Lilydale-Warburton-Powelltown-Lilydale Bike Tour

For this post I'm experimenting with creating it just using my iPhone, using the Blogger app. My perception is that this app could do with some development, that it's too pared back and unreliable. Indeed just 5 minutes into typing this post, while multi-tasking with surfing the internet and texting, I returned to the post I'd been writing and it was gone. Disappeared! I don't want to have to be backing up my text manually all the time for fear it's going to disappear. Also, I can't see how to hyperlink using this app. I guess I will have to go back afterwards and paste in any hyperlinks I want to add. I may be able to do this using Chrome on my iPhone and accessing the blogger site. However that approach doesn't appear suitable for writing the entire post, as there is no mobile version of the blog editor, and uploading photos from the phone doesn't seem to work.

Blogging this way on my phone is going to back to the roots of the blog, which I started writing on my iPhone 4 when I was riding around Europe in 2010. Back then I had to type everything on my phone's touch-screen, which I find frustrating because it's just so slow! But now I have a great little bluetooth keyboard which is fantastic! I wish I'd thought of using a bluetooth keyboard back then! This method also means I don't need to turn on my desktop to blog (I don't have a laptop), which will save power. And the photos are already on my phone, so the process of uploading photos should be easier this way. Though I recall last time I used this app (in 2010), the photos I uploaded were heavily compressed and poor quality...so we'll see if this problem has been resolved.

This post is about a little bike tour that Josh, Alex and I did at the end of March 2015. After our Otways tour in January 2015, Josh and Alex apparently loved it so much that they both invested in quality touring bikes. Josh bought a Soma Saga, and Alex bought a Vivente, both from Commuter Cycles in Brunswick. We were planning a longer trip riding from Brisbane towards Sydney in late April, so we figured it would be a good idea to do a bit of a trial tour, to test out the new equipment, cycling fitness, packing methods and things to bring.

I came up with a rough idea of where we could tour. I was thinking Warragul across to Lilydale, but following a different route to last time I did it. However, we later had to change this plan and shorten it because Josh had been offered tickets for the Cricket World Cup final match between Australia and New Zealand. This meant that we had to get back to Melbourne before mid-day on Sunday. So we decided on a round trip, from Lilydale, past Warburton, across to Powelltown and back to Lilydale.

Alex on the left with his new Vivente, and Josh on the right with his new Soma Saga. Heading off from Northcote for our tour.

We left on Saturday morning, stocked up with food at Northcote Plaza on the way, and caught the train out to Lilydale. Josh hadn't quite finished fitting, tuning and adjusting things on his bike, so he continued doing this on the hour-long train ride to Lilydale.

We got to Lilydale at around mid-day, and hopped on the rail trail towards Warburton. The riding was pleasent, along what is probably the most popular rail trail in Victoria. 

Alex and Josh at our first lunch stop on the Lilydale-Warburton Rail Trail

Josh posing with the Autumn trees after lunch.

Stuck in traffic on the Lilydale-Warburton Rail Trail - behind a steam engine.

We stumbled upon a steam engin show in Yarra Junction.

There were a few bumps on this part of the trail, and Alex's sunglasses had jumped out of his shirt pocket, which had then immediately been run over by Josh following close behind. Alex was...disappointed.

We got to Warburton at around 3 pm, and by the time we'd had second lunch, the afternoon was really getting on. 

Alex sitting by the Yarra River for second lunch, in Warburton.

We continued up the main road east of Warburton for about 5 km before turning off the main road and heading south on some smaller roads. This was my favourite part of the ride, I liked the gravel roads through the bush.

There was a lot of climbing through this section, and Alex was struggling up some of the steeper sections on the rough gravel. 

Josh and Alex on the road between Warburton and Powelltown.

Alex on the road between Warburton and Powelltown.

Josh on the road between Warburton and Powelltown.

Ned on the road between Warburton and Powelltown.

Josh resting after a stint of climbing, Alex still catching up.

This area had apparently recentlly been logged. It reminded me of one of my favourite movies as a kid - Fern Gully.

At around the top of the climbing, we came across a little camping area (Starlings Gap) with a few groups of campers. 

Sterling Gap Campsite.

Josh and I decided to pull in for a look while we waited for Alex to catch up. We chatted for a while to some friendly blokes called Geoff and Chris, who had been hiking all day, but had gotten lost/taken some wrong turns, so they'd taken several hours longer than they'd planned.

