We're back from a short tour.
A short multi-modal credit-card hub-and-spoke tour that included planes, trains and automobiles ... and buses, cycling and walking!
Thursday 4 February we drove to the airport and parked the van. That was the last bit of driving we did until we returned. We unloaded our 'one piece of checked luggage' each ... our Bike Fridays neatly and compactly folded into suitcases. The first leg of the journey was a flight to Melbourne and a shuttle van to the hotel.
We usually select a hotel right at the Melbourne airport, but I thought I'd check around to see if there were other options, and found one. The two were about the same price, but the determining factor was dinner. The hotel at the airport offered us McDonalds or possibly a cafe in the airport, if any were still open by the time we got there. Not particularly appealing. The other hotel offered an all-you-can-eat buffet for a decent price ... and it was definitely the right choice. Delicious!
The next morning we caught the shuttle bus back to the airport, and then caught the Sky Bus (
https://www.skybus.com.au/) to the Southern Cross station.
We were booked onto a direct train between Melbourne and Warrnambool, but unfortunately they've been doing work with the trains and so we were informed that the train would take us to Geelong, but there we would have to transfer to a coach. Inconvenient ... but free! Yes, the trip between Melbourne and Warrnambool was free because of this inconvenience!
Up till now we had been pleased with our method of transporting our bicycles ... neatly and compactly folded into suitcases. We had no issues getting them onto the plane, into the shuttle van, into the hotel, or onto the Sky Bus. No extra charges. No raised eyebrows. No heavy sighs. No refusals. But when we were informed of this change of plans to the train portion of our journey, we were
immensely pleased with our decision to use our Bike Fridays!! If we had full-sized bicycles there's a really good chance we would not have gotten them onto the coach in Geelong.
The train portion of the trip was lovely ... the coach, not so much. Very crowded. They had to run at least three coaches to fit everyone in! But we got there in the end and acquired a taxi to our caravan park. Again, it was good to have the Bike Fridays because the suitcases easily fit into the boot of the taxi.
Once settled in our cabin, we walked to the nearby shopping area for dinner.
Saturday, Rowan built up our Bike Fridays so we could ride ... 45.02 km in total. Our first journey was a mission to find breakfast ... not as easy as we had anticipated and we had already logged about 10 km before we finally found a place.
Then we decided to explore the city ... up and down some of the roads and checking out the cycling paths.
"The Promenade links the historic breakwater to Logans Beach. The sealed pathway starts with great views at the 1890 Breakwater, passes Lake Pertobe, follows around Lady Bay (it can be tempting to divert to the beach), crosses the mouth of the Hopkins River estuary, and ends at the whale nursery at Logans Beach. The path is suitable for all forms of wheeled transport including bikes, rollerblades, wheelchairs and pushers."
Visit Warrnambool | Bike & Walking Trails
I really liked the Promenade ... mostly because of the proximity of the beach and the ocean. It was beautiful!
We decided to take in dinner and a show that evening at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village:
Flagstaff Hill | Home Page ... the Shipwrecked Sound and Lasar Show ... and of course we cycled there and back after the show. Dinner was good, the show was really good, and the ride home in the dark was lovely.
On Sunday we decided to take on the Warrnambool to Port Fairy Rail Trail ... 84.7 km in total. Victoria has a number of lovely rail trails, and we've ridden several of them. We had ridden some of this trail a number of years ago, and it was not particularly brilliant then, but I had read that they had made some improvements so we wanted to see.
https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail?view=trail&id=160
Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail
The first part of our journey was along the Promenade, mentioned above. That was nice. Then we headed out of town on a path of finely crushed quartz dotted with boardwalk bridges here and there as we made our way through marshy land. We enjoyed that part as well. The path was decent and we could watch the herons and ibis and other birds.
But then, we were plunked onto a fairly rough gravel road and it wasn't long before we were longing for paved roads again. Thankfully, we got to a paved lane after a few kilometres, and we opted to stick with the road the rest of the way to Port Fairy. We figured it would take us forever to get there if we returned to the gravel path and we were getting hungry!
