Bike Boxes at the ready

Boxing the bikes. Most people are busy wrapping and boxing things at the moment. Our boxing had a different look to it however, as we set about getting the bikes boxed up for their journey. This bit was so much easier with the Bromptons, but it will be great having real touring bikes when we get to NZ. 

So O.K the bikes are sealed up, open up the mince pies some one!Its a good job that I luck checked this text before this goes out as the original said "Most people are busy raping and boxing " which sounded more like marauding Vikings!

New Zealand 2014

We intend to do our next big trip to New Zealand!

Not on Brompton Bikes this time. We will start the holiday with our good friend Loretta. Loretta is a New Zealand lass and we have ridden with her in the UK over the last two years with our cycle club. Now she has returned home and is keen to show us her home country. We intend to ride with her on her end to end trip of North Island although we may take a few rest days with her mum, who is manning the support wagon. Then, in Wellington, we will say goodby to Loretta and her mum, Jan while we continue on down the West coast of the South Island to Queenstown. Once we have got far south we hope to meet up with a group of riders from Auckland who are doing an exciting cycle camping trip from Queenstown to Christchurch.

17th March 9.30PM Home!!!

Back home and ten weeks post to look at. It was 5 degrees C when we landed.
A great holiday now where to next????

some more of my favourite photos of the holiday

some more of my favourite photos of the holiday

Saturday 16th March A day in Shanghai

Staying at a very nice hotel near Pudong airport. The room is the best we have ever stayed in, things are certainly good value here!
A high of 18 degrees here which is less than we have been used to of late but an ideal temperature for getting around. It will start to condition us for UK temperatures which seem very cold for March looking at the UK forecasts.
We booked a day tour around Shanghai. A very densely populated city with a population of 25 million we are told. It was all very new with a lot of concrete and people, but it was good to see a bit of China. The air quality was not so good and you can see the smog in the photos. All in all though, a good stop over for two nights and a full day in China.

A hot finish

With a hire car we thought we would have an easy finish. As we are into March now the weather should be easing, but that is not the case. They have had the highest March temperatures since records began in Victoria, everyday so far in the mid thirties and not beginning to cool until about 7.00p.m. Overnight lows are in the 20's. All of this has made the camping very difficult.
We have made our way back along the Ocean Road now, making visits to bits (such as Cape Otway) we did not have the time or energy for when cycling. The state of Victoria is having a long holiday weekend this weekend with Monday being a bank holiday. With the hot weather everyone has headed for the beach areas and the whole coast is packed with people and cars. We called into campsite after campsite and it was the same message "full up". Eventually we realised we had to face the fact that with everywhere so busy, we were not going to get any form of accommodation that night. So we found a parking area with a picnic bench and made a meal. We then spent a hot hot night sleeping in the car amongst all our luggage! We slept well all things considered, but we ached from sleeping in such a cramped fashion. Breakfast on the beach was our reward however as we watched the sun come up.
We asked at the tourist information in the next town at 9.15 this morning and there was no accommodation available for miles for Sunday night. After a bit of persistency they found a cabin for us at a campsite a bit inland eventually, which is actually very very nice. So we have booked in here for three days. Our cabin has air-conditioning and the luxury of having a dining room table and our own facilities is enabling us to recharge a little. With all the heat, camping and sleeping in the car we needed and deserved a break and the cabin will be a nice luxury for a few days before heading to the airport and gearing up for 48 hours in Shanghai.

Fri 1st to Mon 4th March The Fleurieu Peninsula

Hello again. We were really really lucky to get accommodation in Adelaide for 2 nights as the Car race for V8's was on called the Callipso 500, also the Adelaide Fringe as well as the Adelaide music festival. Anyway we enjoyed our time in Adelaide. We booked a small 3 door manual hatchback from Friday for 2 weeks and when we went to pick it up we got a 4 door automatic car which has only done 14000km, so again we were thrilled.
We drove to West Beach just about 12 km from the centre as it had been recommenced. It was right on the beach front and very busy as lots of people travelling to shows in Adelaide couldn't get accommodation so ended up camping at our site. From west beach we travelled south down towards Kangaroo Island. The beaches were fantastic once again. The contrast between touring on bikes and touring in the car were quite vivid. Air conditioning and a drink whenever we want. No worries about seeing a mammoth incline ahead of us. Plenty of time and energy to stroll and investigate roads that went off the main route to the beach and back. Tony is very impressed that the car can connect with the iTunes music on the mobile automatically so we can listen and sing to our favourite play lists as we go along. On saturday we camped at a basic site, again on the beach and took an evening stroll in the sunset. We then moved on passed Victor Harbour to Goolwa which is very close to the mouth of the infamous River Murray. During the day we saw a wonderful cycle track along the coast so we parked up and did a gentle ride along the track for an ice-cream and then back again. We plan to cycle tomorrow to the mouth of the river before jumping in our car to head back into Victoria towards the Grampians. Really tempted to buy two full sized pillows as a treat but haven't done so yet.

