Day 1 - Melbourne - Inverloch

Sunday 7th February 2010

Hi - welcome to this blog, which is all about my attempt to cycle from Melbourne to Sydney. It is a follow-up to the bike ride I did in February 2009 from Sydney to Brisbane, which you can read here if you’ve not seen it already.

On this ride, as with last year’s one, I’m following the East Coast Explorer route detailed in the Lonely Planet guide “Cycling Australia”. I certainly found this book easy to follow and very informative on the way to Brisbane last year, so had no hesitation in using it again. Besides detailing the best routes for cyclists it also gives information on the points of interest, good eating places, and accommodation along each route.

The bike I’m using is the same one I rode from Sydney to Brisbane on, a pretty basic Giant hybrid, nothing special. Travelling as light as possible with a few spare clothes, a couple of books, some tools, and my Dell netbook, which all pack into just one pannier.

About to set off from Sydney. Pictured next to me is my good friend Rob McLean, at whose house I was staying.

Since arriving from London, where I live, I had spent a few days in Sydney, so in order to get to the start of the route I had to get the bike and myself to Melbourne. I travelled on the overnight train which was reasonably comfortable; the journey took 11 hrs, arriving in Melbourne at 0800. The only minor annoyance was having to pack the bike in a box, which necessitated partial dismantling.

On arrival in Melbourne it was raining hard, as it always seems to whenever I visit there. I’d planned to stay 2 nights there for a bit of sightseeing and so once the rain eased off a bit rode the short journey to the motel I’d booked. It was dry within a short time, and gradually warmed up so I was able to spend a couple of excellent days skating around this fascinating city - I had brought my skates with me because it’s not always possible to hire them.
You can see the photos I took in Melbourne here but I haven’t included them in this blog because this is all about cycling, not skating!

So - on Sunday February 7th, at 0700hrs, I set off from Melbourne on the bike, en route back to Sydney.

It’s going to be a much more challenging ride than Sydney to Brisbane as the route goes right over the alpine mountain range. I’m intending to stick to the recommended route as far as possible though will be prepared to take easier options if the weather gets really bad on the way - last year I had 11 days of rain-free cycling to Brisbane and I’m not expecting my luck to hold out this time.

For some reason best known to the authors of the Lonely Planet cycling guide, the East Coast Explorer route starts at Cowes, on Philip Island, some 80kms and a ferry ride south east of Melbourne. The book doesn’t detail the route from Melbourne to the Cowes ferry, instead advising riders to get there by train. This seemed a bit defeatist to me - if you’re going to ride an epic journey between 2 cities why not do it properly?

The route to Stony Point, from where the Cowes ferry departs, was simple enough, down to the beach at St Kilda then around Port Philip Bay as far as Frankston. Despite following close to the bay, this road affords very few views of the many beaches along the route, however it is enormously popular with local cyclists who ride it in their thousands, literally, every weekend - I lost count of the number of riders I saw, all of whom were lycrad-up on expensive-looking road bikes.

note large metal horse sculpture on seafront

lycra everywhere

After Frankston there was a short section on the Nepean Highway which, despite being a busy road with fast-moving traffic, had a wide shoulder - the rest of the way was on quiet minor roads. I was in too much of a rush to take many photos as I wanted to get the midday ferry - since I knew if I missed it there was a 5 hour wait until the next one. Fortunately I made it with a few minutes to spare.

the ferry leaving Stony Point

The ferry calls in at French Island, an uninhabited nature reserve, on the way to Cowes, on Phillip Island. By now the temperature had reached over 30 degs and it was nice to cool off a bit on the top deck.

arrival at Cowes jetty

nice beach at Cowes

Phillip Island is a pleasant holiday destination, mainly famous for its motorcycle racing circuit. It didn’t take long to traverse it, but before reaching the bridge to the mainland at it’s most easterly point, I took a quick detour to visit Churchill Island, and had a brief look around the visitor centre. It’s reached by a small bridge.

view from Churchill Island with bridge in distance

bridge from Phillip Island to mainland

Back on the mainland the route took me through the historic coal mining area of Wonthaggi. Not much to see apart from some disused mine shafts which weren’t worth photographing.

Wonthaggi Main St

The final 20kms of the ride were quite hilly and made much harder by a strong headwind. I made it to Inverloch, the final destination for this first day of the ride, at 6pm having cycled 148kms, and having checked into the comfortable enough Inverloch Central Motor Inn, I enjoyed an excellent steak and chips at the Inlet Hotel. Another long ride awaited me tomorrow so I was in bed quite early. Well the ride has got off to a decent start, I hope the weather continues this good.

Central Motor Inn, Inverloch