Interesting ride home this evening. After a random comment yesterday about Gardiners’ Creek path being far too windy and slow I decided to try the road today. The distance was slightly less, the average speed while riding was higher, but I spent so much time sitting at red lights that I think it ended up taking me longer. That was using a combination of Dandenong road and Orrong road, I’m sure there are other ways.
stats. Distance 78.89km With some misgivings I dragged myself out of bed this morning to go riding with Mark. Evan and Kelvin turned up on time, I couldn’t think of a better way to get from home to Carnegie so we rode up Gardiners Creek bike path, Kelvin muttering that he’d only been on his new bike an hour and here I was taking him around a myriad of right-angled bends on poor surfaces, determined to tip him off.
This evening I went on the Mascot Cycles ride for the first time in months. Seems that it has changed a bit, a lot of the faces I knew aren’t there anymore, and the people that are there are there for a more serious ride. The first lap was gentle enough, but as soon as we turned around the roundabout for the second, off they went, harder than I could keep up.
Bloody bike lights! Half way to work this morning and my rear flashing light snapped in half and fell off. That’s the second one of these where the plastic clip has just fatigued after a couple of months use, there’s nothing wrong with the light. I managed to catch it as it bounced around on the pannier rack, and have reattached it with packing tape. Not quite as good as gaff tape, but it holds a lot of the world together.
Riding home I nearly ran off the bike track and into the trees. I thought I was on the track, then saw a red flashing tail light off to my right. Just as I started to head towards it I realised that a) it was only about a foot off the ground, and b) it was bouncing up and down. I swerved back onto the path just in time to see a Jack Russell terrier come bounding out of the shrubbery with the light on its collar!
There are huge masses of kelp washed up along the beach and rocks today, but no signs of the whales that were seen on Friday. It’s getting to be a joke that where ever I go, there are no whales. Fishermen on the pier, coffees in the café, another relaxing day as we unwound from last week.
3.30 this afternoon and I decided that I desperately needed to get out and go for a bike ride, to try and capture the last of the sunny afternoon, so while everyone else snoozed on the couch I rode off along the Great Ocean Road, arranging for them to pick me up at Torquay.
First frost I’ve seen so far this year! Normally I’m not out of bed early enough, but today it was back on norky bike to get to work. Cold and misty along the river, with the fog rising up off the water, then frost along the creek through Hawthorn. I could feel the temperature rise as the path climbed from the creek up to Glenferrie road.
This evening, curiosity got the better of me so I went for a ride to see just how bad North Road is for cycling along.
I couldn’t resist! Standing on the corner waiting to cross Church street, right next to the “forward bicycle box” that Bicycle Victoria is oh so proud of having introduced to Melbourne’s roads. Up comes a car, but does he stop? No, the driver goes straight over the bike box and sits half across the line at the front of the intersection. Not just any car mind you, this was one of Victoria’s Police.
Sorry Mate I Didn’t See You — it ought to be grounds for instant revocation of a motorists license. Yep, I was knocked off the bike this morning. I stupidly thought that the driver of the stationary vehicle waiting to enter Glenferrie Road — the one who turned his head and looked towards me — had actually seen me. From a standing start he drove about 50cm and got me side on; his first words on leaping out of the car and coming to see me lying on the ground, yep, you guessed, “Sorry Mate, I Just Didn’t See You.
I’m feeling quite virtuous, this is four days in a row that I’ve managed to get up early enough to cycle to work. The usual fun and games getting around the horde of foreign students between Glenferrie road and Hawthorn campus of Melbourne Uni.
Stats. Today 431km Trip total 545.5km I wasn’t here, I was on the RTA Big Ride.
Where? Uralla (30° 38’S, 151° 30’E) Walcha (30° 58’S, 151° 35’E)
Footnotes 1 estimated distance, from the ride guide
Stats. Today 131km Trip total 502.5km I wasn’t here, I was on the RTA Big Ride.
At afternoon tea Jo and I met up with a girl that we’d last met about five years ago on a ride from Tamworth to Newcastle. The main cause of the meeting was her bike, she had a Norco Mocha, the model between Jo’s Magnum and my Java. This time we managed to get a photo of the three of us and our bikes.
