil picked him up as he hadn't seen it yet and made me hold Kouta while he tried to find a loooooong stick to encourage it to go. A few seconds later he decides to get the owner with a shovel to kill it. So I stayed to watch it and by the time Neil and the owner came back the snake had gone over towards the ditch to the goat farm. We decided to pack up and move closer to the ferals! It was a red bellied black snake that was around 2 feet long. It didn't reappear while we were packing up and we both wondered just where it had been before it was discovered by me!
On our travels so far we have encountered so many snakes it is unbelievable! I know they are there but I find it unnerving that we are now (almost) meeting them and shaking their tails if you know what I mean!
Anyway it is late and I am dying for my fruche and blackberries. Check out the blackberries below - I thought they travelled quite well on the bike!

Colac Heritage Festival

Woo hoo smell the country air! For a city girl like myself I have to say I am now an expert at historical country machinary!!! I have seen machines and tractors that are just soooooo old it is not funny!
Today Neils parents took us to the Colac Heritage Festival at the showgrounds and I think EVERY man over 60 was there reminicsing (spelling?) about the "good ole days". Even Ray could state that he had used some of the machinery. But the highlight for me was seeing my very first 'tractor pulling' competition and I must admit I did have a few favourites that I secretly hoped would win and that was purely based on the colour of the tractor!

Behind Neil and his parents is an Onion seeding machine - it is a rather large machine and somehow I can't quite see it being used, but I am sure it helped out some onion grower in the district.

Imagine swinging and carrying this chainsaw around with you! Even Flo recognised this and I am sure Ray used one when he worked at the Mill.

This was one laid back Llama and it was quite use to human contact and I had never patted one before but its' hair/fur is just so soft but when you touch something that is knitted with Llama wool it seems to be a little coarse ... so I am not quite sure what happens to the hair/fur when you spin it into wool to knit.

One of the many tractors involved in the tractor pulling competition. Basically it tows the weight on the blue frame thingy and as it pulls it forward the weights start at the back and are moved forward and that pushes the platform at the front that is being dragged along the ground and as the weights move forward more that creates more resistance from the platform and so the tractor has to work harder ... basically the more powerful the tractor the more it can cope with the resistance from the weights ... fascinating! ... you don't get this in the city!

This has got to be my favourite photo of all - a working donkey that probably was used to carry luggage and loads ... just like us on the bike! Do you reckon Kouta would be able to cope if we substituted our bikes for donkeys ... "I don't thinkso Michael!"

Last but not least - for some strange reason (maybe the fact that I am a Kiwi) but Ray insisted that I see the sheep shearing! Not all Kiwis' can sheep shear! It was not part of our school curriculum! but still it was great to watch and these were shearing with scissors!

Tomorrow we are off to Cobden enroute to Warrnambool.