Week 8: Tour De Oz (Great Ocean Road & Murray River)

After Adelaide, I made my way through the nice, twisty roads of Adelaide Hills (another great wine region) to Birdwood, SA where I met Neil (a fellow adventurer) and my close friend Graeme.

I was looking forward to checking out the famous National Motor Museum but there was a Rock’n’Roll festival on that day and the town was packed so we got out of there and went for a social ride instead. We went through the apparently Germany-inspired town of Hahndorf where we stopped for lunch: on offer were German sausages of course.

After a few hundred k’s Neil headed off home, while Greame and I went to a caravan park on Lake Albert.

Great Ocean Road

The next morning, Graeme and I travelled 500km, crossing into Victoria and stopping at the start of Great Ocean Road. We settled at Port Campbell for the night, and woke up to find the rain had followed us from SA.

We thought we were destined to ride the famous road, known as one of the most scenic rides in Australia (if not the world!), in the rain, but luckily after a few wet twisties the sun came out and we could comfortably enjoy the experience.

As you do, we stopped to take in the touristy lookouts, including the spectacular limestone formations known as the 12 Apostles. The road was quote crowded though, and it was a little bit frustrating when we got stuck behind slow vehicles on the nice, smooth corners. Always the optimist, I used the opportunity to take in the majestic scenery as we wound our way around the edge of the cliffs, overlooking the seemingly boundless ocean.

Murray River

I decided to ‘cut a corner’ in Victoria, because I’ve ridden through the coastal roads before, have visited Melbourne a couple of time, plus the in land roads are so much more interesting for me. So after the Great Ocean Road we headed to Barmah State Park on the banks of the Murray River (border of Victoria and New South Wales).

Graeme had promised that I’d be able to see koalas in the trees there, and this was an exciting prospect as I’d only ever seen them in zoos before. Well, by the time we got there it was already so dark that I couldn’t see a thing (let alone koalas!) but I could definitely heard them: it’s hard to explain, but they made these creepy, low-pitched brays, like a cross between a donkey being abused and a cow giving birth via it’s nostrils.

With daybreak, I could finally appreciate how amazing this place was, made all the more magical by a dense fog which was hanging over the river.

It’s at this point that I said farewell to Graeme and set my compass to home … via the one last adventure … the Snowy Mountains!

Kinga’s Tour De Oz – Supporting the Shepherd Centre

Please sponsor my ride at: http://everydayhero.com.au/onherbike