Castlemaine to Bendigo via the GDT

On Monday, we caught the train up to Castlemaine with the mountain bikes.  Surprisingly comfortable and easy to do - why don't we head up that way on the train more often, I wonder? The day was warm, in the thirties, but we figured we had only 19 kilometres of track to Harcourt, our overnight stopping place, so how hard could it be?  (Cue ominous music ...)

We arrived in Castlemaine around midday, and had lunch in the lovely botanical gardens, being entertained by a very musical magpie who stood on our table warbling at us.

Filled with lunch and enthusiasm, we headed off, following the trail signs.  On a steep rise out of town, I fluffed a gear change, pushed hard to keep momentum, and somehow managed to pop two spokes, cog side, in my rear wheel.  Not a great start.  We had passed a bike shop a kilometre or so back in town, so we limped back there, and luckily the shop agreed to fix them straight away and to come back in an hour.

Sitting in the park as we waited, we realised that in fact we had been heading out the track heading to Daylesford, not the one heading to Bendigo. Probably would have taken us a while to realise our mistake, so the broken spokes were sort of a blessing in disguise.   The bike mechanic was not particularly impressed with my 1980's mountain bike, and pointed out the poor state of the rims and the corrosion around the spokes. He didn't rate our chances of getting to Harcourt very highly I suspect, and suggested that we take the road there, much smoother and half the distance.  In retrospect, this might have been quite a good idea.  (More ominous music ...)

Whatever, it was about 2 by the time we really set off, the day nice and hot and the north wind gusting. We soon found that the going was not going to be easy on the GDT track.  Bits of it are dispiritingly steep with loose shale or rock.  Maybe younger more accomplished riders could ride it, but no way I could.

Eventually the trail entered some pine plantations and the going got a little easier, though there were still some hard sections.  I realised that most of my riding is relatively un-demanding.  Where we live is mostly flat, and if the wind blows, I just go a little slower.  Going up these hills with the rear wheel spinning in the gravel, there is no way to ease off. I discovered the limits of my fitness.   And going down, the limits of my skills. It is sort of demoralising to be walking up and down hills. But Dead Bullock Road saw us doing that - no wonder the poor old bullock died.  I was worried I might be going to join him. 

But all things pass, and we emerged onto a lovely undulating gravel road, and then actual tarmacadam, which was a great treat.  We rolled in to Tread at Harcourt about 5, fairly hot and tired.

Tread is an old motel which a young couple have turned into bike friendly accommodation and is a really nice place to stay.   There are even hooks next to the bed so you can hang your bike up nice and close at night in case you miss it too much.  We were made to feel very welcome there (unlike other places I've stayed with a bicycle.) 

A huge thunderstorm rolled through about 5 am.  When the alarm went at 6.30 it was raining, so we snoozed till 7, and opened the door on a wonderful clear fragrant morning.  We were on the road by 8 and enjoyed a lovely ride through the orchids at the back of Harcourt and round over the side of Mt Alexander. 

Today's ride was twice as long and half as difficult as the day before.  The trail follows the Coliban water aqueduct so it is relatively flat, except when it isn't - when the channel cuts through hills via tunnels.  But overall a splendid ride through lovely country. 

The trail still has some rough bits towards the end, but we were getting better at dirt and managed to ride most of them.  We arrived at Bendigo Station at 1 pm, in good time for the 1.36 back to Melbourne, which was again very comfortable except for the mobile phone conversations. Unfortunate that there is no bike storage in the quiet carriage.   

I arrived home about 3.30.  After a cup of tea I went out get some things off the bike and found the rear tyre completely flat, perhaps as Jess says, a sign from the bike gods that it really is time for a rear wheel change.

All in all, a great microadventure. 

Pirogue Saturday Sail

Now that the weather is warming up, and the Spring gales seem to have passed on, its time to get out on the water again.

I have been inspired by Dylan Winter and his Keep Turning Left blog with his wonderful films of sailing UK coastal and inland waters.  His Duck Punt films are well worth a look.   They reminded me how much fun sailing a flatbottom boat in shallow waters can be, so I dusted off the Bolger 12 Pirogue ("Peero") that has been sadly neglected of recent years, and went for a sail from the nearby beach down to the mouth of the Kororoit Creek.