We kept talking, and still there was no sign of Alex. I'd been keeping an eye on the road for him during the conversation, but hasn't seen him go past. Ten minutes, fifteen minutes, we started to get worried. Had he collapsed, gotten lost, or gone past without seeing us? We left the campground and gave Alex a call.

On the intersection near the Stirling Gap Campsite, where we phoned Alex to locate him.

He picked up and said he'd ridden past without seeing us, and was about 2 km past the next turn-off that he'd missed. We agreed to meet at that turn-off and continue on the right route together.

On the road towards Powelltown.

This part of the ride was the best, because it was a long descent on gravel roads. Some parts were particularly steep, and the speed was thrilling, if not a little risky. Half way down, there was some bunting across the road, and a few blokes standing beside us. They infromed us that there was a car rally being held just down the road from there, and were surprised that we didn't know that. They advised us not to continue in that direction, but if we insisted, then to be careful. A car rally, how exciting! We continued, of course. We didn't collide with a car rally, but we did see a few rally cars on the way. 

I got to the bottom of the descent, and waited a few minutes for Josh to catch up, and then another 10 minutes or so for Grandma...I mean Alex! From there, it was just a little further on to Powelltown, and it was also just about dark. 

We needed to top up our water bottles, but the pub didn't have any running potable water (they were on bottled water apparently, because consumption of the local water source had been forbidden due to recent high levels of bacteria). We stopped in at the local footy oval and reserve, and they had a water tank beside the club rooms, but that water appeared slightly brown, so we didn't trust it. We chatted to a bloke there who was running the barbie for the rally drivers. There were probably a hundred rally cars there, as that was the start and end point for the rally, which would be running until about 1 am that night, we were told.

We considered camping there up behind the club rooms, but figured it wasn't a great idea as we'd be kept awake by the noise of the rally drivers and their cars. So we rode on a little further and found a little area just off the main road at the start of a walking track. That would do just fine. We prioritised food over setting up the tents, so we grabbed some water from the creek and used it to cook pasta for dinner. 

Alex with pasta sauce on his fingers are clumsily half knocking over his bowl of pasta.

By the time we'd washed up and set up the tents, it was after 11 pm.

Our route for the first day: Lilydale to Powelltown.

We had a reasonably early start the next day as we needed to cover the remaining 60 km in good time in order to get back to the city by mid-day. 

Our campsite in Powelltown.

Our view from the breakfast table.

Josh at the breakfast table.

After a significant breakfast, we were on the road by 8:30 and riding towards Yarra Junction. 

Josh was leading the way, while Alex and I were mostly sitting in. The temperature was very brisk to start with, but we soon warmed up from the exertion, and soaked up the warmth from the sun. 

On the road between Powelltown and Yarra Junction.

We hopped back onto the rail trail at Yarra Juntion, and got to Lilydale by 10:50 am, exceeding our expectations and in time to catch the 10:59 am train back to the city.

Our route for Day 2: Powelltown to Lilydale.

It was a useful little trip, for each of us to gauge our capabilities. We came back with a mental (and digital) list of things to remember to do before or bring to the Brisbane trip (blog posts to come).

2014/15 Summer Criterium Racing

Here's the only photo I could find from this seasons racing at Kew Boulevard. L-R: Simon, Brendan Canty, Alex Ristovski and Ned Powell.

My motivation for racing has dwindled in recent times. I had been racing with the Melbourne University racing team throughout the road season in 2014 but not achieving any good results. This wasn't unexpected given my lack of training. With this lack of inspiration, I decided not to continue with the team when John Prince was planning the team for 2015. This coincided somewhere around the early months of the crit season, maybe October or November. I'm very grateful to John, Unibicycles and the University of Melbourne and all the team sponsors for the products, opportunities and experiences I had with the team for the previous three years, but I thought it was time to give the position on the team to a young enthusiastic current student at Melbourne Uni, which I wasn't. Someone who has more time and motivation to dedicate to training and racing, which wasn't me. I was finding it increasingly difficult to juggle full-time work and other interests such as slack-lining, acro-yoga, gardening, studying, socialising and squash with training and racing, which weighed in on my decision to leave the team.

