Day 5 - Dunkeld to Port Fairy - Australia Gold Fields, Grampians and Great Ocean Road plus The 7 Peaks

November 2, 2019

Day 5 - Dunkeld to Port Fairy

What a change in the weather we had overnight. A rain storm went through here and the temperatures dropped significantly but I am not unhappy. I wandered about a little this AM to see what this hamlet had to offer which wasn’t much. There is a historical trail that explains the origins of the town back to 1855 when it was a much busier place. Nonetheless we are staying at a lovely hotel with amazing food.

We hit the road just 9AM for a long ride to the coast. The forecast was terrible so we all dressed for rain but only had a few sprinkles until 12 km from the end. By this time had long since removed most of my rain gear so once it started to pour I put on my jacket and shower cap. Even with these additions the rain was cold, heavy and painful on the skin so we sought shelter under a farmers car port until it let up. We only stopped for about 10 min and then finished in almost sunshine.

It was a long day but a lovely ride of 116km. It was a net descending ride and mostly downwind so at times you were feeling almost like a pro. The roads were very quiet passing through sheep and cow country. There were very few towns and the ones we saw were very small. We have reached the coast and will head east along the Great Ocean Road starting tomorrow.

Our hotel the Royal Mail with Mt Sturgeon in the background.

Mt Abrupt with the cloud flowing over the top this morning.

This is birders paradise around here. One of group is a birder and he spotted 7 new species in an hour last night and he is out again this AM. Here are 2 galahs and 2 red rosellas.

We also rode through the only volcanic region of Australia albeit a very long time ago. In the distance is one of many dormant volcanoes.

It is Saturday here and we saw quite a few cyclists out for the day.

A yellow tailed black cockatoo. We saw several but they didn’t stick around for me to photograph so this is from the internet.

We did see this echidna the other day. The uninitiated on tour thought it was a porcupine.

Today's ride: 116 km (72 miles)
Total: 1,098 km (682 miles)

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