My waterproof camera is pretty basic, but I learned a few things today.  One is make sure you have cleared all the old stuff off the camera storage.  The SD card was full by the time I got to the interesting part of the trip. Another good lesson is that salt water doesn't really improve picture quality.




But it was a lot of fun.  A short voyage in a small boat can seem like a big adventure.  I saw a banjo shark sunning itself in the shallows, terns diving,  pacific gull chicks in varying degrees of mottled plumage, swans, dogs bounding cheerfully through the RAMSA wetlands (no wonder the waders don't seem to come here anymore) and lots and lots of Bluebottles.

Interesting things, Bluebottles - also known as Portuguese Man'o'war or "floating terror" because of the intensely painful sting caused by contact with their tentacles.  I can't recall every seeing them in Port Phillip Bay before.  They were all over the beach at Norman Bay in Wilsons Prom earlier this week when we were down that way.  That's over 200 kilometres away.  There must be millions of them out there, fleets of them sailing around driven by their weird float bubbles,  like something out of a sci-fi horror movie.  Is it global warming that has brought them down our way?  Whatever, it is going to make swimming in the bay a lot less relaxing this summer.

Post script: To prove the adage that a patch of ice doth not a winter make, the Bluebottle invasion came and went remarkably quickly.  Within a week there were only the occassional sad little blue hat poking out of the sand in odd places. They have moved on to terrorize some other coast line. So we got a good swimming summer in, except for the days when heavy rain washed all the dog poo from Melbourne's streets into the bay causing it to become a massive bio hazard.

Dunkeld to Warrnambool

We were up and on the way out of town by about 6.45, reluctantly forgoing the no doubt delicious buffet breakfast offered by the hotel which would have delayed our departure. It was lovely being out in the cool of the morning. We passed a young Australian Shepherd puppy, about 6 months old, having a great time herding a flock of worried looking wood ducks across the road.  He was doing a great job, and though he was initially a bit suspicious of the recumbent, he came up for a pat.  A nice farewell from Dunkeld.  It was a lovely ride through the quiet country back roads, undulating through stands of fir trees, with magnificent views across to Mt Eccles and back to Mt Stapylton. The view from the recumbent seat was like this for a lot of the day, Jess vanishing over the rise as I cranked along, hoping to catch up on the descent on the other side.

We followed Google maps suggested route, which landed us on a dirt road for about 6 kilometers - a teeth rattling experience but very pretty and quiet.  And so nice to get back on the tarmac.

Coming over one of the ridges, we could feel cooler air, and there was a visible line of sea mist along the coast line ahead. We arrived at Woolsthorpe about 11.30 and stopped for some health food - a can of coke and a chocolate milk at the general store. The lady in the store said the temperature was currently 26, and their forecast top was 38. We could feel the gusts of wind getting hotter by the minute. There is a picnic table under a beautiful golden elm tree outside the store, but they had a creepy full sized santa on the verandah of the store which played a repertoire of four christmas carols. Over and over again. Perhaps intended like the musak that shopping centres play in carparks to drive off loitering youths.  It sure worked for us.

The road got busier and the shoulder on the road varied from good to disgraceful as we got closer to Warrnambool.  A strong southerly headwind started up, which was good for keeping us cool, but sometimes hard to peddle into. After a few days of friendly drivers waving to us, and giving us an extra wide berth as they passed, the traffic in Warrnambool was particularly aggressive, and the inhabitants of three separate cars yelled something at us.  They probably thought it was terribly witty, and it might have been (though I doubt it), but to us, thanks to the doppler effect, it sounded like "ooraahhhroo" or something. Anyway, hills, headwind, dickhead drivers, tired legs, the last bit wasn't a huge amount of fun, but we hit the station, changed the booking, had a wash and changed our clothes, and headed out for lunch by 2.  After we headed down to the local library, and enjoyed the guilty pleasure of recharging our phones in a bank of powerpoints under a sign which prohibited recharging any device but a laptop. (Why, one wonders ...? )  We were grateful of the quiet space and relaxed until about 5 when we headed off to get our bikes on the train. A nice trip except for the lady a few seats back with the loud voice and the mobile on speaker phone who called various apparently deaf relatives.  "Hello Auntie Beryl.  How are you?" "What?""How.Are.You?" "What?" "HOW. ARE. YOU?" ... Thanks heavens for earphones. The train dropped us in Melbourne at 9.20 and after retrieving the bikes, trying to get the station lift to work and a bit of stress getting to our platform on time, we got onto our local train, and home by 10.