Then when my racing licence expired at the end of the calendar year, I was seriously considering not renewing it. Afterall, at $350 per year, they're not cheap. In the end I decided to renew it, figuring that it was good to challenge myself physically by racing, and to give me motivation to keep fit and have a goal to train for. No that I actually did much serious training, just commuting really, a bit of time on the trainer while watching Coursera lectures, and the racing each week - that was about the extent of my training.

So I continued racing the Hawthorn Cycling Club criterium at Kew Boulevard just about every week thoughout the season. I was lacking confidence for the first race, given my lacklustre performance in the road season. However I finished 12th and felt better than expected.

The second race was a different story. Feeling more confident after the previous week, I went out in an early break with my mate Tom Christie, but then completely blew up, went straight to the back of the peloton and just about got dropped. The rest of the race was a real struggle, and only just managed to stay with the bunch, and finished in about 20th position.

The following week I missed the race because I got away from work too  late, and the week after the race was sold out. This was unexpected, and I realised that if the races continued to sell out, I'd probably miss most of them because I'm no good at getting to races early. Luckily, however, Hawthorn CC introduced an online entry system at about that time, which meant I could always secure an entry each week - provided I remembered to enter online.

Compiling and looking back at my results now, I did better than I expected. Most of the races were well-attended, most at capacity (40 people) and with a handfull of big hitters most weeks. Although I was missing most of the breaks early in the season, I was still finishing strongly in the bunch sprint, and later in the season I got into some successful breaks, which is where my best results came from. In one of those breaks, on January 21 2015, with Alistair O'Donahue and Alan Iacuane, I led into the final corner and over-cooked it, hit the gutter and fell onto the gravel, though I got my foot down in time and mostly held myself up. Luckily I didn't take out the two guys behind me, and we were so far ahead of the bunch that I still had time to put my chain back on and ride up the hill to finish third.

That wasn't the only crash I had during the season. On November 19, 2014, I overlapped wheels with someone and he moved sideways and I couldn't keep the bike up. I hit the deck and unfortunately took out another couple of guys behind me, which I felt really guilty about. It was a rookie error, and my fault.

The most disappointing race for me was the second last race in the season, on March 18, 2015. This was also the Hawthorn Criterium Championships, and I figured I was in with a chance. I was racing agressively at the start and went out in an early break, but we got caught, and then I actually got dropped from the bunch. This was the first time I'd ever been dropped from the main bunch. I was still determined to finish the race and kept riding, until the bunch lapped me, then I rode around with the bunch to the finish. Only 10 people finished the race though, so I still finished 10th. That meant I was 4th in the Hawthorn Crit Championships, just off the podium.

Below is a table of my results and statistics for the season.

Date	Result	Elapsed Time	Average Speed	Maximum Speed	Average Cadence	Average Heart Rate	Maximum Heart Rate	Average Power	Maximum Power	Temperature (°C)
October 8, 2014	12th	32:53:00	43.0	67.3	95	168	187	291	1296	17
October 15, 2014	20th	36:40:00	42.5	61.6	94	-	-	281	1228	15
October 22, 2014	Missed Race
October 29, 2014	Sold Out
November 5, 2014	6th	44:00:00	42.0	60.5	96	175	196	283	1197	16
November 12, 2014	Race Cancelled
November 19, 2014	5th	45:28:00	41.2	68.4	95	169	199	255	1345	29
November 26, 2014	6th	39:47:00	41.9	68.4	96	170	194	272	1182	17
December 3, 2014	Missed Race
December 10, 2014	11th	36:25:00	42.3	62.6	96	169	188	277	1279	20
December 17, 2014	8th	19:38:00	42.5	63.7	96	171	195	271	1272	23
December 24, 2014	No Racing
December 31, 2014	No Racing
January 7, 2015	5th	32:36:00	41.1	68.0	97	185	202	313	1331	34
January 14, 2015	4th	41:49:00	41.6	60.1	95	175	197	269	1253	20
January 21, 2015	3rd	44:25:00	41.5	66.2	98	186	199	312	1264	34
January 28, 2015	4th	40:03:00	41.8	60.1	99	184	199	317	1187	24
February 4, 2015	3rd	44:21:00	41.7	73.8	97	176	197	267	1185	20
February 11, 2015	9th	38:12:00	42.3	67.0	96	175	194	286	1274	21
February 18, 2015	Sold Out
February 25, 2015	9th	37:25:00	43.6	61.9	96	182	195	303	1238	27
March 4, 2015	Sold Out
March 11, 2015	10th	43:08:00	43.1	64.4	96	176	193	287	1241	21
March 18, 2015	10th	43:32:00	42.7	64.8	96	178	194	304	1172	22
March 25, 2015	8th	37:31:00	43.5	70.6	96	175	192	289	1250	19