Stats. Today 100.98km Average speed 18.27km/hr Riding time 5h 31' Trip total 489.5km I wasn’t here, I was on the RTA Big Ride.
Where? Bundarra (30° 09’S, 151° 05’E) Guyra (30° 12’S, 151° 40’E)
Stats. Today 811km Trip total 388.5km I wasn’t here, I was on the RTA Big Ride.
In the afternoon, in the main street, Goat Races. Promoted at great length by the organizers as a fun thing to do and the place to go. I don’t think anyone realised that the goats in question were feral and had only been captured the day before. As the locals kicked and belted the terrified goats to get them out from the pen and into the harnesses, fewer and fewer of the riders stayed to watch.
Stats. Today 12.29km Trip total 307.5km I wasn’t here, I was on the RTA Big Ride.
This morning I found a horse shoe. Not just any horse shoe, it was one of the huge shoes belonging to the draught horses that were towing the carriages around town. I carried it around for half the morning and bore the brunt of many jokes, eventually met up with the carriages and handed it back, to be thanked profusely, since they cost around $50 a piece!
Stats. Today 60.11km Trip total 295.2km Odometer 1332km I wasn’t here, I was on the RTA Big Ride.
Where? Ashford (29° 18’S, 151° 05’E) Inverell (29° 46’S, 151° 07’E)
Stats. Today 106.59km Average speed 22.13km Riding time 4h 49" Trip total 153.6km I wasn’t here, I was on the RTA Big Ride.
Where? Barraba (30° 22’S, 150° 37’E) Warialda (29° 31’S, 150° 34’E)
Stats. dst. (km) Today 471km Trip total 47km I wasn’t here, I was on the RTA Big Ride.
Where? Manilla (30° 44’S, 150° 43’E) Barraba (30° 22’S, 150° 37’E)
Footnotes 1 estimated distance, from the ride guide
Stats. dst. (km) Today 0.0 Trip total 0.0 Departed this evening for the NSW Bike Ride.
For the first time ever we were charged excess baggage for the bikes, the woman on the Qantas check-in counter quoted a “mandatory $10 charge plus $1 GST", so we paid up, weighed the boxes, and deposited them with the other oversized luggage then went to get the first beer of the holiday.
I wasn’t here, I was on the Easter Deadly Treadly Tour.
It was an almost perfect day for cycling. Hardly any wind, not too warm, and deserted roads for the first forty kilometres. Even the remainder of the ride, along the Western highway then through Footscray to the city passed without incident.
62.81km, odo: 1036km
Where? Bacchus Marsh(-37.6833333,144.45)
I wasn’t here, I was on the Easter Deadly Treadly Tour.
Ah, Bacchus Marsh. Every time I ride in here, something happens. The something usually involves a pin-headed yob and his mates, driving an old bomb of a car, and either screaming abuse or trying to run someone down. Today was no different, as a bunch of my friends rode down the hill into town, the local hero threw an egg at them from a car driving the other way.
I wasn’t here, I was on the Easter Deadly Treadly Tour.
An incredibly strong southerly was blowing constantly, all day long. The 42km were covered at an average of 14km/hr! At each possible stop we gratefully sheltered inside, out of the wind.
There was an amazing feeling of culture-shock riding into Daylesford after the last two days of almost deserted country roads and country towns. There was traffic everywhere, the streets full of people, it seemed like we were back in Melbourne.
I wasn’t here, I was on the Easter Deadly Treadly Tour.
Get up, drizzle, coffee, shower, put bags in car, drive to Alexander parade, drive home, get on bike, shiver down Swan Street, get off bike, put bike in truck, get in bus, try and sleep through the two hour trip to Beaufort.
58km. Alternating drizzle and sunshine. Finally a terrific tail wind into Clunes.
Clunes resembled the set of a western movie, sometime after the cast and crew have all gone home.
