Australia 2013 - Great Ocean Road Cycle - preparation

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My next great excursion was a solo cycle along the Great Ocean Road. This coastline is known for the stone formations off the west-facing coastline such as the 12 Apostles, and the road cuts through the Great Otway National Park before hugging the coast up towards Melbourne via the Surf Coast. This bit of road is easily accessible via train transport from Melbourne, on the west end from Warrnambool and the east end Geelong, for a total distance of 450+ km. I would bring only ready to eat food (no stove) and a tent and sleeping bag, to cut down on lodging costs. The trip as outlined in the Cycling Australia book from the Lonely Planet series takes 5 days, and an online account of a trip took 3 days; I hoped I could do the trip in 4 days.

Planning and preparation for this trip took the better part of a week, buying equipment and clothing that would make the trip easier, and scoping out campsites. To lighten my clothing load, I bought a couple of light wool shirts that I could wear consecutive days without stinking out my neighbors, and a light shell for wind and sun protection. Since I had already promised Ortlieb panniers to my boyfriend, I bought some to use for this trip, as well as the bike rack and tire related tools.

Good free maps proved more difficult to find, and I recommend to go to the visitors centre at Warrnambool for all the Great Ocean Road paraphenalia provided at the Melbourne visitors centre, as well as physical copies of the park notes that can be found online from Victoria Parks. These notes provide good resolution maps from Port Campbell up to Wye River of the roads, tourist attractions, and walking tracks. I recommend also to buy the pdf of the Victoria chapter of Cycling Australia from the Lonely Planet. I was able to just print out the few pages relevant to the Great Ocean Road cycle.

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Photos

My trusty steed
ready to roll from a train station in Melbourne