The Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road

================

I recently cycled along the Great Ocean Road and would recommend this trip,
although it's probably not suitable for younger riders due to the road and
traffic conditions.



Route:

=====

I traveled from West to East although the online cycling guide at
http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/cycli...e_4_stages.pdf
promotes an East to West route.



The perceived advantages of West-East for me we

1. Prevailing winds are on the starboard quarter rather then the port bow,
ie not headwinds.

2. It fitted in better with my travel plans. Flying into Melbourne and
then train to Warrnambool the same day and finishing at relations in
Melbourne.

3. 80% of the traffic west of Lorne is traveling EW leaving my side of the
highway relatively clear.

The disadvantage was having to cross the road to get to the look-outs and
beaches. It has been said the views are better going the other way, but with
so many look-outs and beaches for drink stops I'm not sure it makes much
difference.



Road Conditions:

=============

The roads on this route make no great concessions to cyclists. The surface
is generally good (OK for road bikes) but there are no bike lanes until
about Lorne and then only on the newer sections. However most newly surfaced
sections do have reasonable hard shoulders so it looks as though things will
improve over time.



The traffic at the western end was significantly motor-homes and motorbikes.
Quite often passing traffic has to cross double white lines to overtake a
cyclist but apart from a couple of hoons in 4x4s they behaved well and I did
not feel threatened. As long as you are used to riding in traffic it is not
a big issue except when occasional gusts of wind can push you further out
into the lane.



Weather:

======

Being early March the mornings were reasonably cool. I tended to get in 20km
or so and then find somewhere for breakfast. Afternoons turned into pleasant
beach weather and the evenings were cool but at no time did I wear my
polarfleece.



Daily Summary

===========

Day 0 - Getting there; 30.3 km Av 19.2

=============================

Flight to Tullamarine, re-assemble bike from box (Bikes only count as 5kg on
Virgin)

Cycle via Moonee Ponds Creek trail to Spencer St Station. NO cars or traffic
lights J

Train to Warrnambool and camp there.



Day 1 Warrnambool - Port Campbell; 75km Av 18.5

=======================================

Morning ride through dairy country, not exciting but easy going.

Afternoon rolling along spectacular cliffs passed the Bay of Islands and the
Grotto.

Pitched camp by 3pm at picturesque Port Campbell



Day 2 Port Campbell - Apollo Bay; 101 km Av 14.6

=======================================

Very pleasant morning along the cliffs passed Loch Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles
and London Bridge. Long climb in the afternoon over Lavers Hill and then
again up through the Otway National Park. Nearly 1000 metres up altogether,
but fun coming down. Camped at Apollo bay by 5 pm. (A bit wearying for unfit
58 yr old)



Day 3 Apollo Bay - Lorne; 50km Av 15.6

================================

Pleasant relaxed ride around the headlands and beaches. Wind gusts a bit of
a nuisance on the winding road.



Day 4 Lorne - Torquay; 60.2km Av 15.1

==============================

Beautiful beaches and headlands, although quite undulating. Visiting Bells
Beach; now if only I had a surfboard on this bike.



Day 5 Torquay - Geelong -Barwon Heads; 64km Av 19.2

==========================================

Bit of a side trip to Geelong as I'd never been there (once is enough I
think) then back to the beaches at Ocean grove and Barwon Heads.



Day 6 Barwon Heads - Frankston; 83km Av 18.3

===================================

I took the ferry to Sorento. Although it added a day it made for a very
pleasant ride.



Day 7 Frankston - Melbourne; 80.4 km Av 17.6

===================================

A pleasant roll around the bay and an opportunity to mix it with the lycra
in Beach Road for a while before returning to the tourists on the St Kilda
cycle path J Then a quick lap of the Grand Prix circuit and a well earned
beer with my son in Northcote.



A pleasant weeks cycling; anyone can do it, I took a tent, but there are
plenty of motels, cabins and back-packers along the route.



One nasty puncture by a broken bottle at Anglesea that cut right through the
kevlar in the Schwalbe Marathons, otherwise no mishaps. Most days I saw only
one or two cyclists going the other way.



Dave H

In article ,
AnyDave wrote:


Day 2 Port Campbell - Apollo Bay; 101 km Av 14.6

=======================================

Very pleasant morning along the cliffs passed Loch Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles
and London Bridge. Long climb in the afternoon over Lavers Hill and then
again up through the Otway National Park. Nearly 1000 metres up altogether,
but fun coming down. Camped at Apollo bay by 5 pm. (A bit wearying for unfit
58 yr old)

Oh - the memories of that section: torretial rain, howling winds, on
the back of Dave's Kat. Nowhere to stay (we ended up going inland to a
very godforsken place that I have managed to expunge the name of from
memory - for anyone from the UK it was a bit like Slough, but worse).

