Stage 1: The Tough Beginning

Rain, unanticipated hills, and breakdowns, but much fun as well

The Tour Reports section of the site now contains the posts that I sent to the Phred Touring List (now on Google Groups) during the Tour.  Those from the early days of the Tour were rather thin, while later on, for some of the more unique countries, they contain much more thorough accounts of the ride, and an occasional amusing anecdote.  Towards the end of the Tour, however, I frequently couldn't keep up with the chore of sending posts on time, so the last several were written after the Tour was complete.  Look for links to the posts at the end of the short descriptions beginning below.

Stage 1 Actual Route

On this, and all future route maps, the blue lines represent travel by ship, red by airplane (Booo!), and green by bicycle. The actual route for Stage 1 was almost exactly the same as what I had originally planned prior to the tour, with the notable exception that I had to skip the last few days and end the Stage at Shark Bay instead of Perth in order to catch my next ship to Stage 2.

Melbourne: The Start of the Whole Affair

I had a choice of ports in which to start Stage 1. Most of the ships that make the North America to Australia circuit stop at both Melbourne and Sydney, though some call Sydney first and others Melbourne. If I had so desired, I could have stayed on board the Direct Kestrel for a few more days and disembarked at Sydney. I chose to start in Melbourne, however, for a few reasons. To me it seemed like it would be an easier city to exit, being a little smaller than Sydney. Also, it would give me a chance to explore the southeastern coast and, especially, Tasmania. I believe I made a good choice there. Melbourne seemed to me to be a fine town, with a nice city center that was easily walkable and lively. It was nice to relax on dry land there for a couple of days, and take care of a few final details before the ride started. Everything got off to a nice start as I left the port for the hotel I had chosen in the city center. I picked the place that was closest to the container terminal so I could have a relatively easy walk with the bike, and the very large box of "boat supplies" that I would be sending home shortly thereafter. It is not possible to walk around inside the container terminal, and most have a shuttle that takes crews, port staff, and the occasional globe-circling bike tourist from the ships to the main gate. In my case the friendly driver insisted on taking me right to the door of my hotel, which I definitely appreciated.

For the next couple of days, I spent most of my free time sampling the local cuisine, which is prepared with a bit more variety than the fare on board ship, and doing only a few touristy things. The Royal Botanical Gardens was a nice place for a walk, and the Queen Victoria Market provided a chance to experience a big crowd which seemed novel after the nearly deserted Direct Kestrel. Additionally, I went to see the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that they had been added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 02004, a fact that had somehow escaped my notice. That brought the number of such sites on the Stage 1 route to 12, and enhanced my goal of seeing as many as possible. Though I was now firmly on the soil of Gondwana, I still did not feel like the tour had actually started, however.

The Royal Exhibition Building

A famous Melbourne tram

Well-named clothing, Queen Victoria Market

Tasmania: Island of Rainbows

It was a short 5 km ride from the Melbourne city center to the ferry terminal of the Spirit of Tasmania, and that made it very easy to catch yet another boat for the overnight crossing of the Bass Straight to Devonport, Tasmania where the whole tour would officially start. The ferry was quite nice, not particularly full, and the business-class seat that I sprung for allowed me to get a little sleep along the way. Arriving at about 7:00 A.M., I was able to start off right away for a full day of riding after a quick change of clothes. It turned out that I needed every minute of that day, and more, as things were not very easy at the start.

As I feared, several weeks with minimal riding while I packed up my home and crossed the Pacific, significantly degraded my fitness, and I noticed that after only a few hours of riding. It was also cold, for most of the time I spent on the island, and as is often the case there during that time of years, it rained quite a bit. The biggest drawback, however, was the short length of daylight there during June. Nine and a half hours of useable sunlight made for a big challenge for me. The first few days were quite a struggle for those reasons, but I knew that on a long tour none of that lasts forever, so I was not worried too much.

In spite of all of that Tasmania was very nice. I looped around, heading to the west side first and visited the Gordon-Franklin Rivers area, another WHS, before crossing back to the east coast just north of Hobart, the capital, heading up the east coast, eventually through Launceston, before arriving back at Devonport for the ferry back to the mainland.

One of the interesting characteristics of ancient Gondwanaland that can still be seen today was its distinctive forests filled with species such as myrtle, beech, and tree ferns. Western Tasmania is one of the best places on Earth to see remnants of the ancient forest, and these species were all easily seen, as was the Huon pine, an endemic species that was once prized as a ship-building timber. Tasmania was one of the last places that I added to the whole tour route, and I'm glad that I did, as I enjoyed my visit there quite a bit.

The Spirit of Tasmania ferry

Mount Roland

A shower approaches Lake Burbury

Waterfalls and ferns, Western Tasmanian rainforest

An anemone in a Bicheno tidepool

Morning at Bicheno

Victoria: A Small, but Pretty State

My route through Victoria was not especially long, and so I was only there for a few days, but the weather improved a little, and there was a bit of flat terrain along the coast, so I felt a little better. While there, I continued to notice what I first saw on Tasmania, namely that Australia is completely filled with beautiful birds. For many years I had always dreamt of seeing parrots in the wild, and though I caught a few brief glimpses of some during my tours in '02 and '03, I was completely taken aback by the frequency that they appeared in Australia. In one particular case, on a gray morning, in an area of rolling farmland in eastern Victoria, I happened across a flock of Black Cockatoos that must have numbered 150 individuals. They would normally be too shy for me to get very close to them, but with so many around, I was able to walk through the trees they occupied, and they could not fly away fast enough to escape my observations. They are quite large birds and their call sounds like someone opening a very squeaky door. Eventually, they all took off, squeaking away into the gray sky and I felt like I was standing in a real-life version of the "Flying Monkey" scene from The Wizard of Oz (the fictional Oz, that is).

Port Albert marina

At the Phillip Island Koala Sanctuary

Galahs on wires

A Victoria Sunset

New South Wales, the Heart of Australia

My ride through New South Wales, Australia's most populated state, was, perhaps not as enjoyable as it could have been. There was some surprisingly rolling terrain along the southern coast, more wet, cold weather (I rode through a snowstorm on one occasion, a touring first for me), and a series of unexpected mechanical problems. All of these combined to increase the business-like nature of that section. My route ran along the south coast for a while, then turned inland to avoid the congestion of Sydney, and finally hit the coast again at the northeastern corner of the state. By the time I caught up from the weather delays, fixed everything that broke, and climbed up and down the Great Dividing Range a few times, I had little time to spend sightseeing or relaxing at the state's attractions. I did manage to make a quick half-day visit to the Blue Mountains, which were quite pretty, and towards the end of the section, when the weather began to improve, to Gibraltar Range and Washpol National Parks, all of which were very interesting from a botanical perspective. When I finally reached the north coast, at the margins of the tropics I was finally able to take a break that was actually relaxing at Iluka Beach.

The Blue Mountains

Black swans on a pond

Prince of Wales Hotel, Gulgong

A 'Roo hops across my path

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