Great Ocean Road 2016

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Great Ocean Road Tour
Feb 11 2016
After a good flight from Manchester with a 6.5hr flight to Abu Dhabi and 12.5 hrs to Melbourne behind us we arrived at our hotel 32 hours later. Two hours sleep in that time is hardly enough so after rebuilding my bike I fell into bed for a nap. Luckily I set my alarm for 6.15 and after 3 hrs it woke me with a jolt, which left me shaking and wanting more of the same. A Thai restaurant for dinner seemed the best choice since we felt it was good when we last visited nine years ago (no change of staff then). It was still as good, as as testified by us going again the following night. The bike build went well, only to be marred somewhat by my rear tyre catching the chain stays on both sides through being too fat. I was sure I had used it last September in Sicily, but obviously not.
Thursday saw us on our way doing a circle of the city firstly following the Yarra River northwards and then heading east to drop down through Docklands where we had lunch overlooking the expensive yachts in the marina. Luckily we came across a bike shop selling 28mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres to replace the 35mm wide one on the rear. Pauline also bought a nice saddle to replace the the hard, wide one on her hired blunderbus. We were amazed at the great views to be had from this circular tour, especially along the YRds River and on the south coast heading to St Kildas where we had a second drink and ice cream on the pier. We headed north after this, away from the sandy beaches, and back to the Georgian Court Hotel. However, as earlier in the day, my Garmin was acting the goat and kept losing the trail. I had to resort to "Return to Start" to get us back home which meant going on some busy roads with difficult junctions to ride through. However, overall it was a great trip and we saw a pleasant and picturesque side to a big,busy city. A tyre change and we are now ready for our bus ride to Warrnambool tomorrow for the real journey to begin.
Day 5 dawned for me at 1am since I awoke and was unable to sleep debating various scenarios and timings of the day. This must have been a forewarning of things to come since the morning turned into something of a 'drama' as the Ossies say. I decided to get up at 5.40 since I didn't want to awaken Phil with my 6am alarm and got away at 6am in the dark looking for Southern Cross station arriving at 6.30. I got my ticket and went to the platform, loaded my bike into the goods section only to be told 10 minutes later that the train was cancelled due to a fatality on the line. I then rushed around to the bus station to get the replacement bus service to Warrnambool which set off on time at 0720 and arriving in Warrnambool at 11.10. We were given some good news that since V Line had to cancel the train they will refund the full fare so I ended up $40 to the good. This helped recompense the extra expense incurred in hiring the minibus and trailer, which was another drama unfolding before my very eyes. As we headed through Colac I got a message from Jon to say that despite me confirming that the trailer used on the airport transfer was just right for the job they had sent a small trailer which would only take 4 of the 12 bikes. Plonkers. Jon said they told him that it would be 2 or 3 hours to get a replacement. I could not contact Jon on his phone so I rang a coach company in Geelong and asked for help. However, just before I agreed a deal Jon made contact to say they had squeezed the remaining bikes onto the bus to complete the sardine tinning re-enactment and they set on their way. Big relief. To cap it all since I rode to the station in the dark I put my sunglasses in my back pocket. You know what is coming next. Yes, I had to buy a tube of superglue and put my massive engineering skills to the test to repair the bifocals needed to read my Garmin. The hotel is very nice with all the individual rooms around a swimming pool on the first floor. ’No drama’ then moit.
I met a nice lady called Wendy on the bus who was visiting her 96 yr old father. She had lived all over the world; about 5 states in the US for a 25 yr period including Japan and Germany.
The group eventually arrived well after 1am and after they had put their bikes back together and eaten lunch it was 2.45 pm which left it too late to go to the Tower Hill Nature Reserve so we looked around town and then went to the beach and had a paddle whilst Joanne actually had a swim in the cold waster - which she said was warm. I have never seen such big waves as we saw at the corner of the land at the pier/ sea wall by the fishing boat harbour. They must have stood up 2 metres high.
We can recommend the evening meal at the Flagstaff Museum and the following laser show of the sinking of the ship Loch Ard in 1874 off the coast of Warrnambool.

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Photos

Sugan and Joanne
Sisters in law.