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By: Kingsley Burlinson
In january 2013 there were many dangerous bushfires in Victoria
and NSW as well as very high temperatures. But I had made plans to
ride my REACH bike on tour from Melbourne to Brisbane through
Gippsland in eastern Victoria and then through the mountains on an
inland route to Brisbane. I rode about 1000 Km of this planned
route to reach Canberra instead because of damage to my gears
caused by rubbish on the road, and severe flooding near Brisbane
which made critical sections of my route impassable. It was a
pleasant tour despite the many unusual incidents along the way and
I was grateful to the many people who were so kind and helpful.
My route map
Well, its time to go cycling again. But not in Adelaide this
year. I have made a crazy plan to cycle from Melbourne to
Brisbane. Or at least i will try. It is about 2500 km, but the
real issue is the hot summer and many bushfires, which could be a
big problem for a lone cyclist out in the mountains.
As usual I rode my bike to the airport (about 40 Km) where I
folded it into its carry bag and checked it in as standard
luggage. The bike with extra tools and various loose parts weighed
17.5 Kg, easily within my baggage allowance. My flight to
Melbourne arrived at midnight so i had planned to catch the
airport bus downtown and stay in a backpacker hostel before
reassembling my bike next morning. But plans don't always work
properly. At the airport, the bus ticket counter was closed with a
sign saying i must go to the far distant terminal to buy a ticket.
After rushing 400 m to the other terminal the ticket seller
ignored me while providing tourist information to other people
instead. Eventually i bought a ticket and rushed back to the first
terminal to get my bike and catch the bus. The bus took me to the
downtown terminal and from there i planned to use the free hotel
dropoff service which was included in the bus fare. But the driver
then advised me that the hotel dropoff service did not operate
after 10 pm, despite no such admissions on their advertising or
website. Grrrrrrrr! I would have to get a taxi instead. But i only
needed a short 2 block ride and the first 3 taxis refused to help
me. Grrrrrr again! By 1:30 am i had finally reached the backpacker
hostel which i had booked in advance. But they could not find my
booking. After 15 minutes they realised that they had double
booked that bed because they had forgotten that my arrival at 2 am
on the 18 th was the same night as the 17 th. Someone else had
been sold my bed for the night. And the hostel was full, it was 2
am and most places in Melbourne were booked out because the tennis
was on this week. Eventually they offered me a bed in the corridor
as there was no space. It was noisy as these backpackers were
having a party until about 4 am, but i rested enough to survive
the night of failed plans. It reminded me why i normally assemble
and ride my bike from the airport and control my own ground
transport.
Next morning i assembled the bike in the street, which took about
an hour, and rode to the nearby Queen Victoria market where i met
Rita and Sunil and enjoyed a pleasant and stress-free coffee, chat
and lunch. At last some of my plans were successful. After a quick
walk around the many market stalls to buy a few small items, i
rode off through the city and parklands to meet up with Chris with
whom i planned to share a nice Indian evening meal. But it was
time for another plan failure already. En route i realised i had
forgotten to bring a spare tyre for the bike. This was
unfortunate, but i would simply buy one at one of the numerous
bike shops. However, my bike has an uncommon, though not rare,
sized tyre and the first bike shops all lacked the correct tyre. I
would find more bike shops tomorrow. After our very tasty indian
meal, Chris and i used the internet to compile a list of bike
shops to visit on my way east next morning. Next morning i stopped
at all 6 of the bikeshops en-route but they all just stared
blankly at me and admitted that they did not have a tyre of that
size. The last shop on my list was at Dandenong and i was losing
hope of buying a suitable tyre, but I was relieved to find that
this shop did have the size tyre i required. (The tyre size I use
is often used on BMX bikes - but BMX is not very common in
Melbourne!) It was surprisingly difficult to buy this simple item,
despite being in such a large city. At last i felt properly
prepared for my tour and enjoyed a coffee (another coffee?) before
riding to meet up and stay with John and Elaine some 10km away.
The long tour had not really started yet, but i was already
becoming proficient at sudden changes of plan. I relaxed for 2
days and met some more friends before my departure eastwards to
Gippsland.
