Hanging Rock

The Ride

It's a very short ride. 

00:52:24

11.34

13.2

29.8

The Rock

Not far from Woodend is a place called Hanging Rock, relatively famous for being the subject of an Australian book and movie called "A Picnic at Hanging Rock". 

You can only walk up to the summit, around 100-150m climb with nice views of the surrounds. 
Strangely, every time I have been there, I have noticed the stillness and calm at the top, even when it is wild and windy day by the visitor centre. Could there be some strange mysterious force associated with the Rock after all?

Hanging rock is also the location of an annual horse racing event which attracts very large crowds from all over, and recently has been staging pop concerts with the likes of Bruce Springsteen on the bill.

The Approach

The ascent through pretty woodland

Fingers?

The lake and racecourse can be seen below

You go under the rocks at one point

View of Mount Macedon across the way

The Eagle, famous rock formation

The Characters

I rode in thinking I had to pay at the visitor centre. They sent me back to the ranger at the entrance. He just waved me away, saying there was no need to pay (even though officially, I should do!) Thank you!

Mount Macedon

The Ride
 
Mount Macedon is the dominant feature on the landscape around Woodend. Standing at over 1000m elevation, it is a climb of 440 vertical meters for the cyclist to reach the summit.

Needless to say It was a tough climb with a maximum gradient of 12.7% .
See Full Ride Stats 

01:49:16

18.7

10.2

34.9

 
The Mountain Summit

The Memorial Cross is located at the summit and is built in honour of those who fell in the great wars.

The memorial Cross

 From here is a fantastic view. You can see Melbourne's CBD (Central Business District) very clearly, and Port Philip Bay, even though they are 50 miles away! The photos do not show this but with the naked eye it is very clear.

View from the Top

 As it's not often I am as high as 1000m I had to take a photo of the GPS.

Closer look at the Cross

Anglesea to Winchelsea

Bike Shop fix-up
 
The 3 days of "Shake down" were done, I learned a lot about cycle touring, and planned to make some changes to the equipment once I got back to base at Woodend. The bike gears were fixed at Anglesea, by a very competent mechanic.

There I also changed my saddle to a much more comfortable one. The old saddle was limiting me the most during the shake down, my bum being the most painful part of my body. The new saddle was a great success and saw me through the rest of the trip without problems.

During my time in Australia, I frequently visited bike shops, and a theme developed. It seemed to be that the smaller, independent bike shops run by (mainly) older guys on their own, were far more competent at doing repairs and for a better price.

What I have learned that if you go in the a brake problem and they say "Oh yes it seems like you need our service covering brakes, gears and drive chain", then walk away. Quickly.

Or look at it another way. The more brands you see splashed on the shop window, the worse the shop will be.

The Ride

I didn't want to cycle all the way back to Woodend to prepare for the next phase, so it was 29 Miles to Winchelsea and a train journey back.

See Full Ride Stats 

02:05:00

28.1 miles

13.2 mph Av

32.5 mph Max

32.0

C Around 10mph W

I saw my first Kangaroo today, surprising him on the road. We both raced along for a mile, he was much quicker than me and eventually hopped off into the bush.

The Town - Winchelsea

Today was a nice ride, good weather, sealed roads. Winchelsea Station is ever so small. Just one track along this section. I only really saw the railway station (and a quick stop at the Bakery).

 I was amused by the surf board sign next to the bike sign on the train entrance!

Inverleigh to Anglesea

The Ride

 I was having problems with the bike gears for the last 2 days, I was only getting about half the gears on the back cogs, so was looking forward to reaching Anglesea so I could visit the bike shop there and get this fixed.

See Full Ride Stats 
03:15:35    31.65 Milles   9.7 mph Av    27.2 mph Max       25.0C    W

Today's ride got off to a bad start when Google maps sent me down another non-existent road. I managed to correct it without too much of a detour, but I would never use Google maps again to plan a  route. After this mini-trip I would use OSM maps and Garmin Mapsource to plan rides. This took longer but guaranteed avoiding dirt tracks and used real roads that actually existed!

The Town - Anglesea

Anyway after a bit of a struggle on the soft dirt tracks near Anglesea, and 3 hours 15 minutes later I arrived at the beach.

 Finally made it to the Sea! Anglesea has a river and a few beaches.

 

 
 The town itself has plenty of shops and restaurants concentrated in a small area.