All in all it was a good trip, though not quite what we planned. Temperatures today around 40 degrees, so we are glad to be home and cool.  Note to self: plan future trips with more of an eye to the weather.

Halls Gap to Dunkeld.

Another hot day forecast so we set the alarm for 10 to 6. I slept pretty well despite having a kangaroo munching grass right next to the tent, a few centremetres from my head. The stars from the valley at Halls Gap seem extra bright and the dawn extra dramatic. We watched the east facing cliffs go a spectacular golden red colour as we munched our breakfasts in the camp kitchen. We were packed and on the road by 7.

As bike rides go this has to be one of the most scenic, with the mighty rocky outcrops lining the valley and the dense bush shading the road. The first phase of the ride is a long climb up over the great divide. Nice to get that out of the way early while the day is cool

We made fairly good time and really enjoyed the long sweeping down hill on the other side. We were encouraged by a Google maps profile which seemed to suggest it was mostly dkwn all the way into Dunkeld,  but we discovered afterwards that was a different route, one which avoided the energy sapping climb up over the ominously named mount abrupt. It was hot when we got there and it was a struggle to keep on going. But not a lot of options and we made it over and down into Dunkeld a bit before 1 by which time it was baking. Our tires were sinking into melting tarmac and we were seriously tired. We stopped at the caravan park but the prospect of spending the afternoon in that heat wasn't very appealing, so we booked into the very nice Royal Mail hotel, with aircon, fluffy white towels and a swimming pool for a bit of restoration. The forecasts are dire for the next few days so we plan to ride to Warrnambool tomorrow and see if we can shift our booking to go back tomorrow night. Means as 100 k ride though - a while since I've put one of those in on a loaded bike. But hopefully it gets cooler as we get near the coast.

Ararat to Halls Gap

We booked tickets on the 8.17 to Ararat, and headed out early to beat the commuter rush with our loaded bikes. Last night I found that the bike I was planning on taking had a problem with getting into low gear, so at the last minute I swapped the panniers over to the greenspeed trike, which I've never taken on a tour before. It certainly was interesting weaving through the commuter crowds at knee height, it wouldn't fit through the door of the train without being lifted and turned on its side, and it didn't fit in the bike storage rack on the train. But despite logistical challenges we got to Ararat and on the road by 11, just as the day was heating up. There is a good hill on the road out of town and we ground up that, followed by some steep down hills where I set a new max speed. We encouraged ourselves on the first hard up and down stretch with the prospect of a cold coke at the Moyston general store, but when we got there it was clear it had closed long ago. So after a rest we headed off into the increasing heat. I was crawling along at about 11 ks per hour, despite my best efforts. I was beginning to think I must have blown a gasket, but discovered after a few slow k that I had forgotten to release the park brake after our last stop. Instant doubling of speed helped us do the next stretch to Pomonal, with an open general store, in around an hour, but it was mighty hot and the heat radiating back from the road made it challenging. Coming into Halls Gap on the lovely bike path we had a nice encounter with a local, John, who had seen us resting at Pomonal and who had ridden out in his electric powered greenspeed trike to say hello.

We hit the campground set up our tents had a shower and started some serious rehydration. It is a lovely place, with inquisitive cockatoos and very relaxed kangaroos. Here is Jess testing the greenspeed as a camp chair, with a couple of kangas hanging out nearby.

We had a very good dinner at the pub over the road, and did a bit of planning. We hadn't counted on it getting so hot and we are both felling a bit weary. We will try leaving early tomorrow to see if we can get to Dunkeld before it gets too hot. Weather forecast for the next few days is pretty scary - a 40 day on Saturday.  Maybe a shorter route to Warrnambool than we planned. See how we go tomorrow.

