April 22nd, 2011
Lavers Hill to Peterborough
Distance: 68km
Total distance: 1623km
Last night was freeeezing cold! Although I didn’t check, I am 100% positive it was less than 5 degree celcius. I woke up to the ongoing rain and fog since last night but somehow I feel optimistic about my day today! As it was still raining, packing up was a lot of work. I dragged my tent into the camp kitchen so that I can transfer my stuff from the tent to my trike without getting wet. But still I spent a lot of time drying my tent as much as I can. Took me nearly 3 hours but it was only 7.40am when I hit the road.
Despite the rain, the first 18km was a lot of fun. It was downhill about 90% of the time and I get occasional sunshine too. I was getting headwind as well, save me from having to brake so much when cruising downhill. As soon as I passed Gellibrand River, it was uphill again, albeit a short one. Made a rest stop when I reach Princetown after a couple of hours riding. This place was beautiful! And it was sunny too! A stark contrast from the conditions up at Lavers Hill. I wished I had stayed here last night, but I wouldn’t be able to make it before dark if I continued riding down from Lavers Hill yesterday.
After Princetown, I faced a strong direct headwind. The wind was so strong that if I wasn’t pedaling, I swear it would push me up on a 5% uphill gradient! With my maximum effort on a flat road, I can only manage a speed of 9kmh. I soon come to the limestone formations section of the GOR, the ones always pictured in GOR brochures. I stopped at all major attractions even though I’ve been here 3 or 4 times in the past, because the limestone formations are just so gorgeous.
My first stop was Gibson Steps. When I was turning into the parking area, a bunch of crazy Chinese came charging towards me with their dSLRs. I usually don’t bother with a bit of attention but this was extremely intrusive, they were running around the parking area presumably trying to get a good angle for a shot, like I’m some sort of a rare exotic bird. I even nearly knocked down one of them, should have just let it happen. Trust me, they were THAT annoying! Next stop was the popular Twelve Apostles, there I bumped into the same group again, this time I quickly park my trike and hurried to the lookout, before they can manage to somehow block my way. Seriously annoying, thankfully that was the last time I see them. The journey from Twelve Apostles onwards was alternating sunshine and rain. I changed my speed accordingly to avoid riding under the rain clouds. It’s like I’m playing hide and seek with mother nature, hehe!
There was a couple of cars overtook me slowly, I was unsure of what their intention was when it happened the first time but then it soon became clear when I saw the big dSLR telephoto lenses coming out of their windows pointing at me.
When I reached Port Campbell, which was my planned destination for the day, I found out that the caravan park was fully booked out, they don’t even have an unpowered site vacant! I shouldn’t be surprise since its the first day of the Easter long weekend. But it gets me worried, I might have to ride all the way to Warrnambool to find a place to stay. With the rain and headwind conditions, I wasn’t confident that I’m going to make it by dusk, and even if I manage to reach there, they may not have vacancies left. The next town was Peterborough, about 13km away. When I reached there, the park operator said no sites available due to heavy downpour last night which made the camping area flooded. I was disappointed. Before I left, she said that it may be slightly better now since it was quite sunny during the day, so she brought me to the site and we check out the camping area condition, it was a bit damp and water puddles here n there but “That’ll do!”, I said to her. Not long later, two cars came in and set up their tents in this area too. Good thing I came in a bit earlier as I chose the driest spot.
It was only 3pm by the time I pitched my tent. Took the opportunity to dry some of my stuff including the tent and then off I went to check out the seaside. The seaside here is quite pretty and there’s a nice recreation park with BBQ facilities nearby too. I came out again later to get dinner. Due to many visitors, and only one shop that sells hot food, it took more than 30 mins until my fish and chips was ready. But the chips were surprisingly good!
