15
Labour Day trip to Western Vic
Filed Under Bike Trips | No Comments Yet | Page Tools
It’s been ages since I spent a few days on my bike touring the corners of Oz with friends. Earlier this year my mate Skip sent through a few events being organised by the BMW MCC Vic. They had planned a to spend the Labour Day long weekend at Nelson in the far SW corner of Victoria. This looked like a good option, but after a few chats we decided to do our own thing and find some interesting places to visit.
The final plan was to head the back way down to Apollo Bay (avoiding the tourist-popular eastern half of the Great Ocean Road) and across to Peterborough, taking in the Twelve Apostles and Loch Arg Gorge, then to head up into the Grampians and do a bit of walking, and finishing with the back roads through central Victoria (to avoid the boring Western Highway).
Day 1 (Sat 8/3/8) – Melbourne to Peterborough
We left Melbourne at about 9:30 planning to get to Apollo Bay for lunch. Unfortunately the easiest way to get down to Apollo Bay was via. Geelong. After a stop-start run through the Domain tunnel (those exhaust extractor fans may work to spec but it’s still pretty bad in there on a bike) and the West Gate Bridge, we started the run down to Geelong. At the point south of Lara where you see the start of the work on the bypass, you understand why it’s needed. The traffic was bumper to bumper. Panniers make lane-splitting a challenge but we got through to a quieter backroad around the city.
Not long after getting directions, I pulled Skippy over to show him dad’s old orphanage; St Augustines. When dad used to bring us here as kids it was a proud old brick building out in the paddocks. It’s now consumed by recent housing estates and not easily visible from the road. I don’t know if my aunties orphanage is still there as well.
Finally we hit the open road leading to Colac and soon speared off onto the back roads leading down to Forrest through very dry, brown farmland. After that it was mostly sub-temperate rainforest with many twists, turns and slow 4WD’s. Nothing beats the small of the rainforest when you’re on a bike. The forest opens up above Apollo Bay to give a magnificent view of the ocean.
We stopped for a break and photo opp beside a sea navigation marker and then continued down to Apollo Bay.
Apollo Bay is at the end of the popular eastern part of the Great Ocean Road (or GO Road). It’s a popular tourist spot, and on this warm Saturday (low 30’s) it was full of cars, buses, campervans and people. Lunch was a quick toasted sandwich before heading west.
From here the road is less touristy, winding through pictuesque valleys with the sea on the left, then up to Lavers Hill, and then back down to the coast. This is where the Otways rainforest meets the ocean. Being in no hurry we spent an hour following the loop track around through the ferns and trees.
The Beech trees here are some of the largest in the world and compare with the redwoods in California. I commented to Skip that the largest trees we stopped at are equivalent to the ones in Sequoia NP in California, like the General Sherman.
After this spell in the rainforest, it was on to the tourist spots of The Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and the other natural monuments of sandstone carved by the ocean. First stop was The Twelve Apostles, where you park away from the ocean and walk under the road to the well-controlled walkways and lookouts overlooking the features.
I don’t know how many of the original twelve are still standing; I didn’t count. But checking out the view and taking some photo’s is an experience amongst the swarm of tourists. It’s not quite as bad as Beijing, but it’s certainly a lot busier than the rainforest had been. I got a few sniggers for my attitre of high boots, leather pants and suspenders; people understand when they see you with a bike, but not when you’re walking with camera and tripod.
Loch Arg gorge was similarly crowded. We seemed to be keeping pace with the steady flow of tourist buses heading west. This area features a number of little inlets, some with small beaches and caves, all with brilliant dark green water and orange sandstone cliffs.
We spent a few hours exploring and taking photos in the stick heat before moving on to our destination for the night Peterborough. This was nothing special, with an average motel to sleep at and an average pub to eat at. Very peaceful place tho’.
