Great Ocean Road-Adelaide to Twelve Apostles

Landed in Sydney for my new adventure in Australia. My childhood buddy 'Manu' picked me up at the airport. I stayed with him for 5 days and explored Sydney city.

Sydney Opera House.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Done with looking around in Sydney, I wait on a platform at Westmead RIy Station, eager to catch up with my friends, Shruthi & Vivek, in Canberra; which would be a 3 hour bus ride from the Sydney Central Station.

Parliament House, Canberra.

Surprisingly Canberra is very small and not at all like a Capital city of any other countries. I spent 3 days with my friends and decided to fly to Adelaide to start my cycling trip. I got in touch with experienced cyclists John & Mary of Adelaide via email. They were very kind enough to come to Adelaide airport to receive me and take me along to their home, Morphett Vale.

National Arboretum Canberra.

My bedroom at John & Marys place.

All set to assemble my bike.

John And Mary decided to join me to cycle around the city. They showed me some beautify cycling paths through the ocean and around Adelaide city. 

Time to say goodbye to the beautiful family. I wanted to buy some accessories for bike and decided to leave Morphet vale and move to closer to the city. I got in touch with Anthea & Steve and the accepted me to stay with them on short notice.

Fully loaded bike and Waiting in Morpheme Vale railway station to go to City centre. 

I have stayed at children’s room at Anthea & Steve.

All set to start my cycling trip from Adelaide to Melbourne. My plan was to cycle through great ocean road all the way to Melbourne. After talking to many cyclists and other friends I have decided to change my route and headed towards Kangaroo island. I decided to cycle all the way to Rapid bay and camp over night and take the ferry next day to Kangaroo island. 

Beautiful landscape on the way to Rapid Bay.

First day of riding till Rapid bay and getting ready to put my tent. 

Riding towards Cape Jarvis to catch ferry.

After reaching Victor Harbour, I halted and began to think of camping options. There were many people jogging on the cycling trail, along the ocean. Wanting to check with the locals about free camping spots, I came upon a couple, John & Mary, who were taking an evening walk on the beach.

“Is there any free camping spot nearby?”, I inquired.
To which John replied, “There is no free camping nearby, but if you ride around 3 kms, you will see some open fields, with many camps available.”
I said,” Alright… Thank you”, and began to leave.
Then, just when I was about to start riding I heard them call me back.
The couple offered me to stay at their place, and sleep in a nice caravan they had. 
I gladly agreed, “Oh yeah! Sure 🙂
I slept well on that wonderful bed in the caravan.

It came as a blessing after the long Kangaroo Island ride.

I have found horses always behave friendly towards me, wherever I stopped on seeing them. I also had to be alert and careful, as most of the fences around the horses are electrified.

Camping at Meninge

Stealth camping near rugby ground.

This morning, I could see my rear tyre had a puncture, the first one, of the trip since Adelaide. I changed the tube, and then realized that the tyre was totally gone. The bottom surface of the water bag had brushed with the tyre and the rubber had come tearing off. I did not have a spare tyre and it was not possible to buy one till I reached the next big city Mount Gambier.  I got a lift from someone who helped me to go to Murray Bridge to buy a new tyre, and back to Tailem Bend, to start my journey to Mininge.

With Thomas & Jane at their favourite coffee shop. (Thomas was a cycle race champion who won many medals)  They go to this cafe everyday and we decided to bid goodbye here.

Thomas & Jane suggested me to take the (Port Fairy – Warnambool Rail Trail) cycling trail,instead of going through the main highway. It was really a good idea and made me really happy to ride through the country side with many farm houses.

Herb & Luis hosted me in Warnambool.

It was evening when I reached ‘Twelve Apostles’. I could see a beautiful sunset view. The next camping area is after 7 kms and I decided to go there and camp, and come back next day early, to get a morning view with sunlight from the other side.