I just had to laugh. Cycling up Beach Road on a Sunday afternoon, literally hundreds of cyclists about, traffic is at a crawl due to the enormous number of events that are on. A red Ford Falcon (rego. ###-###) drives past in the right hand lane and the passenger sticks her head out the window, screaming her lungs out “Get off the F@#$ing road, get on the F@#$ing footpath!” If she yells that much at each cyclist between Mordialloc and St Kilda, she’ll be hoarse for a week!
08:45, somewhere around Glenn Iris a large Labrador is busy relieving itself on the edge of the path — yet another massive stinking dog turd to ride around. As I ride past the owner, strolling along six metres back, lead dangling from her hand, I say to the owner “Hope you’re going to clean that up.” Receive typical reply, “mind your own business.” Apparently large smelly piles of dog faeces on a shared path is not my business.
Day one of my enforced fitness regime, I don’t mind cycling to work, but it seems different when I know that I have to cycle to work because I can’t ride the motorbike.
Dark and gloomy as I left the building to ride home, the storm clouds grew thicker and closer as I rode along Gardiner’s Creek. Too dark for sunglasses, the little midges were so thick I had to keep my eyes half shut.
Ouch. I’m all stiff and sore from a collision on the bike track this morning; I came up behind the usual group of pedestrians blocking the path (as expected), I started to go around the last two on the right, as soon as they saw me they jumped in front of me (as half-expected), I swerved to the left off the path and onto the grass and too late saw the rider coming the other way who’d also swerved out onto the grass.
Yay! We finally rode a tandem.
After literally years of “getting around to it one day”, Joey and I rode down to Pegasus Cycles and took one of the hire bikes for a spin down to Blackrock. A KHS Alite, we both found it very upright compared to our existing bikes, and both missed having bar-ends and a speedo! There were a few shrieks from Jo, mostly due to my unannounced turns, or the sudden appearance of overhanging trees, intruding bushes, or the absolute no-no of tandem rides, the un-announced bump.
dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2996.9 Laziness got the better of me and I failed to write in my journal, hoping that memory would suffice when it came time to write about where I’d been. Unfortunately the days turn to weeks, then to months, and there is never enough time… When it does come time to write, I find that all the little details have faded away…
dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2996.9 We woke to a clear blue sky, all the rain having worn itself out in the evening and overnight, leaving us a cruisy day of riding as we headed towards the end of the trip.
Our internal clocks seem set perfectly, again we were out on the road at almost exactly 9 o’clock for the first experience of traffic in almost two weeks.
dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2996.9 The intention had been to camp in the tents this evening, just out of Opotiki at a park on the beach, but the sight of ominimous black clouds induced Phil to book us into a motel for the night. I might have preferred the tent in the rain to the saggy old motel bed we ended up in, but Phil was determined to coddle his customers!
dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2996.9 This morning the weather had cleared up again and the winds seemed to have dropped. There was a magnificent view from the headland overlooking Te Araroa Bay, unfortunately heavily overgrown with prickly gorse that had no problems in penetrating lycra and skin, and then sticking to us, so that when we got back on the bikes it could attack again.
dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2512.5 The weather changed again and we crossed the hills heading north while being buffetted around by strong winds.
Around 2 pm we arrived in Te Araroa township, just as the drizzle started. Lunching at the only open shop we watched the waves crashing on the enormous mounds of timber washed up on the beaches — there is never a shortage of driftwood in the areas we visited, on the contrary, getting to the beach can often involve climbing over metre-high piles of timber from the forests.
dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2512.5 Another hot day, probably around 32-33 °C, but we took our time, meandered along drinking lots of water. Later in the afternoon we rode past Hikurangi, a mountain sacred to the Maori.
Heading inland today, back into the farming area and to a town that seems to have an interesting, if mostly unknown, part in New Zealand’s recent history. During the mid-1980s, the region degenerated into a state of almost civil war, with land disputes resulting in Maori Rastafarian gangs fire-bombing buildings, violent fighting, and culminating in a public be-heading.
dst. (km) Today ??.? Trip total ??.? Odometer 2512.5 Tolaga Bay has one of the longest wharves in New Zealand, or the Southern hemisphere, or maybe its just the longest concrete wharf, or something… A major construction feat, it’s building signed its own death warrant — for the short period it was operational, it enabled ships to come in and load up with gravel for the construction of the coastal highway that put the shipping out of business.
dst. (km) Today 0.0 Trip total ??.? Odometer 2512.5 New Year’s Day, a lazy day of wandering around Gisborne in the 34 °C heat. Julianna decided that the tour wasn’t really what she was after and arranged to leave us here in Gisborne — it can’t be easy to be the third person to a couple on a tour like this, and at ten years younger, she found she wasn’t enjoying our company.