Very, very, very rainy. Cold. Scary. But good memories nonetheless.

--
Sara

I'm smaller than people think

Sara Kirk wrote:
In article ,
AnyDave wrote:


Day 2 Port Campbell - Apollo Bay; 101 km Av 14.6

=======================================

Very pleasant morning along the cliffs passed Loch Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles
and London Bridge. Long climb in the afternoon over Lavers Hill and then
again up through the Otway National Park. Nearly 1000 metres up altogether,
but fun coming down. Camped at Apollo bay by 5 pm. (A bit wearying for unfit
58 yr old)


Oh - the memories of that section: torretial rain, howling winds, on
the back of Dave's Kat. Nowhere to stay (we ended up going inland to a
very godforsken place that I have managed to expunge the name of from
memory - for anyone from the UK it was a bit like Slough, but worse).

Very, very, very rainy. Cold. Scary. But good memories nonetheless.

Yeah I remember. And their was an axe murder at whatever that place was
that night from memory.

Fun

"Sara Kirk" wrote in message
. ..
In article ,
AnyDave wrote:


Day 2 Port Campbell - Apollo Bay; 101 km Av 14.6

=======================================

Very pleasant morning along the cliffs passed Loch Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles
and London Bridge. Long climb in the afternoon over Lavers Hill and then
again up through the Otway National Park. Nearly 1000 metres up
altogether,
but fun coming down. Camped at Apollo bay by 5 pm. (A bit wearying for
unfit
58 yr old)

Oh - the memories of that section: torretial rain, howling winds, on
the back of Dave's Kat. Nowhere to stay (we ended up going inland to a
very godforsken place that I have managed to expunge the name of from
memory - for anyone from the UK it was a bit like Slough, but worse).

Beech Forest? Gellibrand? Or maybe even Colac?

Very, very, very rainy. Cold. Scary. But good memories nonetheless.

Sounds more like Beech Forest then. The pub is a bit of a classic - small,
very country style and rough around the edges. But they're down to earth
people there.
--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

Peter Signorini wrote:
"Sara Kirk" wrote in message
. ..

In article ,
AnyDave wrote:


Day 2 Port Campbell - Apollo Bay; 101 km Av 14.6

=======================================

Very pleasant morning along the cliffs passed Loch Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles
and London Bridge. Long climb in the afternoon over Lavers Hill and then
again up through the Otway National Park. Nearly 1000 metres up
altogether,
but fun coming down. Camped at Apollo bay by 5 pm. (A bit wearying for
unfit
58 yr old)

Oh - the memories of that section: torretial rain, howling winds, on
the back of Dave's Kat. Nowhere to stay (we ended up going inland to a
very godforsken place that I have managed to expunge the name of from
memory - for anyone from the UK it was a bit like Slough, but worse).


Beech Forest? Gellibrand? Or maybe even Colac?

It was Colac.

Very, very, very rainy. Cold. Scary. But good memories nonetheless.


Sounds more like Beech Forest then. The pub is a bit of a classic - small,
very country style and rough around the edges. But they're down to earth
people there.

Sadly Colac is something of a pit.

Dave

On 17/03/06 at 22:29:57 Peter Signorini somehow managed to type:

snip


Sounds more like Beech Forest then. The pub is a bit of a classic -
small, very country style and rough around the edges. But they're
down to earth people there.

Beech Forest is a great place. I once asked the cop (in the pub) if
it'd be OK to camp in the park at the tourist picnic shelter thingy. He
just said that if I didn't tell anyone, neither would he. He came back
later bearing gifts of goodwill ( beer ) and proceeded to tell me more
about the history of the area than I could possibly soak up in an
evening.


--
Humbug aka VK3ZMF
BE A LOOF! (There has been a recent population explosion of lerts.)

Humbug wrote:
On 17/03/06 at 22:29:57 Peter Signorini somehow managed to type:

snip

Sounds more like Beech Forest then. The pub is a bit of a classic -
small, very country style and rough around the edges. But they're
down to earth people there.


Beech Forest is a great place. I once asked the cop (in the pub) if
it'd be OK to camp in the park at the tourist picnic shelter thingy. He
just said that if I didn't tell anyone, neither would he. He came back
later bearing gifts of goodwill ( beer ) and proceeded to tell me more
about the history of the area than I could possibly soak up in an
evening.


What can I say? It was Colac. We were very very wet. I was having
frightfull problems with visibility and the crosswinds were huge. The
Kat was handling them OK but we were having issues hanging on to her
back. My top speed was effectively down to 80 and much of the time I
wasnt that game.