Port Fairy is a favourite location of ours and we've been there several times. We would have liked to stay in Port Fairy this time too, but the logistics were a bit difficult. However, we checked out the beach and then cycled to our favourite fish and chips place. Sadly it closes for a while between lunch and dinner and we weren't prepared to wait 2 hours for it to open again. So we found another cafe ... and discovered that a monument to Graham Woodrup (well known in the cycling community in Australia) had been removed!! There had been some construction in the area, so we hope it will be replaced.
Graham Woodrup | Monument Australia
Feeling more energetic, we decided to take the rail trail back to Warrnambool. It is paved in Port Fairy now, but the moment it leaves Port Fairy it turns to crushed limestone ... a bit rough, but not too bad. And it was definitely an improvement over what it had been a few years ago. A few years ago, it was a narrow overgrown path, but now it is quite wide and fairly well groomed. There were several cyclists using it as well, so that was good to see. It is a gradual climb all the way to Koroit plus a slightly steeper bit on the other side of Koroit before the descent into Warrnambool.
Just before we reached Koroit, Rowan flatted and had to change his tube. We suspect that the replacement tube may have been mislabelled because it was a lot larger than what we expected. Bike Fridays take 20-inch tubes, and we have a suspicion that tube may have been a 24-inch tube. Nevertheless, Rowan stuffed it in and we got going again.
The trail is paved through Koroit, and then returns to crushed limestone again. About 10 km from Warrnambool, we intersected a paved road ... and decided to take the road back to Warrnambool. We had had enough of gravel. That last 10 km was much quicker, and we arrived back at our caravan park in time to freshen up a bit and then cycle into town to one of the Mexican restaurants for dinner.
On Monday we decided to cycle the other direction and check out a tourist attraction which we've seen from a distance before and was recommended to us again this time ... Allansford Cheese World:
Allansford Cheese World - Warrnambool Our impression was a bit different from reality. Somehow I envisioned a whole lot more cheese ... or perhaps a variety of dairy products. Unfortunately the place has seen better days and was more or less a run-of-the-mill cafe and gift shop.
However, we ended up spending a bit of time there because Rowan flatted again, and this time it was because of the size of that tube, we suspect. He patched it, but because we didn't feel entirely comfortable with how well it was going to hold up, plus because time was getting on, we decided to return to Warrnambool via the Hopkins Training Route ... a cycling route so popular it is actually signed. I'll post a photo of the sign soon.
Back in Warrnambool we went to a different Mexican place for dinner ... which, incidentally, I've just discovered, has recently opened in Hobart too!! Then we cycled around town a bit in the evening because it was so nice out. 51 km in total. And actually Rowan had cycled a couple extra kilometres getting some supplies in the morning.
Tuesday was our last day so we did a short ride out to a bicycle shop, which didn't have much of interest, and then to the beach, and finally for fish and chips. 13.75 km in total. We packed the Bike Fridays back into the suitcases, and the process only took 1 hour!
Then it was a taxi back to the train station, where we were able to check our bags in, and then we were free to walk around town until the train arrived. The train was delayed half an hour because of some difficulties with one of the carriages, but fortunately, we had a train all the way back to Melbourne, and it was a lovely trip. Very comfortable and relaxing ... we do like trains. I even saw a kangaroo hopping along the track. I was hoping to see one. Tasmania has lots of different "hoppies" but no kangaroos. The biggest here is a wallaby.
We arrived in Melbourne quite late, but had a hotel right next to the station, within easy walking distance. We weren't sure what it would be like, but it turned out to be quite nice.
This morning, we were able to put our baggage into storage while we roamed Melbourne for a few hours on foot. Breakfast by the Yarra River. Exploring Federation Square. Checking out the shops along the Bourke Street Mall:
Bourke Street. Listening to street performers, including a talented concert pianist.
Back at the hotel, we collected our bags, and walked up to Southern Cross station to catch the Sky Bus back to the Airport ... and from there, it was a quick hop over to Tasmania. Home again.
Six days of no driving, but a whole bunch of other methods of transportation, including 194.47 km of cycling + 11.5 km of walking. And 4 of those days were just cycling and walking.
We were very pleased with the comfort of our Bike Fridays, and the convenience of being able to pack them into ordinary suitcases.
Just a few photos so far, but there will be more: https://www.flickr.com/photos/machka...12198466/page5 ... the last few on that page, but the other photos in that album are from previous trips to that area.
Photos so far ...