As we were leaving this morning we passed a familiar-looking cow at the side of the road, but thought nothing of it. Phil — driving out half an hour later — realised that it was the dairy cow that belonged to the farm and had escaped onto the road, so he stopped, caught it, and then managed to lead it several kilometres back to the gate. Judging by the way he looked at lunch time, he had the most energetic morning of us all!
We woke to grey skies and a howling wind — not very inviting weather for cycling. Breakfasted in Phil’s room then the four of us packed the bus and drove the 30 or 40km up from the lake and down over the ridge to the end of the gravel road. We stopped at the spillway to look at the view, but the wind was really funnelling in across the lake so nobody wanted to stay and look around for long.
We woke to a mostly clear sky. Sleeping in late and unpacking the bikes meant that we didn’t get away from Paengaroa until about 10:30 for the drive down to Rotorua.
Seventy or so photographs, two whole weeks — there’s a day-by-day account in my journal.
2001-Dec-28 Fri – Melbourne to Auckland to Paengaroa 2001-Dec-29 Sat – Murapara to Waikaremoana 2001-Dec-30 Sun – Waikaremoana to Glenn Innis Station 2001-Dec-31 Mon – Glenn Innis Station to Gisborne 2002-Jan-01 Tue – Gisborne 2002-Jan-02 Wed – Gisborne to Tolaga Bay 2002-Jan-03 Thu – Tolaga Bay to Ruatoria 2002-Jan-04 Fri – Ruatoria to Te Araroa 2002-Jan-05 Sat – Te Araroa to Maraehako Bay 2002-Jan-06 Sun – Maraehako Bay to Opotiki 2002-Jan-07 Mon – Opotiki to Whakatane 2002-Jan-08 Tue – Whakatane to Paengaroa 2002-Jan-09 Wed – Paengaroa to Auckland to Melbourne Jo and Julianna and the Scenic Routes van Our plane for the flight home References http://www.
“Beef or Chicken?” the hostess asked me on the plane…
With apologies to Mick Thomas. The airline staff were handing out the meals, Jo looked at me, smirked and uttered the line, then, as I nearly doubled up with suppressed laughter, the large, walrus-moustached hostie repeated it.
A midnight landing at Auckland, two staff to process 400 passengers through imigration.
A call for Duke and Tritschler to go to the baggage desk — but it was only a book that someone else had left in the plane near our seats.
Vanity site? Technology experiment? Learning tool? Blog? Journal? Diary? Photo album? I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you…
I experiment. I play. I write and I take pictures. Some of the site is organised around topics, other parts are organized by date, then there’s always the cross-references between them.
Its all been here a fairly long time. Like the papers on my desk, or the books on the bedside table, the pile just grew… and it all grew without much plan or structure. I try not to break URLs, so historical oddities abound.
Long ago it started as a learning experiment with a few static HTML pages, then I added a bit of server-side includes and some very ugly PHP. A hand-built journal/blog on top of that PHP, then a few experiments in moving to various static publishing systems. I’ve never wanted a database-based blogging engine, so over the years I’ve tried PHP, nanoblogger, emacs-muse, silkpage and docbook before settling on Emacs Org mode for writing and jekyll for publishing. But the itch remained… I never really liked jekyll and the ruby underneath always seemed so much black magic. So now the latest incarnation is Org mode and hugo.
![Journal for [2002-08-15 Thu]](https://ajft.org/img/default3.jpg)
![Journal for [2002-08-10 Sat]](https://ajft.org/img/default1.jpg)
![Journal for [2002-06-18 Tue]](https://ajft.org/img/default2.jpg)
![Journal for [2002-05-30 Thu]](https://ajft.org/2002/05/30/w_102-0207_img.jpg)