Although i had planned a route to avoid the busy Princes Highway, one of the roads was closed and i ended up on the main highway after asking a bus driver for directions. About 20 km ahead, near Pakenham, i found a turn to an alternative and pleasantly quiet route beside the railway line. This worked well until i reached some roadworks where they had automated traffic lights to control the traffic. I ignored the red light and rode on, but this annoyed 2 of the workers who yelled and tried to stop me. But they failed to realise that their silly lights are timed for cars and not bikes. The lights release oncoming traffic before i have reached the far side and so i must ignore the lights and remain aware of the traffic to be safe. Merely waiting for lights which are wrongly timed does not provide any safety for cyclists. Fortunately the workers at the next roadworks were more intelligent and did not harass me as i again ignored the silly signals. After lunch at Drouin i found a hilly detour to continue eastwards, although signs on the freeway stated that bicycles were actually allowed on this freeway because there were no suitable alternative routes. The hilly detour was scenic and pleasant, but longer and strenuous to ride, which i enjoyed. After a coffee stop in Moe i found another detour to visit the Yallourn power stations and brown coal mines, not a typical tourist destination but interesting to me. By 6pm i had ridden an enjoyable 170km and i found a comfortable motel for the night at Traralgon. There were few alternative routes next day and i simply rode on the main highway all day. At least it had a good wide shoulder and i felt fairly safe from the regular truck and tourist traffic. I also met the first cycle tourists, a group of 4 Polish cyclists who had started in Darwin and traveled south along the Australian east coast and are planning to reach Perth on their 6 month journey. I reached Bairnsdale by about 3 pm and found a coffee shop and bakery to enjoy. At the bakery they offered me 2 buns for the price of one. What a great deal, this must be a nice town. So i decided to stop early and stay here tonight. The weather has been good, the traffic respectful, and the coffee shops are friendly. What more could i ask for. Surely this is becoming a good tour.
During my stay in Bairnsdale i found out that there was a
rail-trail cycling track for the next 100km east to Orbost but i
was concerned that the surface might be loose gravel, which would
be unsuitable for my high-pressure road tyres. So next morning i
checked the cycle path, which was OK and had a hard dirt surface,
and i used it instead of the road. It was pleasant to be isolated
from the traffic on the cycle path through the pastures and
forests and there were very few other cyclists on the path. After
a rest stop at 60km at Nowa Nowa the path surface was rough and
included coarse rocks, which concerned me. Within 3 km my tyre had
been torn by a rock and i had to repair it. The pathway was no
longer suitable for me and so i used the road instead. It is sad
that this section of the trail is not usable merely because the
surface is poorly finished. After 100km i reached Orbost, where i
had to decide which route to take next. I wanted to use a quiet
route up into the mountains but i suspected this route might not
be paved. I was also concerned that this remote route, with no
services for 120km, might be unsafe because of fires in the dense
forests. At the information centre i found out that this
interesting route was not fully paved and as i could not risk more
tyre failures, i chose to use the main highway instead. This would
take me east for 80km to Cann River, where i would turn north for
the remaining 90km up into the mountains. To reduce the long ride
tomorrow, i rode 40km further to an isolated hotel in the forest
where i could stay the night. I expected this section to be easy
with flat roads like much of the last few days. But i had reached
the edge of the Latrobe valley and was now beginning to cross the
Snowy mountains. There was a mountain to cross, which i had not
expected! At the mountain top i rested and exchanged stories with
a Japanese tourist on a working holiday as he prepared noodles for
his supper. It was another 25km before i reached the hotel and I
was quite tired and thirsty when i reached it after 150km today
and i surprised the barman by immediately drinking a large 1.25
litre cola and starting on a second bottle. Next morning it was
time to climb up into the mountains and i started early, hoping
for gentle winds. I filled all my water bottles at Cann River as
there were no services for the next 90km to my destination of
Bombala in the alpine plains country. The temperature was warm,
but OK as i rode north up the long valley through dense forests of
tall trees. Soon the forest trees became small and sparse as i
climbed into the high country. I thought i had completed the
climbing after 60km and crossing the border into NSW, as i had
reached open grassland plains which looked flat, but my legs were
complaining and i was traveling very slowly. I was also thirsty,
but had already drunk most of my water and had to ration it for
the remaining 30km. This was hard work but i could not understand
why. Perhaps i would die of thirst before reaching my destination!
A sudden wind change helped and lowered the temperature, but i was
still traveling surprisingly slowly. Perhaps my brakes were stuck,
or was i too tired, or short of food and water? But then i reached
a crest and realised i had actually been riding up a long hill for
the last 15km, although it looked like flat country. Now i could
spin my legs and with the tail wind i could reach 45 kph for the
last 15 km. That long climb had deceived me and was much more
serious than expected. In Bombala i found a coffee shop (of
course) and a motel for the night. It is a small town but everyone
was friendly, partially because there were many events planned for
the Australia day weekend celebrations next day. Someone suggested
that i use the Snowy mountains highway to travel north to Cooma
instead of the busy main road and i decided to detour and do that.
I also briefly checked out the showgrounds where they were
preparing for wood-chopping and sheep shearing competitions. But i
did not wait to see those events.
