Tag Archives: great ocean road

Day 32 – Month-y-versary!

If only the Kakadus swooping over our tent this morning could have warned us!

The last picture of the red bag ... :(

The last picture of the red bag … ๐Ÿ™

They would have said: What is as big as a 6 month old baby, fire engine red and can disappear without a trace between one photo stop and the next 10 km apart? No clue? Check all of our previous photos of Rocinante and you will find a bright red Ortlieb bag on the left pannier. Until today, that held Nina’s down sleeping bag and one of our two fleece liners.

So, that’s gone now. The police, as always, was of no use to us. Maybe someone has picked it up as a road hazard, but it did not make its way back to us. We also doubled back, but no trace. This time, there is really no one to blame. The new tie down straps / handles for the panniers are still a bit smoother than our old ones. The same setup worked with no issue for 30,000 km so far, so we did not expect this to loosen and open up and allow the wind to “eject” the bag.

Posing for the cam. 10 secs later we notice the missing bag.

Posing for the cam. 10 secs later we notice the missing bag.

The biggest bummer is that the lost fleece is of a matching set that zip together. Hopefully we will be able to get the same one down here.

Which is all such a shame. Although it was a bit overcast, this day would have otherwise been spectacular. The Great Ocean Road is a legendary motorcycle ride, and it holds up to a lot of praise.

First stop after the failed search and rescue was Apollo Bay for lunch. The next real stop was a brief rain forest walk, where we met a lovely German couple. We left in great spirit. Sometimes talking about what we are doing at the moment helps to remind ourselves that we are on this amazing adventure. Day to day hardship bogs us down until we sometime loose sight of how cool it actually is.

Wind-swept Nina

Wind-swept Nina

 

Turned out Cape Otway Lighthouse is a tourist trap. Avoid. Much better was our last stop for the day, Johanna Beach. Smooth sand, big waves and big skies. A little bit bitter sweet, since we had to leave that spot and its free camp site to go find a horribly expensive room (lost sleeping bag makes for sad camping).

Day 31 โ€“ Back on the road

It took us quite a while to get going. Flo had to pick up the bike from the workshop with a shiny new Heidenau K60 Scout rear tire.

We also had to repack all our things and pack a parcel with things that we wanted to send back to Germany now, like my second motorcycle jacket that we just canโ€™t seem to fit on the bike. J

We also fitted new mirrors and soft panniers in the front.

So in the end, with all the picking up and packing, we left Melbourne at 2.30pm.

A big shout out needs to go to our lovely AirB&B host Leah who was amazing and gave me a place where I could be sick in a real bed. It was so comfortable staying with her that we shortly debated staying another night as it was quite a late start.

The first and only picture - you have to trust in Nina's words.

The first and only picture – you have to trust in Nina’s words.

And then, we were on the road again. It is so weird: You know youโ€™ve done this two weeks ago and yet, everything feels odd. The gear is so stiff and heavy, the first Australian motorway freaked me out and yeah, sitting on a bike again.

It took us a while to get out of greater Melbourne, but we managed to make a start on the Great Ocean Road. Immediately, the landscape got impressive. Unfortunately, we only have one picture from right at the start of the track and not the wild coast afterwards but the sun was about to set and I really wanted a camp spot before dark. So all those pictures of the coastline will have to be taken tomorrow.