Summing up

We got the bus from Robe into Adelaide which was a drive of over 4 hours or so across a really barren landscape. We were really pleased with our decision to take the bus rather than attempt the ride as the area we travelled had absolutely NOTHING to commend it at all and was very remote. To the degree that one hundred mile of road just had one building on it and all the rest was just bush. So our cycling blog now comes to it's natural end with us in Adelaide and hiring a car to gently transport us back to Melbourne via the Fleurieu Peninsula and the Grampians National Park. We have got together a few places we would have liked to have seen but could not afford the detour and now we can fill in those gaps nicely. We will miss the cycling but really do need a rest now. We may still use the bikes for local rides from our various campsites on the way back and we will continue to use our camping gear. So to stastics:
Cycled just over 2000 km
Taken just over 2000 photos
Stayed with Warmshowers hosts in their homes for 12 nights and camped in their gardens for an additional 4 nights.
Camping cabin with Kay and Ian 1 night
Camped for 23 nights so far .....
Hotel for one night
Stayed with our friend 8 nights
Guest of Sue in Orford 1 night


Did the Brompton thing work? Well we always knew that we were pushing their limits and that it was likely they would fail at some point. The idea of "Hitchbiking" worked really well however and just being able to fold them and get a bus, plane, ferry and now small hire car, has meant we have done a lot of cycling but a huge amount of travelling. Not for the purist perhaps but good "thinking outside the box" cycling , which allowed us to "cherry pick" the best cycling and fast forward the rest. 2000k is a reasonable mileage so the bikes have earned their keep. I wonder what it will feel like when we get on our normal bikes again!!
So holiday now on wind down and rest mode.
Had a look around Adelaide today and to the botanical gardens . It is very busy here as amongst other events they have the Adelaide Fringe taking place which is second only to Edinburgh it seems. We have enjoyed all the street entertainers today.
So over and out but I may add a postscript or two as the trip itself is still not over by any means.
Bye for now from T and C.

26th February A restful day in Robe

After moving on every day for a good while now this is an ideal opportunity to catch up with washing and just having a rest. It also gives us time for a calm adjustment for our next holiday phase. Tony, with the help of nearby campers, managed to sort of splint the broken spoke with a wire fence tensioner thing bought from the local hardware store. (You can really tell that Catherine is writing this due to the terminology) See photos. We don't really trust it to do serious cycling but we may be able to get about locally ok when we get to Adelaide tomorrow by bus. Tested the wheel on a 5 km trip around Robe and all successful on its initial test. We are not planning to bother with a full repair here in Aus As the spoke broke in the middle (rather unusual) and it's on the rear wheel gear side and we would rather get the whole wheel respoked when we get home. So we are about done with 2000km completed on our Bromptons with full camping gear we don't think that's too bad and on 53 days completed of our trip, it's now time for more rest and a slower pace.
Despite it being our rest day we could not resist a morning cycle around the headlands.Actually if we had only called in here for a mid day break we would have missed some really good coastal scenery.

Monday 25th Feb Beachport to Robe

We had the wind on our backs and a straight straight smooth road. This area is called the Limestone Coast. It was like a cycle machine at the gym. We were sure that the scrub on each side of us was just a video loop as the road ahead just went on and on. Soon did the 30 miles into Robe where we intended just to have lunch. A ping on the back wheel told us that we have a broken spoke however so we decided to camp up in Robe. Immediately ahead of us is over one hundred miles of straight road with just scrub at the side. A daunting prospect at the best of times. We were thinking of getting the bus anyway and the bike has now made up our minds for us. The Adelaide bus does not go from Robe until Wed so we can have a day off in Robe to think fully about our options and have a days rest in a nice seaside town. We have done over 2000K now and perhaps we need a change and had enough of long stretches of remote scrub although it was a good experience for someone from the UK to experience. No pictures today as just a long straight road although Robe seems nice. The weather has turned very cool and there is talk of storms in Adelaide and Sydney so keeping one eye on the clouds.