 It was during a walk here I encountered my first Echidna, a burrowing creature like a hedgehog but larger.

 Point Roadknight beach is the best one in Anglesea.

Trusty Beach Rug comes in handy

Ah the view! I needed the rest

 

Brisbane Ranges to Inverleigh

The Ride
 
I had a beautiful exit from Brisbane Ranges camp site, when hundreds of butterflies gave me a send-off, following me all the way up the track to the main road.

The rain continued throughout the morning, and I had a strong head wind of around 15 mph. Very tough conditions!

Today's ride took me further South towards the Great Ocean road, with Inverleigh the destination, as a convenient camping site.

See Full Ride Stats 
05:19:25    47.1 Miles    8.8mph Av    37.1 mph Max        22.0C    15mph W

 Notice there's a U-turn about half way. This was because I had used Google maps to plan the route. Unfortunately Google Maps is very bad quality in Australia and often invents roads that don't exist (when you use Cycling as an overlay).

That's what happened here. I ended up in a crop research area, at a dead end, with a very puzzled security guy quizzing me what I was doing. The  U-turn cost me 9 punishing miles along a poor dirt track, and a lot of time. 

Lethbridge General Store was a welcome stop for a Steak sandwich "With the lot", Australian for, put absolutely everything in there. Meat, egg, cheese, beetroot, and whatever else they have handy.

On the Road to Inverleigh. Bike very heavily loaded.

The pain with Google Maps continued as I approached Inverleigh. It sent me across Inverleigh Flora Reserve, along what looked like a nice track to start with, and pretty scenery.

Soon however, the track turned to sand, then to nothing, and the scenery got worse too. Google maps however defiantly insisted I was right on a road. Tired as I was, I had to push the bike for a distance through sand.

The Camp Site - Inverleigh Rest Area

Finally arriving at Inverleigh at dusk, I discovered there was no provision for camping. Bit of a shock, I had misread the "Camps 6" book and it was just a rest area for self-contained vehicles. Luckily in Australia they are not too strict about this.

The bike chain had dried out in all the dirt tracks and I had no chain lube on me, so had to use Peanut oil. The next  bike shop I came to were horrified at this!

The Characters

I met a couple in an RV (Camper van) who hid my tent behind their van because I was so worried about it being illegal for tents there. Cheers guys!

I also discovered today that RV drivers think of cycle tourists as kindred spirits. I started to get honks on the horn from today as my travelling brothers and sisters passed by.

Woodend to Brisbane Ranges

The "Shakedown" Begins

 So my bags are packed and I'm ready to go for a "Shakedown" ride, 3 days south to the Surf Coast, a lovely Beach town called Anglesea. 

This was to test out the bike, could it handle all that gear in the bags, and me, could I pedal this beast 120 miles to the coast?

Bags all packed

 My ride took me through the Wombat State Forest near Woodend. I didn't see any wombats here, as they are nocturnal, and the weather was quite bad with rain all day.

Ride Statistics

See Full Ride Stats
04:28:35    41.36 Miles    9.2 mph    38.7 mph max        21.0C    15mph SW

Road surface is quite rough at times here

Quick stop for Cake

The Camp Site - Boar Gulley

 The destination for this day was more determined by where the nearest camp site was than anything else! Boar Gulley camp ground in the Brisbane ranges is a free camp site with water and toilets as the only facilities. I was relieved to get there, soaked as I was and very tired (and unfit).

I struggled terribly with cramp towards the last 10 miles. I realised my preparation had been totally unsuitable, as I had ridden without bags in the run-up, and the extra weight of the bags make a huge difference on the hills.

First camp

First try-out for the stove, so far so good

Sausages had been kept cool in the Thermos food flask

Dinner the first night away, quite yummy

 

Goodnight, first night alone in the tent

BBQ at Woodend, Victoria

My hosts were very kind to let me stay with them at Woodend, to prepare for my trip. During the stay we had the obligatory Aussie BBQ, albeit in some rather British weather!

I did some equipment checks too. Tent #1 (named so for reasons that will become apparent later) seemed fine and waterproof after a test with a hose.

And I took some time shopping for the bits and bobs I still needed for the touring.

Bendigo Station, loaded up with gear from the camping stores

The essential guide to camp sites

Superb book for ideas about rides in Victoria

 These books were both essential.