Tokyo last day

Last full day today and we thought we'd take it easy today - low and slow as the Tamotsu dudes might say. We headed off for a wander round Asakusa, which is a late riser like us, lots of the little shops and stalls either shut or in the process of opening. But the closer to Sensoji you get, the denser the crowd, and the temple itself had a long queue, and the incense burner was pouring out clouds of incense from the sticks lit by the visitors.

It is a colourful lively place but a bit frenetic with phalanxes of school groups and seniors groups marching relentlessly into the fray. We visited the little Inari shrine round the side for a bit of quiet, and admired again the expressiveness that the sculptor managed to get into the figures.

Next stop was Asakusa station, Ginza Line, and a quick trip to Ueno, where we headed through the park to the Tokyo National Museum. There was a special exhibition of Bvgari jewellery which Anne headed off to, and enjoyed immensely, while I took in some of the main collection on the first floor.. We met up, then visited the archaeology building which had a collection of pottery figures from Japan's Kofun period, about 500 Ad.

We had a very civilised lunch on the terrace of the Museum's Café, admired the garden, then headed back for a sweep through the second floor. The capacity of the Japanese artists  to capture nature, birds, water, and landscape is marvellous to behold up close. I wanted to take this one home.

But they wouldn't let me, so we headed off, for a last Stoll down one of the magnificent tree lined boulevards of Ueno park, golden in the afternoon sun of a lovely day.

 

 

Back in Asakusa we sussed out where our train to the airport leaves from, timed the walk back to the hotel, then hunkered down for a rest and reorganize ready to go early tomorrow. 

Kamakura

We were a bit stunned this morning but managed to get out the door and onto the train from Asakusa by 9.30, the first leg of our journey to Kamakura. Hyperdia is a great application for planning Japanese rail journeys, but our trip today seemed to have narrower margins than usual. We had to scoot up and down elevators and make sure we didn't make a wrong turn, and we just squeaked in the connections, bot it all worked as planned, and we were tucking into a very welcome crepe and cup of coffee near Hase station by 11.00. We made our visit to the Diabutsu which has been a special experience every time we've visited.The impact of the statue, sitting serenely in its amphitheatre of mountains, as it has done for more than a thousand years,  with the clouds floating by behind, is profound. You can feel that streams of people have been coming here for a very long time. There is something striking about the peaceful serenity of the massive statue, that seems to accept but sail serenely above the stream of people milling about taking selfies and posing for photos and generally milling about in an ant like fashion.

After our visit, we headed off along the Kuzuharooka/Daibutsu hiking trail that climbs up to then follows a ridge through some relatively wild areas. There were lots of steep ups and downs to give our knees a good workout.

 

We stopped at the wonderfully civilized Itzuki Terrace Café , which is located 50 metres off the trail and perfectly located just when you need a rest and some sustenance, for a delicious lunch, then headed on to a Shinto Shrine, Zeniaraibenzaiten Shrine (say that three times quickly). The Shrine, according to the sign out the front, was founded by Minamoto  Yoritomo, who in 1185 was told in a dream "In a valley to the Northwest there is a miraculous spring that gushes out of the rocks. Go there and worship the gods of Shinto, and peace will come to the people." The shrine is located in  deep gully, with steep cliffs surrounding it, and access is via a tunnel cut through the rock. It is believed that money washed in the water of the miraculous spring will return manifold to the owner. There was a huge gaggle of excited school kids earnestly washing their 10 and 50yen pieces in the water.

It is a very atmospheric place but unfortunately well down a very steep hill from the trail, and it was a bit of a slog to work our way back up again, but worth it because further along we encountered Kuzuharaoakajinja Shrine, with splendid turtles in the pond out the front, and a fine Inari shrine within. We've come to like the Inari shrines with their fierce looking foxes.
This Shrine had a particularly fine pair.

We were getting a bit tired now, but had enough energy to visit Jochi-ji, established in 1281, 'considered on of Kamakura's five great Zen temples'. It was a very beautiful and peaceful place, with its three statues representing past present and future, and its touching statues located in small caves carved into the cliff face. It wa a nice end to our walk, and we were soon back on a train heading us back for Tokyo rush hour. Which I'd have to say is considerably less squeezy than Melbourne trains at the same time in the afternoon. We know our way now, and after a quick visit to the local 7eleven we are back with a couple of small bottles of Californian Chardonnay and having a well eared ha'py hour after a good day.