Went for a run down the beach to start the day. It was relatively calm with a light rain. The light was creating a very dramatic view down the coast with dark clouds on the horizon and the ridges of the coastal hills highlighted and stacked up by the rising sun casting a shining light through the mist. The surf was up and a nice curling break had already enticed a few surfers out.
My fitness is getting worse. After about ten minutes I stopped to take photos of the scene and then walked for a fair bit down the beach before running again. The problem is that I didn’t have my camera, so that excuse for walking is hopeless.
When I got back to the motel Dad was up showered and dressed in his riding gear ready to go, so that was that decision out of the way, we would ignore the gale force wind warning and hit the road. I packed up and showered then we had some breakfast in the restaurant and hit the road.
The rain went from light to heavy and the road was as slippery as ever, then the wind started to gust also, so to say that it was an enjoyable ride would be a shallow lie. Rain on the bike is not too bad if you can maintain a reasonable speed of 80km or more as the fairing send the water over the top of you, but we were riding at about 30 -50km/hr because of the windy road, wet rough surface and the frequent signs warning about the slippery surface in the wet. The rain was kept out by my rain jacket that I had on over my riding jacket but the water was running down and onto my lap and sat there slowly soaking through the trousers that are only shower proof. So my lower half was very wet and cooling down fast. A bit distressing. I tried to look to the trees to see if I could spot a Koala as there are lots of them in the National Forest going through here but unfortunately I really had to keep my eyes on the road with the conditions being so dodgy. I stopped at Lorne the next town to check how Dad was holding up in the conditions and whether he was keen to stop, but he was comfortable in his flash Italian riding gear that is obviously more waterproof than my fancy Dutch gear. We carried on for an hour or so then I pulled in to Torquay to have a warm up Coffee. This is beside Bells beach a very famous surf beach, big waves I believe. We decided to ride in to Melbourne and stop there as Dads leg is sore and he needed to rest it and give the antibiotics a chance to work.
As we rode through Geelong then on to Melbourne the traffic gradually became more and more heavy. We ended up on the M1 motorway to Melbourne with four lanes of traffic that gradually ground to a halt before the massive West Gate Bridge, due to road works that had closed down one lane on the bridge. The Australians sure know how to build big things. This bridge is so high that it felt like we were coming in to land in Melbourne not just riding our bikes into town. We stopped on the other side of the bridge and decided to go to the Lonely Planet recommended campground for a cabin. This involved turning around and heading towards the bridge again, however Karen the GPS lady got a bit demanding and asked us to turn off to the left at a point that was impossible due to there being a barrier in the way, so back up and over the bridge we went in the gusting wind, and driving rain, feeling a bit exposed as the trucks passed by on the next lane. Eventually we arrived at the Campground and found that they only had cabins with one Double bed and a couch, we had a look and in fact they were large units very new and flash with a large couch, so we took one and unloaded and were both very relieved to dry out and warm up with a feed of Spaghetti and a cuppa.
Laundry, phoned home, groceries, take away and night in by the heat pump, Brrrrrr.
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