Sunday 24th Feb Millicent to Beachport

We were up early and on the road before 8.30 in the hope that the sun and wind would not be at it's worst if we went early. Just doing about 30K today to the seaside town up the road as it was forecast a strong wind in our face and 35C heat.
The wind was in our face and the road was a straight line which gave the impression of always being up hill. In fact it was wetlands so I think it was flat but it looked and felt up hill for the whole 30k even though we ended up at the beach.
One added advantage in starting early on a Sunday was very little traffic. Got to the site and pitched at 11.30 which was a record. This site has no camp kitchen and the barbecue area had overflowing dustbins with flies. So doing it like we do at home we sat on the grass with the trangia. Back to basics for a change. After settling in we went for a walk around this beautiful little town with a famously long pier. In the afternoon there was a good musician at the local hotel and we enjoyed a really pleasant afternoon relaxing. The expected heat of the day did not materialise at Beachport although it was still rather warm.
Remember the Yarn Bombing in Melborne? Where they Knit jackets for trees etc? Well here it had a cycling theme in places.

Saturday 23rd Feb Mount Gambier to Millicent

There ware two features within Mount Gambier that we wanted to see. So we were up at seven and off at eight thirty.
The sink hole was just up the road from the campsite. This is limestone country so caves and such like abound. You could walk into the limestone hole in the ground by wooden walkways. The sound of running water filed the sinkhole it all felt really relaxed this early in the morning. Then of to see the blue lake where lava once burst a hole through the porous limestone creating a mini volcano. The water was this blue although I know it looks like I went mad with photoshop!
We then had about thirty miles to cycle to the next campsite. The wind had shifted to come from the north however so it would be against us and hot again. It was not completely against us but bad enough and progress was slow and we got here a 2 pm in the heat of the day at 35C. At least we found an air-conditioned bar (at the Tantanoola Tiger Hotel) and a garage selling ice lollies on the way so we could at least get some respite.
Found a good campsite with a really nice camp kitchen. Too hot to even think of pitching the tent yet but we will have to honour soon and get food and get sorted.
Nearly as hot again tomorrow and the wind full in our faces so looking at a small mileage tomorrow. The good news is that Monday once again brings a huge drop in temperature and winds will come from the south then and be on our backs. The forecast seems to stay that way most of next week so looks like hard work tomorrow then getting easier going after that.
Just 55 km today but I could not have done more. It is getting really hard work now this really is the hard bit of the tour so far.
In the evening lots of parrots collected on the campsite. There must have been thousands and all making an incredible noise as dusk fell. Then they all took to flight and flew off into the distance and silence returned. At dawn the opposite happened. They looked like white parrots but like sea gulls with swept back wings in flight. I must ask a local what that was all about.

Friday 22nd Feb Portland to Mount Gambier

We had a good night although there were thunderstorms over the sea most of the night. At dusk lots of birds flocked to the trees in the site. Once the sun was down the incredible noise they made eased. The lightning however must have disturbed them because every flash then created screeching in their wake.
We were on the road for 8.30 and we packed frozen bottles of water we had placed in the camp kitchen. It was 66K to Nelson and we did not want to get caught out without water.
The wind was on our backs again although it was just a breeze having reduced a lot from yesterday. The going was undulating and our six gears could cope easily.
We arrived in Nelson which was on the coast at the mouth of a river estuary. We visited the tourist information and the kiosk which sold a few food basics. It was only 2pm and we had a decision to make about whether to go further or to stop at the camp site in Nelson. In the end we decided that as cloud had come over and it had cooled a little for the middle of the day, then we would carry on. It was about 33km to Mount Gambier and some of it up hill. After cycling on from Nelson for 4km we crossed over from the state of Victoria into South Australia. At this time there is a formal time change of 30 minutes. So Tony was ahead of me on the road but 30 minutes behind me as he was in South Australia and I was still in Victoria.As soon as we crossed we lost the metre wide hard shoulder on the road which in Victoria we had used as a cycle lane. This pushed us out into the narrow road sharing it with logging trucks and lorries with massive trailers. We hope this is not typical of a South Australia State road!
It started to rain and thunder just as we got to Mt Gambier and the wind changed direction to a head on strong wind . We managed to find shelter before doing the last 2 or 3 km to the campsite. Wow we managed an all time best today on the Bromptons of 104 km. Ready for a sleep now after our meal and a shower in our en suite
bathroom next to our tent. Our exclusive use bathroom is bigger than our tent!!
Photo one our tent with en-suite
Photo two resting in the shade at Nelson