Otways Bicycle Tour

On the Australia Day long weekend, a bunch of us embarked on a tour in the beautiful Otways area. Some of us even took Friday off work to make it a four-day tour. It was a great trip I reckon. I certainly enjoyed it, and hopefully everyone else did too! Here are some shots from my iPhone, which I've captioned, and a few anecdotes and words on the trip by Josh Orchard (thanks Josh!)

Day 1: Colac to Birregurra

Rosie and Jess on the train to Colac.

Kat napping on the train to Colac.

Rosie and Darryl doing some adjustments to Rosie's seat before we set off.

Josh getting in a bit of slack-lining in Colac before we set off.

Darryl also slack-lining in Colac while the rest of us were getting ready.

The first day was meant to be easy: 65 odd kilometers, heaps of time, not too many climbs, start in Colac and finish in the nearby town of Birregurra. But by the time we'd done shopping, been to the bike shop for repairs and parts, and had second breakfast, it was going on half eleven, and it was already obvious that our 'best laid plans' may not survive unscathed in the real world of circumstance. 

The "before" shot. Nine of us about to set off, from left to right: Alex, Phoebe, Alex (Stovsky), Rosie, Jess, Kat, Josh and Darryl.

And because we had no other photographer, Rosie swapped with me so that I could be in the photo too.

A splendid high-yield delicious black-berry patch, about 7 km out from Colac.

Picking black-berries.

Blackberries. Mmmmm!

The climb from Kawarren to Forrest proved tougher than the maps suggested, with seemingly relentless loose gravel clambers, followed by white-knuckle loose gravel descents. But beyond a few punctures, a grazed knee and some fatigue, we got through okay.  

A break on Ridge Road. Gravel road, no traffic, scenic landscapes, the forest, great!

Lunch break, at about 4 pm.

Lunch break.

Another break about 10 km from Birregurra.

Phoebe and Alex pulling in for a break, quite exhausted.

A few snacks before we headed off again, and set up camp in Birregurra.

From Forest it was only 20 Km's to Birregurra, our destination for the night; but by the time we rolled into town the sun was setting. We rode around town for a bit inspecting possible camping sites, before settling on a grassed area by a small creek at the back of the skate park. By the time we'd put up our tents, it was 9:30 pm and we were all tired and ready for a good feed.

We had two or three trangias between us for cooking, which was more than enough, but I'd forgotten to bring methylated spirits for fuel. It wouldn't be an issue though, as Rosie and I had concluded earlier in the day, because Ned would have plenty. Ned's not the sort of person who forgets things, especially something so fundamentally important to him eating. So we gathered our stoves and our food (it was to be pasta that night), and made preparations to transition over to the picnic area across the road.

"Ned, did you bring metho?" said I

"Oh no! I forgot" said Ned

Turning to me: "He's joking isn't he?" said Rosie

"No, I'm not" said Ned

I got that sinking feeling. That awful drop of the stomach. You know that feeling you get when you're really hungry and tired, when you're bordering on being a bit grumpy, and all you want to do is just fill your face, but you realize you've come camping with no metho for your trangia? That's the feeling I got.

At this point the group gave a collective sigh of dejection, as our heads slumped towards the ground. The situation reminded me of when I'd gone for a BBQ lunch with Dad and my Nan on Christmas day many years ago, and I'd forgotten to pack matches (which Dad had specifically told me to remember). That day I had to walk into the nearby caravan park and ask people if I could borrow some. So naturally, as Dad had never let me forget this unforgivable mistake and traumatic experience, my first thought was: "Well we just have to go ask someone".

Rosie was keen too, so we gorged on some delicious fresh blackberries we'd picked along the way that day to give us another half hours energy, and we set off up the street.

