Thursday, June 4, 2015

Cann River to Bairnsdale Australia

I rode from Cann River early in the morning with thick frost covering everything. I started to slip around on my bike along the road so I turned around and went to have some coffee and wait for the ice to clear from the road a bit. The fog was also an issue because vehicles would not be able to see me. After about an hour the fog thinned and the roads were not as slippery so I took off. It seemed like I rode uphill all day long but I did about 120K to get me to Nowa Nowa where I stopped for the night in anther pub/hotel. In the morning it was again slippery and foggy so I had to wait a while. I finally got going around 8am. I rode to Lakes entrance and then on through to Bairnsdale. I had wanted to ride further but when I arrived in Bairnsdale I threw in the towel.

My clothes were really stinky from sweating up all the hills for the last few days so I did laundry first thing in Bairnsdale. Then I went to the campground and ate a ton of pasta and salad with some fruit and some juice to wash it all down. I am set for the night now.

Tomorrow I want to ride to Rosedale which is just over 100K according to the information place here in town. Rosedale is a Melbourne suburb for all practical definitions. I will book my Tasmania trip from there if I am able to and may rest up a few days first because the campground there is free. My budget is getting hammered with all the beds I have ended up needing due to rain and cold weather. Australia is not cheap for food either. I will post some menus soon so you can see how high the food prices are. I can not post pics because the wifi is really slow. You could just picture a tunnel in your mind with gum trees lining the sides and that has been my view for the last 4 days. I did see and hear some lyrebirds which are amazing birds but I could not get a pic of one. Enjoy your day. These signs kind of reinforce just how boring the road has been lately.

Genoa to Cann River

I woke up to frost all over everything this morning. I was not cold during the night but getting up in the morning to go take a leak I found out how cold it really was. My tent was dry so I packed up quickly after a quick bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee.

Last night I went to bed early and at 10:30 I heard snorting and heavy breathing outside my tent. It sounded like a bear. I unzipped and looked outside and it was just a cute little possum sniffing around. I have never heard one breathing like this guy was. Maybe he had just been running or something. It was not afraid of me but obviously wanted me to give it some food. I don’t do that. I went looking for my camera to take some pics of it but it ran off before I found the camera. No food no pics.

I am still having pain problems and last night I was fighting off seizures several times. I am starting to think that this cold weather is messing up my health. I am seriously thinking about not riding to Adelaide but instead just flying right to Perth from Melbourne. Perth is warmer but not hot at this time of year. I am still thinking it over and hoping my body just comes around and lets me continue with my original plans. Time will tell.

The ride today was almost all uphill. I could not believe the way I would climb up a big hill and then after a short flattish stretch it would go up again. It went on like this all morning with no downhills just constant uphill riding. Finally about 5K or 3 miles from Cann River there was a long downhill into town. I was alternating between freezing and sweating all morning with the low temps outside. I think that may be what is causing my pain issues. Such is life. Tonight, after my short ride, I am sleeping at the pub in a barebones room for $32, and it is all I need. No pics til I find wifi

Eden to Genoa Australia

I finally got some dry weather today so I packed up and hit the road by 7:30 this morning. Within the first kilometer the hills started with a long steep grade leaving the town of Eden. It had me sweating right from the get go today. It was 4C or upper 30sF so it was cold and the sweating and cold can be a dangerous mix. Hypothermia is a possibility so I had to be careful. I tried to slow down to reduce the sweating and I took off some layers but then I got cold and had to put some clothes back on. It was like that all day cold and hot at the same time. My body must have been getting confused by all the contradicting info being sent to my brain.

I counted the grades today. There were 24 grades that made me go all the way down to first gear. The longest was about a half hour to spin to the top. There were a lot of 10-15 minute climbs and some longer and some shorter ones too. There was no flat section. The wind was blowing at about 20mph and as I climbed the grades the wind increased. Then going down the grades the wind was slowing me so much I had to pedal sometimes to keep going.

As I sit here in a free campground right now my face and lips feel like they are wind burned. I stopped here in this campground because it suddenly clouded over and looked like it was going to rain so I dashed here for protection. The camp has toilets and tables and BBQs but no drinking water. The town of Genoa looks like it is a ghost town with two closed hotels, closed pub, closed cafe and lots of abandoned buildings around. There was a woman sitting on her porch and I was going to ask her if there was any drinking water available in town but she ran into her house and closed the door when she saw me approaching. Seems kind of like a Hitchcock town to me. There are some other RVers here so I will try to get some drinking water from them. The next place to get water is 50 km or 30 miles away. Not much for pics today. and wifi is too slow to post em.