AUSTRALIA Page 13 - Victoria - February 2007.

Australia, the adopted homeland of both Mal and Lee. The only continent under one government and the country we both love. The picture above is the “skyline” of our city, you can click on the picture to get a larger image. Perth is one of the most isolated regional capital cities in the world. There are so many things to say about our country that I simply do not know where to begin...

Monday February 26^th 2007 Lorne to Torquay.
Approx. 47.34k's Average Speed 11.01kph Cycling time 4Hr(s) 17Min. Max speed. 59kph Max temp we recorded 30°C (Shade)
Terrain: VERY Hilly. Road Conditions: Good, O/night Accom.: $.

Fascinating day Met heaps of great People. Three guys from France are cycling from Sydney to France via the middle east. We spoke at length and wished them very good luck and a safe journey

On Saturday the 3^rd of March 3000 cyclists will be on the GOR (Great Ocean Road)

As A consequence we saw a great many practising today.

Our hosts at the C/van park offered us a complimentary SPA... Wow we were in paradise.....

I am not showing you the one with us in it :-) That's it for today.. Catchya Later..

Tuesday February 27^th 2007 Torquay to Werribee.
Approx. 47.34k's Average Speed 13.49kph Cycling time 5Hr(s) 41Min. Max speed. 52kph Max temp we recorded 24°C (Shade)
Terrain: Few hills mostly flat. Road Conditions: Good, O/night Accom.: $.

Horrifying day.. the nightmare ride through Geelong, followed by a terrifying time in Werribee.. The roads (Shoulder) in Geelong are covered in debris, as is much of the Freeway to Melbourne.

We exited the Freeway at Werribee and got onto the heritage trail... (A 24 k DEDICATED sealed two lane cycle path to the suburb of Brooklyn followed by trails into the CBD opened in October 2006.) - and exited at old Geelong Road, when I should have stayed on. This caused confusion, and sent drivers – forced to lose 1-2 seconds - incandescent with rage. Lee was very distraught by the whole experience and feels very upset at those in vehicles... Too hard to write it all down. We go back on the Federation Trail tomorrow then follow Charlie Bell's instructions... For those touring that need this information His instructions will follow in italics:-

The end of the Federation trail faces east, and the CBD will be straight ahead of you from there. What looks like the best route from here is to turn right onto Millers Road. This will take you under the West Gate Fwy. Then you want to take a left onto Clematis Avenue (2nd left after the freeway) to get you off the main road again.

Follow this to the end, then turn right onto Kyle Road.

Straight over the traffic lights, crossing Blackshaws Road.

Now you've got a bike path again. Keep going along Kyle Road to the roundabout, and turn left onto Mason St. There's a bike path here too. Follow Mason St to the end, and you'll come to  Newport Station, and turn right onto Melbourne Road. There's a foot underpass here on your left, going under the station. If it's navigable, go through, then turn right past the Exit Inn, and follow the road onto North Road. If it's not navigable, follow Melbourne Road over the bridge, and turn left at the roundabout onto North Road. Follow North Road to the end, and keep going on The Strand into the park. Past the HMAS Yarra memorial, and you're back to nice off-street bike paths.

Follow the bike path north, back under the Freeway, and there should be signage to the City via Hyde St, Whitehall St, and Footscray Road on the bike paths. Footscray Road takes you past the container port. Under the City Link freeway it wiggles a bit but after that stay on the bike route along Footscray Road and through Docklands past the Telstra Dome. Keep going and it crosses the river, and turns left. Past the Exhibition Centre and the Polly Woodside maritime museum, and along the south bank, past the casino and the Southgate Centre cafes. At the Arts Centre, you'll see the yellow of Flinders Street station opposite, and here you need to go up to the main road up the ramps and cross the Bridge. Federation Square is on your right.

Sincere thanks to Charlie, his web site is here and well worth a visit.

Hope this helps some fellow cyclist.....

Catchya Tomorrow...

Wednesday February 28^th 2007 Werribee To Melbourne.
Approx. 50.49k's Average Speed 11.61kph Cycling time 4Hr(s) 20Min. Max speed. 44kph Max temp we recorded 31°C (Shade)
Terrain: Few hills mostly flat. Road Conditions: Good to excellent, O/night Accom.: $.

Following Charlie's instructions meant an easy ride into Melbourne's CBD.

We spent some time at Federation Square, eating a light lunch...

Lee opposite the famous Flinders St Station...

Some “odd” architecture... not to my taste

This was followed by.. a ride up “Exhibition St” to the Melbourne Museum..

We met Charlie there and followed him to the Suburb he lives in... Same Suburb my Daughter Sharon was born in 30yrs ago.

The bike trails make for easy stress free cycling... We did find they get quite congested and are certainly very popular... The alternative? Trucks.... Anything's better than ridding amongst Trucks....

We are in Melbourne with friends... Next time we ride should be Saturday...

Catchya Later..

March 2007... The beginning of our sixth month on the road. So far a remarkable journey. There have been staggering changes to us both, in so many ways. We are in the process of quantifying “some” of these changes and we will add them for you to read, as soon as they “start” to make some sense. We normally put a month as a separate page but a few days of March closes off our “mainland” Australia trip – for now.

Thursday March 1^st and Friday March 2^nd 2007 Melbourne, Rest days with Charlie & Claire Bell.
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min. Max speed. kph Max temp we recorded °C (Shade)
Terrain: . Road Conditions: , O/night Accom.: $.

Saturday March 3^rd 2007 Melbourne to Port Melbourne (Morning Ride)
Approx. 20.01k's Average Speed 22.00kph Cycling time Hr(s) 52Min. Max speed. 43kph Max temp we recorded 23°C (Shade)
Terrain: Hilly. Road Conditions: Good, Cycle Paths O/night Accom.: $.

Left Charlie's house about 6:30 am and arrived Port Melbourne about 55 minutes later... We had placed the trailers and panniers in Charlie's Car and Claire drove them to the port. Hence our high “stat's” When we arrived Claire had found a perfect spot next to the entrance.

We assembled our Trike's and fitted the pannier bag's and trailers then navigated the bureaucracy to get on board.

We had to Dump our stove fuel ($4.99 per litre Duh!!!) Of course the cars do not have to dump their fuel... We cycled on board and supervised our bikes being secured..

From now we are being transported by ship for the 10+ hour sea journey to Tasmania.

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