Very glad to see that motel. THe kid on night duty was more than nice
to us. And the Kat was very glad to get under cover. The chinese was
OK, And the only bike shop in town stocked Suzuki Honda and Yammy, but
sadly no old visors for old Arai's He did however have rain off if I
remember correctly.

DOne the Ocean road on bicycles many times. Really glad that that time
we were on the old Stealth Kat.

Dave

"Humbug" wrote:

Beech Forest is a great place. I once asked the cop (in the pub) if
it'd be OK to camp in the park at the tourist picnic shelter thingy. He
just said that if I didn't tell anyone, neither would he.

Oh yes, 'tis still a favourite spot to camp when in Beechy. Glenno took us
there on a trip a year or so back.

He came back later bearing gifts of goodwill ( beer ) and proceeded
to tell me more about the history of the area than I could possibly
soak up in an evening.

Do tell more, I'd love to here some of the local goss. The most dazzling
event for Beech Forest recently would be the opening of the Otway Fly
http://www.otwayfly.com/

And the fact that surrounding state forests are now becoming a new expanded
National Park. I here that disgruntled local timber firms have taken out all
the forest road signs to confuse tourists. Cads!

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

On 17/03/06 at 23:42:32 Peter Signorini somehow managed to type:

snip


Oh yes, 'tis still a favourite spot to camp when in Beechy. Glenno
took us there on a trip a year or so back.

See if he can remember a trip that he and I led. He led a mountaing
bike option and I led a road option. Of course it all went wrong with
the mountain bike crew getting well and truly cold, wet and muddy and
not making Beechy. The road option mob just got wet and cold but that
was OK there was a nice fire in the pub to dry out in front of. Just
mention Otways, lost computer and broken rear derailleur and stand
back...:-)


He came back later bearing gifts of goodwill ( beer ) and proceeded
to tell me more about the history of the area than I could possibly
soak up in an evening.

Do tell more, I'd love to here some of the local goss. The most

It was a long time ago and either my first or second solo camping trip.
Mostly what he was talking about were the loggers and the building of
the timber tramway. A lot of what told me about is now depicted in the
photos on the wall in the shelter. Those Myrtle Beech trees were BIG as
illustrated by the pic of the 10 (or something like that, I can't
remember) horse stable built into the stump of one of 'em.

My first trip to the Otways was with Action Unlimited in '76 and was
led, I _think_, by either Ruurd S or Tony K. I can remember that it was
bloody wet with the only dry place being Weeaproinah. The trip was from
Colac to Camperdown via Forest, Beech Forest, Lavers Hill, Lower
Gellibrand, Simpson and Cobden. We stayed in the youth hostel at Lavers
Hill which is long gone.

My all time favourite (pretty slack) weekend ride is Winchelsea to
Colac via Deans Marsh, Forest, along Turtons to Beechy overnight,
Charleys Creek, and Gellibrand.

dazzling event for Beech Forest recently would be the opening of the
Otway Fly http://www.otwayfly.com/

And the fact that surrounding state forests are now becoming a new
expanded National Park. I here that disgruntled local timber firms
have taken out all the forest road signs to confuse tourists. Cads!

Looks like I'll have to venture down that way again soon, when it gets
cold and wet. Turtons is really special in the rain and fog...:-) I
haven't been down there for near on ten years.


--
Humbug
BE A LOOF! (There has been a recent population explosion of lerts.)

"Humbug" wrote:
On 17/03/06 at 23:42:32 Peter Signorini somehow managed to type:

See if he can remember a trip that he and I led. He led a mountaing
bike option and I led a road option. Of course it all went wrong with
the mountain bike crew getting well and truly cold, wet and muddy and
not making Beechy. The road option mob just got wet and cold but that
was OK there was a nice fire in the pub to dry out in front of. Just
mention Otways, lost computer and broken rear derailleur and stand
back...:-)

I'll ask him for his tale of it.

snip

My first trip to the Otways was with Action Unlimited in '76 and was
led, I _think_, by either Ruurd S or Tony K.

Ah, that was a good year, when I first began my cycling as serious
transport. And I well remember Ruurd and Tony. Have you heard from them
recently?

sip

Looks like I'll have to venture down that way again soon, when it gets
cold and wet. Turtons is really special in the rain and fog...:-) I
haven't been down there for near on ten years.

And you know that Turtons Track is now a fully sealed bitumen road now?
Haven't seen it myself but it sounds like a super-highway compared to what
it was. Bit of a shame really, but the rain, fog and treeferns will still be
there.

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)