June 6th - Lavers Hill to Warrnambool

Distance	Time	Overall Total
118 km	5h 30min	449 km

Stayed in the Lavern Hill Roadside Tavern. I do believe that this was the first and last, build your own hotel from flat pack wood beams and corrigated iron.



Got cracking at about 8am, and nearly froze to death on the decent from the lavern hills plateau.



After about 35 km, we hit the coast again near princetown, and the twelve apostles. Will let the images do the talking, and replace the 1000 words that i couldn't be bother writing. Just to say in summary, cool.





Having had no breakfast, i stopped in Port Campbell (50km) for an early lunch. The final 70km into warrnambool, initally runs along the coast, past the Bay of Martyrs and then turns inland. I got into a good rythem and made some good progress, making the this leg in about 3 hours.

June 5th - Lorne to Lavers Hill

Distance	Time	Overall Total
96 km	5h	331 km

I stayed at the Lorne YHA Hostel, which has to have had the best setting of any
place so far. Had the company of some cockatoos as i was having my breakfast this morning.



Just remember that you need specialist training to photograph cockatoos, on the off chance that they attack.



Got going at 9 heading for apollo bay, the road on this section is cut into
the cliff face in places, and offers some amazing views of coast.



Stopped in apollo bay [45km] at 11, for an early lunch and rested for an hour.
The next section to Lavers Hill was always going to be tough. The road rises
through the Otway National Park, and then drops and levels out in the Aire
river valley. The final climb to Lavers Hill rises 500m over 10km, which seems
simple on paper, but for every climb of 20 meters, theres a drop of 10 meters,
so for a simple 500 meter climb, the actual accent needed on the bike is about
1000 meters!!



The back wheel on the bike is now feeling the pressure of the extra bag weight,
what started as a small buckle had grown, and now there are two broken spokes.
On the final climb, i had to loosen the rear brakes to allow the wheel to travel
more easily. Will have to get this fixed in Warrnambool, when i take a rest day
on Wednesday.

Having finally made it up the climb to Lvers Hill, i then actually cycled right
through the village. The term blink and you'll miss it takes on a new form.

June 4th - Torquay to Lorne

Distance	Time	Overall Total
60 km	3h	235 km

Stayed in the Bells Beach Backpackers, torquay overnight. Great weather this morning, with a cool breeze, blue sky and sunshine.



Took a small detour outside torquay to Bells Beach. This turned out to a complete pain in the ass, as there where three massive steep hills to climb to get to the coast. If find a fairly non-descript surf beach. Had to come out over the same set of triple hills on the way back to the main road. Note to self - no more side tour from now on.



The road from torquay cuts inland with a constant rise towards angelsea. The great ocean road officially starts outside this town, and the road runs along the coast. There are some tough hills to climb as the road winds around various headlands.



Got into lorne about lunch time. The weather started to turn for the worse, i was feeling a bit wrecked, so decided to take a 1/2 days and booked into the Lorne YHA hostel. Just chilled around the town for the Rest of the afternoon.

June 3rd - Blairgowrie to Torquay

Distance	Time	Overall Total
67 km	5h 30min	175 km

The Bay Play Backpackers is set in bush land in Blairgowrie. I slept like a log, and was feeling quite good this morning. Despite a water restriction in place in the area, this guys must have used about 10 buckets of water to wash his car, i was worried that the car might start sinking into the ground.



Started early and was making good time to the passenger ferry from portsea, 4km past sorrento as the guide book stated. Arrived in portsea to find no quay, and to be told that the only ferry leaves from sorrento, stupid guide book!! Nearly set a land speed record getting back to sorrento. Nice 40min ferry trip brought me across the entrance port philip day. The sky line for melbourne was still just about visible.



Starting in queenscliff, i followed the coast road to Pt Lonsdale (see nice photo of light house) and then onto ocean grove and barwon heads.



The road turns in land from then on and joins the surf coast highway. The final strech of road into torquay seemed be a constant 10km rise.

June 2nd - Melbourne to Sorrento

Distance	Time	Overall Total
108 km	5h 30min	108 km

Pulled out of Chapel Street Backpacker, Melbourne at 10am and headed south towards St Kilda, the coast road and the mornington peninsula.



The first 20km was on a dedicated bike lane, with the only hazards being the morning pram walkers. Joined the Nepean highway near chelsea and followed it down via Frankston, Mornington and St Marta. The bike lane on the main road was really wide and most vehicals gave me plently of room.



Hauling the fully loaded bags on the bike finally kicked in about 40km. I was expecting the first couple of days to be tough, but not this bad this early. Had 60km done after 3 hours and needed a lunch break. The small issue of the scale of distances in austalia kicked in after lunch, when the sign post for portsea said 44 km, when i was expecting a slightly lower number. Actually checking the distances before starting the days ride would be a good idea.

Decided to call it quits for the day and stay at the Sorrento YHA hostel. Arrived at the village and found the hostel, only to discover that it was closed for bulding work. The owner redirected me to the Bay Play backpackers in Blairgowrie. Arrive just as the sun was setting.

Thursday 1st June

Just chilled around melbourne again today, sorted an aussie mobile number [0448 997 380 ] and some replacement tubes for the bike. Toured around CBD, victoria market, richmond, fitzroy and the MCG today.



The plan tomorrow is to cycle down the Mornington Peninsula, use the ferry to cross the bay and spend the night in Torquay.

Wednesday 31th May

Moved to a hostel in St Kilda today for 2 nights, the CBD is dead at night. Spent the rest of the day touring around melbourne, its so easy having your own transport to just skip past places. Did a lap of the albert park grand prix circuit, not sure if i was on the same pace as the F1 dudes. Picture of the Melbourne skyline taken from albert park in the last afternoon.



Went down to the Esplande Hotel to hear the live music they have there. The place is a old hotel, where they've converted all the major rooms into different stages for bands and dj's. Would be cool to see the place packed out, reckon it would rock. www.espy.com.au

Had two frigging punchers today!!, I know shep is laughing as he reads this - PUNK.