Melbourne

I was now only a couple days from Melbourne but had a couple of weeks to kill, due to my rescheduled visa interview. I left the Hunt bikepacking route, heading south from Licola, out of the mountains. I rode to the town of Heyfield, where there was a supermarket. And a chip shop.

Appetite sated, I rode on for another couple of hours before reaching Gormandale, a small village with a disproportionately big sports area. They allowed wild camping there so that’s where I stayed.

I hung around the next morning, taking my time and catching up on a few things I ought to do but never get round to. I finally set off in the afternoon.

I didn’t cycle for very long – three hours or so. After a stop at a supermarket I reached a hotel in the village of Boolarra, which allows camping on its grounds for a low price. I ended up taking a couple rest days there – I still had two weeks to go before my visa interview and not much to do for that time.

Finally I resumed cycling, and made my way southwest to the coast, where I joined a rail trail.

I realized that my raincoat was missing, having been strapped on my rear rack. I’d ridden through some roadworks a couple hours earlier which had a very rough surface, it may have fallen off there.

I managed to clamber down into some trees next to the rail trail and set up camp there.

It was raining the following morning – not the best time to be without a waterproof jacket!

I rode toward the coast, all the way to the shoreline, and kept on going. Thankfully there was a bridge there. This led me over to Philip’s Island. I rode along to the Koala Conservation Centre, my reason for visiting the island.

I arrived a few minutes before they opened. The rain stopped while I waited. I went into the office, bought a ticket, and headed into the reserve. There were a few different animals there but the main ones I was interested in were the koalas. These were separated into three small groups, with boardwalks so they can easily be seen in the trees. Koalas move very little so the rangers go in in the morning and place a sign where the koalas are; they generally stay there.

From the koala centre I rode a few kilometres north to the seaside town of Cowes, where I planned to catch a ferry. I arrived less than ten minutes after one departed, which meant I was in for a four hour wait. I found a covered area in a park and hung out there. Four hours later I headed over to the jetty and caught the passenger ferry over to Mornington Peninsula.

I rode inland for an hour or so before setting up camp. It rained on and off through the night and was still raining when I set off in the morning. I rode across to the other side of the peninsula and then south along the coast for an hour to the town of Sorrento. There, I caught another ferry. These were hourly and I didn’t have to wait long before being taken over to the mainland.

I rode to the town of Torquay where I joined the Great Ocean Road. Initially, though, it made its way inland. I set up camp beside the road in some woodland.

The following morning the Great Ocean Road headed down to the ocean, undulating through rolling hills and periodically passing close to the shore. This road is a popular tourist attraction. There are even signs reminding drivers to stick to the left side; evidently foreigners are prone to forget that.

Past the town of Lorne there was a marathon along the road, so it was closed. There were detour signs but I decided to plan my own detour. I climbed steeply up into the hills.

After a while the road turned to dirt for a couple of hours. I cycled along rolling hills, oscillating around an altitude of about 600 metres.

I took a shortcut before rejoining the tarmac road. It was very muddy and although it saved a few kilometres, it didn’t save any time.

Rather than immediately heading back to the coast I followed a narrow, winding road that stayed up in the forest. There was very little traffic and it made for enjoyably peaceful riding.

The next morning I returned to the coast and made my way to the Twelve Apostles. These are a collection of (fewer than twelve) pillars of rock that have been isolated from the mainland and are slowly eroding away. It was very popular with tourists.

Shortly after that I left the coast and headed inland. Over the next ten days I made a big loop around Melbourne to fill the time. I was still carrying a bit of excess body fat and decided to use this time to get rid of it. Over the course of a few days I lowered my food intake. Initially I was eating a massive amount of fruit to satisfy my appetite without providing a lot of calories. I was extremely surprised how quickly I adapted to being able to ride all day with just 1000 calories. I wanted to minimize muscle loss so I was mostly eating chicken breast which is almost pure protein.

As a rule of thumb I figure I use about 2000 calories per day + 25 per kilometre. I was averaging 130km a day so with my intake of 1000 calories that’s a deficit of more than 4000 calories a day. For reference, a deficit of roughly 8000 calories is needed to lose 1kg of body fat. After 9 days I’d lost 5.5kg (12 lbs). Not bad for just over a week!

I reached Melbourne and went to the house of Peta, my second cousin, after stopping on the way to get a passport photo and print the documents I needed for my visa application.

On the morning of the 2nd, I made my way into the city centre to the US consulate for my visa interview. The interview was very quick. Asking for my plans, why I was applying for a visa rather than an ESTA (because I’d been to Sudan), and asking why I’d been to Sudan. Then “Your visa’s approved, it’ll be ready within a week.”

I spent another couple days with Peta’s family – her wife Joan and their kids Des and Marcia. I enjoyed hanging out with them and meeting members of my family on the other side of the world! On one occasion, on the way out to dinner with Des, Marcia and Andonie (Marcia’s boyfriend), we stopped for a little while to kick a football around. That was fun; I used to play all the time at school.

Expecting my visa processing to take a few days, I decided to ride out for a short loop. At the end of the first day, I got an email telling me it was done and my passport was ready for collection. I turned around and got back to Melbourne the next day.

I went and collected my passport (from the French visa processing department), got a bike box and packed up my bike. A couple days later I took an Uber to the airport. Having ridden 8000km in Australia, more than I’ve cycled in any other country so far, I was eager to head on to my first new country in more than two months: New Zealand!

May 14: 99 km

May 15: 52 km

May 18: 98 km

May 19: 39 km

May 20: 91 km

May 21: 104 km

May 22: 132 km

May 23: 108 km

May 24: 118 km

May 25: 125 km

May 26: 175 km

May 27: 142 km

May 28: 142 km

May 29: 119 km

May 30: 114 km

May 31: 112 km

June 1: 62 km

June 5: 108 km

June 6: 99 km