Day 5 Ride to Conference – Port Campbell to Colac 90 km Total to date 495 km
Having survived a hot sultry night.... there were no air conditioners and the cool change arrived with a blast at 4 am.... the temperature at brekkie and the prospect of a cooler day’s cycling was most welcome.
Cyclists and road crew headed off at 8 am. However, Margaret had to wait till 8.30 am for the manager to arrive in order to pay him. Sandra, in the mean time, shopped for Timboon made bakery rolls at the Port Campbell bakery – reminiscent of the special trip to Timboon the day before to stock up on large containers of drinking water. On the sharp rise out of town the cyclists were aided by a strong wind at our rear and this extra encouragement assisted us for most of the coast line journey.
After 12 km we pulled into the iconic Twelve Apostles Scenic Lookout. We cyclists were among the first of 5000 tourists expected that day!! This site is second only to Uluru in popularity and attracts some 1.5 million visitors a year. We walked our bikes under the Great Ocean Road to the lookout, en route chatting with the cleaning contractor who was equipped with long handled rubbish-retrieving tongs. He would not divulge just how many apostles were still standing (7? 6?), however he was a mine of information on the resident black and tiger snakes he encounters every day!!!!
There was to be no Myrtleford, Lorelei or Mount Samaria moments for cyclists this year (an ‘in’ joke for cyclists who have lost their way in past years), as the road signage to Simpson was clearly marked and reinforced by the presence of our helpful road crew. A stiff climb of 6 km and some challenging descents with severe cross winds led us past the ‘Macca Family Farm’ and ‘ G.O.R.G.E Chocolates’ (the acronym standing for Great Ocean Road Gourmet Experience). Undeterred by the thought of hoovering one’s way through a veritable mountain of chocolate, we continued up the hill and on to the Apostle Whey Cheese, where we had morning tea. This consisted of coffee with tasting platters of locally made Brie, washed rind, camembert, feta style, blue vein and other delicate soft cheeses on cracker biscuits, served up with an interesting talk by our host Julian. This was followed by an apt photo of Rotarians with Julian the owner/cheese-maker standing on the rotary dairy.
Cycling through the undulating Heytesbury countryside, Peter ...our peregrinacious agricultural scientist.... spoke authoritatively on soldier settlement blocks, the art of making silage and herringbone dairies.
It was somewhere betwixt Irrewillipe and Elliminyte that our on-road captain and strongest rider Tony actually spoiled the record and took the wrong turn, ending up on a dirt road!! Having been falsely directed by Michael, he suffered the indignity of having to be picked up in his own ute and put back on track!!! Other Rotarian cyclists – David, Rosemary, Bruce, Peter, Alicia and Graham – not the mention the other road crew – were quite astounded when Tony overtook them with a ‘Good afternoon gentlemen, ladies’. He had been out front!! Was he playing ‘silly buggers’ with us and hiding behind a tree as we passed?
Following a pause for refreshments, as we turned into the Colac-Lavers Road, we carefully juggled our entry into Colac between some heavy timber jinkers, navigated our way through the roundabouts and lights and made our way to the motel. Bruce, who needed some work done on his cleats (an essential part of a cyclist’s shoes for the uninitiated) was pleased to see a bike shop in the main street.
Graham
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