Birregurra is a bit of a ghost town. There were houses, by no lights on. We knocked on the first door with signs of life, but they were having a party out the back, so there was no answer. The next house was too well fenced to inhabit the sort of folk that wouldn't mind strangers knocking on their door at 9:45 pm. We turned a corner, and tried our luck again. This time a woman opened the door, but after checking her cupboards, she told us she was fresh out. She suggested we try the pub, as it might still be open. But surely, we thought, surely someone must have some metho; it's not the sort of thing you throw out, you just buy it and never use it. From behind the next door appeared a young lady in a dressing gown, who said she didn't think she had any methylated spirits, but she'd go and check for us. She came back with half a bottle of turpentine and asked us if it was any good to us. She genuinely wanted to help, and I genuinely wanted her to feel as if she had, so I accepted the bottle. With our hopes beginning to fade, we pressed on to the next lit house. A small black cat ran across the path leading to the door; which I've always thought is good luck (I like cats). This door was open, and inside we could see the floor littered with paint tins and tools and various other signs of renovation in progress. This was the one. These people MUST have metho! A middle-aged man answered the door, and by now my little spiel about our hopeless situation was more polished, so I won him over almost immediately. He said he was very sorry, he didn't have any methylated spirits, but he'd have a quick check anyway. I'm not sure about Rosie, but I was beginning to consider the thought of returning to our campsite empty-handed, and the sad idea of going to bed without a hot meal. The man returned with a warm smile, saying: "It's your lucky day", and handed us an almost full bottle of premium Coles brand Methylated Spirits. We were over-joyed, and offered the kind sir some money in compensation, but of course, he would not accept. He'd made our night, and the opportunity to feed a group of starving travelers had made his.

We'd made a bet with Ned that we would be back within 15 minutes with metho, and though we'd gone well over this, we ran back to the campsite to save time (and also because we were just really hungry!). But not before returning the bottle of turps to the young lady a few doors down.

So better late than never, we made our dinner and drank our tea, and simmered down into our tents by about midnight. 

Dinner in Birregurra at about 11 pm - pasta on the trangia, thanks to the metho that Josh and Rosie obtained.

Day 1: Colac to Birregurra.

Day 2: Birregurra to Skenes Creek

Our camp-site in Birregurra. After what was a tough day 1 for them, Alex and Phoebe had decided to pack up early and catch the first train back to Warrnambool.

Alex (Stovsky) had other commitments so he also caught the train back to Melbourne. Jess also unfortunately called an end to her bike tour, while Steph who'd caught the early Saturday train from Melbourne joined us.

Saturday was a great day. We made good time in the morning on the climb towards Lorne, and the 450m descent into Lorne was very fun. I tucked into Ned's slip-stream for as much of it as I could, and we built up terrific speed. The element of terror that comes with hurtling down a winding road at 60 km/h with nothing but a foam helmet between you and the pavement both forces you to grasp and protect your fragile mortality, and instills you with enormous confidence in your capacity to absorb all the bumps and turns the road (and life!) can throw at you. Without the threat of death, does it all not get a bit boring? You can keep your 'singularity' Ned ;)

We stopped for a swim and extended lunch break in Lorne, before setting off towards Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road. It's a spectacular part of the world.

Benwerrin, apparently. It was mostly climing up to this point, and we were about to descend for the next 10 km.

At the beach in Lorne, going for a quick refreshing dip.

Relaxing in Lorne, pre-lunch.

Lunch in Lorne.

Riding along the Great Ocean Road towards Apollo Bay, not far from Lorne.

On the Great Ocean Road.

Great Ocean Road.

Great Ocean Road. Just beyond this point we were joined by Ariel, Haley and Cam, who had driven out to Lorne and they rode with us for the rest of the day to Skene's Creek.

The group for the days touring, L-R, back-front: Darryl, Steph, Josh, Ned, Cam, Ariel, Kat, Rosie and Haley.

L-R, back-front: Darryl, Steph, Josh, Ned, Cam, Ariel, Kat, Rosie and Haley.

A koala in the tree by the Great Ocean Road, which Kat got quite excited about (thanks for the photo Kat).

Everyone watching the koala in the tree.

Darryl on the Great Ocean Road.

Taking a break at one of the scenic look-outs on the Great Ocean Road.

Cam showing off doing a track-stand on the rock-wall beside the Great Ocean Road.

Skene's Creek, setting up to cook dinner for the group of nine, with various trangia's and stoves.

Kat and Darryl with bowls of delicious curry for dinner at Skene's Creek.

Dinner at Skene's Creek.

