March 23rd, 2011
Canberra to Yass
Distance: 96km
Total distance: 512km
Woke up early this morning only to find that there are now more areas of Victoria and Gippsland in particular, that are affected by the flood. After a lot of thinking, with the aid of Google Map and Camps 6, I made a last minute decision to use the roads parallel to Hume Hwy all the way down to Melbourne. My destination for the day would be Wee Jasper. I was really disappointed, due to the flood, I must now skip riding the famous Gippsland rail trails.
Minutes after I left, I took out my iPhone and fire up the Google Map GPS, found a shorter route when I select Walking instead of Driving from my current location to Wee Jasper. A route that is shorter by 15km! Yay!
BAD idea.
I knew it was an unsealed road, but I had no idea that it was a private road! I took the exit from Barton Hwy and rode about 15km into Wallaroo Rd, only to be met with signs all over the entrance to the unsealed road saying “No entry”, “No through road”, “Private road, keep out”. I was having so much fun riding along Wallaroo Rd as it was mostly downhill, I even saw a red fox for the first time, a live one that is! Anyway, there I was, sitting in front of the private road entrance, looking at my watch, and the sky, wondering what am I going to do now. Felt a sense of regret for ignoring the multiple signs that says “No through road” as I was entering Wallaroo Rd. Shouldn’t have trusted my GPS so much, both of them, Metroview and Google.
I didn’t want to get into trouble trespassing, so I guess my only other option is to ride back to Barton Hwy which is another 15km that is mostly uphill. I also didn’t want to go back to Canberra, and am still keen to visit Wee Jasper, but there’s no way I can make it there before dusk. So I made a decision to head up north along Barton Hwy to Yass and spend the night there.
Barton Hwy was quite boring, but I took out my pocket radio (first time for this tour) and listen to my favourite FM Triple J and that lifted my mood. Nearing Yass, I have to exit the highway and turn into Yass Valley Road. It was a road full of rolling hills! I soon learnt that Yass is famous for its wool production and wineries, thanks to the dozens of advertisement boards along the road. When I reached the town centre, it took me about an hour to search for the caravan park due to misleading signage. Eventually I found my way with the help of some local residents. Met a young couple at the caravan park who were there for grape-picking. They had a car and set up a tent but seems to be spending most of their time in the car, perhaps the cold and windy weather is making them do so.
