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Well, we got some sleep last night. Dana was kept up by some women playing tunes well after the dudes got quiet. I did not hear that at all as I had earplugs in trying to block the “hoo-rahs” and cackles coming from the guys party. Fortunately, today’s ride wasn’t too difficult: 50 miles and 1600′ of climbing. Relatively easy given the earlier parts of the GOR.
We broke camp pretty early, made some coffee and breakfast and got on our way to Warrnabool and the end of the Great Ocean Road at 8 AM. As it was early Sunday morning, the traffic was light, and the first few miles out of Port Campbell was a brand new bike path which we followed to its end. We never got more than 200′ above sea level. Traffic picked up later, but the roads were great and other than 4 or so miles of a gravel road, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
We got into Warrnabool and stopped at the info center which was also at the top of a recreation of a Victorian era fishing village – we got some pics of that, but didn’t visit. We did get a map and some info about the train back to Melbourne which we planned to take tomorrow. On the way in we had seen some markers and posters for a cycling race that was running that day. We found out about that, too — it was the annual Melbourne to Warrnabool race. Saturday, today, was the men’s race, and tomorrow was the women’s. We got an estimate of the finish time and location and headed out to explore Warrnabool.
One of the first things we saw was an outdoor store, and I stopped and went in to find some cooking gas. At long last! We also visited the Aldi’s, got some groceries and pretzels – something rather rare in AUS — crisps galore , but very few pretzels. After shopping, we went to what was on the map as a park, but was a sports field. We sat on a bench and made our lunch while watching some teens practice with a rugby ball. After lunch, we headed to the end of the race only to find the men had already finished, and well ahead of the predicted time. 270 km (167 miles) in 5 hours and 45 minutes. 47km/hr (30 mph) average. We were there with our fully loaded touring bikes and attracted a few people who asked what we were doing and I replied that we just did the race from Melbourne to Warrabool, but it took us 5 days! It was cool to see the winners come to the podium, and we promised ourselves we’d be there for the women’s finish tomorrow.
After all that excitement, we headed to Maggie’s, our Warmshowers host. Maggie was so gracious as to host us when she was just returning from a tour in New Zealand. She sent a note hoping we were OK with some disorganization — we replied that that is how we spend each day, so no prob. On the way, we met a young Irishman on a tour from Perth to Sydney, and eventually other places around the world. Sean was taking a year off after finishing school and riding an not-made-for-touring bike with a worn out tire (the puncture shield was showing through most of the wheel). He was determined to travel on and we encouraged him to sign up for Warmshowers (he had heard of it, but never used it) and to get a new tire ASAP.
Back to Maggie. We got settled in and helped make the beds and brought our bags in. For having just gotten back, Maggie whipped up a hearty dinner and her friend Julie who had immigrated from the UK joined us. We chatted for a couple of hours and then hit the sack. Tomorrow, we’re going to watch the women’s race finish, then hop on the train back to Melbourne.
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