We made it as far as Skenes Creek, where we stopped for another swim, and decided that's as far as we'd get that day. We cooked our tea on a table by the road, and became comfortable with the idea of camping across the road in a picnic area under a sign that said "NO CAMPING". As we ate our dinner and enjoyed a mug of wine or two, a few blokes walked past us walking their dog, and one of them stopped for a chat. He asked us where we'd come from and where we going. He asked us where we were going to camp that night, and at this stage I started to see through his faux interest in our well-being. I said we were either going to camp somewhere up the road (unfortunately I pointed to exactly where we planned to camp, which just happened to be in front of the nearest road inland; then I said we may end up continuing down the Great Ocean Road and find somewhere to camp once we were too tired to continue. I tried to be as vague as possible. But I assured him that wherever we ended up it wouldn't be here! He warned us that the ranger comes around in the morning to check for people camping illegally. Hint hint. He even thought it right to mention that some terrible people even have the audacity to use the near-by caravan park facilities despite the fact that they're not paying customers. Would we? How dare he insinuate that we'd be cable of such immoral behavior! When those in our group who had gone to the caravan park to wash their dishes had returned, the conversation about the man's true intentions was just heating up. I seemed to be the only one who was firm in the conviction that this man, who purported to live in a house across the road, really wasn't concerned about the financial consequences we were sure to face if we camped in this town illegally, and that his true motivation was to scare us free-loading tourists with the illusory conceptions of entitlement into buggering off from his town! And for this they called me cynical!

So we waited until it was dark and we were ready for bed before we quietly crossed the road and put up our tents in the shadow of the dog-walkers house. And we were up at 6:00 am to beat the ranger, who never came.

Day 2: Birregurra to Skene's Creek.

Day 3: Birregurra to Skenes Creek

The next morning, when we were filling up our water bottles and taking advantage of the caravan parks toilets (which we wouldn't have had to use if they hadn't locked the public toilets!), Ned and I were verbally chastised by I man, who seemed authoritative, for using the toilets reserved for paying customers. He also asked me where we had ended up the night before. I wonder if it was the dog-walker? I wonder if the dog-walker was really the caravan park manager in disguise! The plot thickens!

Packing up our tents at our beautiful camping spot in Skene's Creek, at about 6 am.

Breakfast in Skene's Creek. Cam, Ariel and Haley were to leave us to ride to Apollo Bay and then back to Lorne, while the rest of us were to head back towoards Colac.

Rosie, and Josh demonstrating his Irish ancestry, wearing Rosie's...saddle cover.

The start of the climb from Skene's Creek. The road would go upwards for 10 km from this point!

One can just make out Steph up the road in this shot, climbing Skene's Creek Road.

The view back towards the ocean from Skene's Creek Road.

A view of the valley from Skene's Creek Road.

Looking back towards the ocean from Skene's Creek Road.

Rosie on my wheel before she over-took me up Skene's Creek Road.

The scenic narrow winding Turtons Track.

Turton's Track.

Steph, Kat, Josh, Rosie and Darryl on Turton's Track.

Turton's Track, with the sun kindly offering some rays.

A view from Turtons Track.

Turtons Track.

Lunch-stop in a picnic shelter in Beech Forest. 

The forecast called for mostly sunny conditions all weekend, with a chance of showers on Sunday morning. "No need for a rain jacket" Ned said to Rosie. "No need for a rain jacket" Rosie said to me. So the three of us set off without rain jackets. After the horrendous experience of forgetting a rain jacket on the last bike tour I went on (see Ned's previous blogs on the Sydney to Melbourne tour Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), I had gone and bought a quite expensive jacket from Katmandu, specifically for the purpose of bike touring (actually Rosie was with me at the time of purchase, and such was my superb taste in rain jackets that she'd bought the same one), so I was a little disappointed when Rosie told me not to bring my jacket because she wasn't bringing her jacket because Ned wasn't bringing his jacket because it wasn't going to rain. I had gone to great lengths to make sure I remembered to pack it, putting a note under my car keys, and another note in front of the speedo in my car: "BRING RAIN JACKET!" And because I knew I would have a nice warm jacket with me, I only packed one jumper (or 'warmer' as I am now calling them, because they don't jump).

