October cycle tour map

October cycle tour map

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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Ararat to Halls Gap


Ararat to Halls Gap = 47km
Cummulative total = 1441km

After a very hot rest day yesterday we weren't sure if we were going to cycle today as the weather temperature was going to be warm again although they did forecast a change but we were unsure as to when that change was going to happen. Nevertheless we woke early in the morning and decided that we could get to Halls Gap by lunch.
The road to Moyston (which was our first stop) was hilly and the road itself was what I call 'a real tit wobbler' and that applies to mine and "Neils man boobs"!!!
In fact you could categorise most roads according to "the degree of wobble"
"I hardly need a bra" means the road is smooth (which doesn't really exist)
"a little bit jiggly" means the road has intermittent craters and bumps that you can't avoid
"a tit wobbler" means the road frequently has craters and bumps that you can't avoid
"a real tit wobbler" means the road has nothing but craters and bumps and has clearly been smoothed out with a bakers rolling pin!
The Moyston township sign boast 'the birthplace of Australian Football' and there is a monument to honour Thomas Wills who was one the first people to develop the rules for AFL and believe it or not he even played for Geelong!

From Moyston the road becomes flatter but not smoother! and we begin to approach the Grampians and basically the road meanders alongside the big escarpments of the National park

So it was lovely riding all the to Pomonal where we had another rest break and 5 kangaroos bounded across the road just before we got there. After Pomonal the road continued basically the same. At this point the weather was overcast and hot and then the wind picked up and it was very strong and blustery and kept blowing me all over the place! sometimes it would come from the side and then the front but never from behind! At least the temperature became cooler and by the time we got to the campground it was still a strong wind but we managed to put the tent up. We managed to see some Emus (a mother and at least 4 smaller ones) before they ran off.
And then the fun began watching everyone else struggle with the wind. Lucky for us the tent held up but for one unfortunate tent the wind basically flattened it and one of the poles snapped and pierced the fly and made a big hole. So Neil asked one other camper if they knew the owner and between them they managed to patch the fly up with some tape! So after an afternoon of protecting our gear from blowing across the campground and shielding ourselves from dust and debri the wind died in the evening. And now it is 5.45pm and there is a huge group of Kangaroos in the empty paddock next to the campground and looking around the tent there are kangaroo droppings everywhere so we assume that they will come around the tent tonight to graze which means that Kouta will go absolutely balistic! Right now he is sitting at the camp kitchen door just watching the kangaroos (he is tied up!) and in between that there are small lizards that are on a death wish as they keep darting in and around him and sooner or later I think he will get one!

Tomorrow is suppose to be cooler and even rain so we may get stuck here, Neil went into town for some food and came back saying that there is not much in town and there is a very small grocery store which is exceptionally expensive! So I hope we don't get stuck! If we can go we will ride through the Grampians National Park to Dunkeld which is 66km south of Halls Gap.

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