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Published: December 1st 2017
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It was late arvo, when Colin and I agreed to ease back into this serious riding business. With a head full of festival music and good times and a belly full of festival food and a lot of beer, we set our sights on Yambuk Lake, 30 ks from here. We were setting up our tents under some large Cypress pines overlooking the lake, when the dude caretaker strolled over for his cash. Of course we blew all our cash at the festival, no banks open on Sunday. We pleaded our case, he took great pity upon these weary travellers and gave us a freebie camp. After a quick fireside dinner, we produced our wooden musical things and played delightfully under the big moon, until the cold night air got the better of us.
Sunrise, refreshed and ready to continue the big adventure, we checked out the area. We could see Lady Julia Percy Island,a flat volcanic rock island about 12ks off the coast of Yambuk. Its aboriginal name is Dhinmar, (Island of the spirit people). Duneside there is a giant 33 metre steel slide down the sand dune, Colin and I spent some funtime sliding on our bums down
the slide. Estuarial Yambuk lake is shaped like a horseshoe and is picturesque as it meanders around the wooded coastal dunes, providing a great back drop for our breakfast of yummy hashed up leftovers from the festival. We had a short ride back to Yambuk, where we posted some mail and I drew a lazy hundred out of the post office. Whilst there I phoned work reverse charges to see if there was any news from Kirk and Bruno, all quiet on the western front.
Back onto the Princes Highway we stopped at Tyrendara rest area for morning tea, where we met a local painter who drove a Holden E.H wagon. She was painting landscape on her easel, next to her palette, which was the colourful bonnet of her car. It must be fun at Rego time distingishing actually what color her car is. We meet some very interesting people on the road, Just before we packed up to leave, I went to reset my bike computer, and BAM! it all went blank, so from now on, all Ks' are in map, not actual Ks' until I can get it sorted out. Re-joining the Princes Highway, we had to
deal with mega trucks in all directions. There was one time whilst crossing a bridge, with trucks in both directions, I was squeezed for riding room. I remember just trying to ride straight, when I noticed the side of a truck just inches from my handle bars, phew! that was very scary. That's It! No more bridge crossings while trucks passing!!!!. Fortunately we had a good tail wind, as we approached Portland. We could see the giant aluminium smelter looming on the horizon. The electricity feed too the giant smelter, stretches all the way across from the Latrobe Valley. Like giant sentinels the electricity towers guided us into Portland. "Feeling a bit Peckish Colin?", "weather cold, chips hot' I asked, so we ordered a family pack to stock up on carbos, "I say old chap, isn't that Gerard the Canadian guy from the festival, across the street?". So we washed down hot chips with cold beer, at the nearest hotellery and farewelled our Canadian friend.
As we exited the land of ports we had a 27k ride to Cape Bridgewater Lakes, a series of freshwater lakes bound by sand dunes from the ocean swell. Colin braved the
chill and went for a swim. Bridgewater bay has some of the highest coastal cliffs in vic., as they form a half circle wall of an ancient volcano. Bridgewater is also known for its blow holes and petrified forest, some say a forest of Moonah trees were smothered by an ancient sand dune since blown away exposing the petrified forest. Riding out of Bridgewater we had the biggest climb since the Otways, it sure tested our weary legs. however the view back to the lakes was picture postcard as they say.
Rather than retrace our way back to the highway, we took the scenic route to Tarragul, home of some ancient limestone caves and rock shelters. Archaeologists have dated aboriginal shell middens and earth ovens back to 11,000 years ago. It was humbling to see our footprints on the same cave floor as the first peoples of 9,000 B.C. After riding 83ks today we found a nice secluded bush camp a little further up the road at Tarragul. This would be our first bush camp since the first night in the You Yangs. There was a good size clearing amongst the low scrubby trees, which allowed us to spread
out and set up a small fire place in the middle of the campsite. We still had some pita bread from Port Fairy, so we toasted it with forked sticks, good ole high tech bush craft. Taking it off the sticks we then wrapped up some filling, they went down well with fresh billy tea. The aroma of our bush dinner obviously attracted the local fauna, as Chief Inspector bandicoot was making his rounds and checking the traps. He tried valiantly to invade our tents to see what else could be scavenged from these strange men on loaded up wheeled machines. Good to be back on the road again.
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