Now it rained during the night and into early morning on Sunday, but it had stopped by the time we all got up, so I assumed that the predicted showers had passed harmlessly in the night and that we had gotten away it. But the rain came again as we rode through the rainforest along 'Turtons Track'. Now there's nothing worse than having no dry, warm clothes to put on when you stop for a break, so I thought I was better off keeping my one and only warmer in my waterproof pannier, and toughing out the cold and rain in a t-shirt. But after our lunch stop in Beech Forest, I couldn't bring myself to take my warmer off when it came time to get back on the road. After all, surely the rain was all gone now? The forecast said "a chance of showers in the morning". Well we'd had our chance, and it was no longer morning.

We were heading down to Triplet Falls Walk, and we hadn't gotten very far before the rain set in; softly to start, then building. By the time we'd reached the horrible rocky downhill dirt road a few k's short of Triplet Falls, we were contending with belting rain coupled with horizontal hail. All I could do was smile. This is EXACTLY why I spent all that money on a fancy rain jacket with genuine Gore-Tex Pro, arm-pit ventilation zips, extra large hood to fit over a helmet, and a tracking device embedded in the hood just in case I get caught in an avalanche in North America or parts of Scandinavia.

So it turns out the elevated area that feeds Triplet Falls has the highest average rainfall in Victoria. When this was confirmed to me, I resigned myself to a very wet and uncomfortable night. But mercifully, the rain disappeared, and it wasn't long before my warmer regained it's warming capacity. 

Down at Triplet Falls, after being barraged by "horizontal hail and sleet" on the way down from Beech Forrest. Steph did well to remain mud-free on the gravel descent.

Darryl, Kat, Steph, Rosie and Josh, on the Triplet Falls walk.

A massive 300 year old Mountain Ash, on the Triplet Falls walk.

Soaking up some sunlight, on the Triplet Falls walk.

Triplet Falls - one of my favourite places, because I love rainforests and big trees, and waterfalls are pretty good too.

Steph, Kat, Darryl, Josh and Rosie in front of Triplet Falls.

Steph, Kat, Darryl, me and Rosie. Okay, they were singing the little tea-pot song, you know, that one from play-school? "I'm a little tea pot,..."

Steph, Darryl and Josh running on the Triplet Falls walking track...because we could. And it was a good way to keep warm.

The old boiler which was used to run the saw-mill that existed at this site many years prior.

Love the new look Kat!

Back at the carpark at the start/end of the Triple Falls walking track loop, before we rode back up to Beech Forest.

From Beech Forest, we headed down the "Old Beechy" rail trail towards Colac. This shot was just after Josh had an amusing mis-hap and fell of his bike. Sorry Josh, had to laugh!

Stopped by another little black-berry patch, stocking up on some black-berries which we would add to our breakfast.

Kat, Rosie and Josh, as we prepared dinner in the picnic shelter at Gellibrand.

A monument in Gellibrand, with another of many brief rainshowers we'd had throughout the day.

A rainbow in Gellibrand.

Kat, Steph, Darryl, Rosie and Josh eating dinner (pasta and casadia's), in Gellibrand.

Setting up at our campsite by the river in Gellibrand.

Our campsite even had a kitchen sink!

Day 3: Skenes Creek to Gellibrand.

Day 4: Gellibrand to Colac

Packing up camp the next morning in Gellibrand.

Back on the rail-trail, heading towards Colac. 

At around Kawarren, faced by a steep section of rail-trial, Josh, Rosie and Kat decided to take the main road back to Colac, while Darryl, Steph and I stayed on the rail trail.

After a few quick pasties and spinnach rolls at the local bakery, we were back at Colac Station, about to catch the train back to Melbourne. 

We forgot to take an "after" group photo, so this is the best we have: Kat, Steph, Josh, Darryl and Rosie.

Day 4: Gellibrand to Colac.

Our good friend Rosie has left us now for higher pursuits in another part of the world. Monday was a day of dampened spirits for me in the knowledge that once this one was over, once the Melbourne folks were on the train and goodbyes had been swapped, who knows when such a thing as this will happen again? Without Rosie's connections and enthusiasm, would such a thing be possible? I hope so, but one thing's for sure: it won't be the same. So hopefully this tour will be enough to remind you of us Victorian's Rosie, and you'll come back and organise another one for us! Or we might have to come to you...

Thanks to Ned, Rosie, Darryl, Kat, Jess, Alex, Steph, Alex, Phoebe, Ariel, Haley and Cam for an awesome few days!