The Snowy mountains highway took me through vast grass pastures,
with some serious climbs. This is primarily a sheep grazing
region. In the distance i could see some small rainstorms but i
was not concerned about them. By 1pm i was still some 10km short
of a small village where i could get water when the small
rainstorms became more serious. I could see occasional 2 cm lumps
of ice bouncing off the road; what fun, so i picked some up and
sucked on the refreshing ice. But soon the ice lumps were even
larger and becoming very frequent. This was no longer a fun gentle
storm, but a dangerous and cold storm pelting me with flying
icebergs! I needed to find shelter and fast. Although there had
been no shelter all morning i was lucky to be passing a shearing
shed and quickly hid inside. The ice storm continued for over an
hour as i tried in vain to keep warm. There was a hole in the
roof, so i collected the icy water streaming through the hole. At
least i had cold water to drink now, but i actually needed a hot
coffee instead! Yesterday i nearly died of heat exhaustion and
dehydration. Today i was about to die of hypothermia and drowning.
What happened to summer? Eventually the rain eased, but the sky
was still threatening and i went to the farmhouse to thank the
owner and ask which road i should use to reach Cooma. While
discussing this there were several more lightning strikes and
these started some nearby grass-fires. The farmer had to leave to
fight the fires and gave me a lift to the nearby village of
Dalgety as the rain continued. So my scenic detour en route to
Cooma became an overnight stay at the only hotel in Dalgety
while the freezing cold rain continued. Dalgety is the location of
one of only 4 bridges over the Snowy river, this one built in
1889. Although it is unusual and very historic, right now i would
prefer sunshine and warmth. And the locals in the hotel are
wondering what someone from Darwin is doing here. I also am
wondering how i came to be marooned here on the banks of the
fabled Snowy river in an ice storm in mid summer!
The vast pastoral grasslands near Dalgety, NSW.
After my unplanned stop in Dalgety, i set off next day for Cooma
across 50km of grassy open hills. It was a Sunday of a 3 day
weekend and the town was full of motorcyclists while I enjoyed a
coffee nearby. As it was only 11:30am and far too early to stop
cycling for the day, i decided to continue to Canberra, although
this was 110km further. It would be a long ride today. Just 20km
towards Canberra there was a horrible noise from my rear wheel and
the pedals jammed. I found that part of the gears had snapped and
this was not something i could repair. Now i was really stuck in
nowhere-land. As i stood beside the road examining the damage, 2
cyclists driving by stopped to offer help. Sean and Lisa were
returning from a nearby mountain bike event to Canberra. Their car
was not large enough to fit in 3 people and 3 bikes, so they
kindly lent me their mountain bike and carried my broken bike in
the car to their home in Canberra. I continued riding on the
loaned mountain bike. This bike did not have a cycle computer and
I felt undressed without it. At first it was nice to simply ride
without concern for my speed, but I needed to know this to ensure
I could reach Canberra before nightfall. I used the road distance
markers to track my progress and speed. There were few towns on
this section of highway and I stopped in a lonely petrol station
for refreshments. Upon buying a 1.25 l bottle of cola, the
attendant suggested I buy 2 as there was a special price for 2.
But I had nowhere to carry a second bottle and would have to drink
both! After finishing the first bottle I was still thirsty enough
to drink more and so I purchased a second one, pouring half of it
into the water bottle on the bike. People have commented about my
cola drinking to excess - maybe they are right, but maybe I just
need lots of energy! Nearing Canberra I stopped to talk with
another Polish touring cyclist as he repaired a puncture.
Eventually I reached Canberra at 6pm after a very long and
eventful day. My good friend Terry met me and we returned the loan
bike to Sean and retrieved my bike, not quite the way i had
planned to arrive in Canberra, but i was very grateful for the
help and kindness of many people today.
Next day i examined the damage and realised that a small piece of
wire on the road had become jammed in the chain and was
responsible for the broken gears. It had broken the derailleur
hanger, a small but critical part. I cannot get this part to
repair my bike easily, so it is time to end my tour and return
home. Perhaps this is not so bad as a cyclone has just flooded
Brisbane and is still active in NSW where i had planned to ride.
With such violent weather in this area, returning home is now
looking like a good choice.
Beware of rubbish on the road which can break your derailleur
hanger!
Enjoy your travels and be sure to stay away from bushfires,
flying icebergs, cyclones, floods and roadside rubbish
Although the next day was a public holiday, I found some bike
shops and tried to get the repair part I required, but no-one had
the correct hanger for my bike, I must get this from the factory
in Taiwan. We filled in the day by visiting the satellite tracking
station as we waited for a normal business day. Next day I took
the broken part to a welder and had it repaired. I was able to
install the repaired part and make the bike usable again, although
the gears were not quite perfect. At least I would be able to ride
home from the airport. Once again I folded and packed the bike for
my flight back to Darwin where I reassembled it and rode home the
last 40 Km in the warm night air to arrive at about 3am.
It was a tour of challenges almost each day with so many unusual
events. But it was a pleasant and successful tour thanks to the
kindness and help of many people along the way. I only rode about
1000 Km, with 6 days of touring, shorter than my planned tour, but
very enjoyable.