The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Australia: Goldfields, Grampians and Great Ocean Road

October 28th to November 7th

Ride Coordinator: Ronald Youngash
Report by: Maria Nelson

The Goldfields, Grampians and Great Ocean Road trip was led by Ron Youngash and commercially assisted by Richard Oddy from Pedaltours.

The seven days of riding with two additional rest days took us through a journey of contrasting landscapes.  It enabled us to see very different geographical areas of Australia within the “relatively” small area of Victoria.   We started in Bendigo, a historic gold mining town.  We rode through forests of eucalyptus trees, vineyards and wineries.  We stayed at the Summerfield winery and had a specially hosted wine tasting where we were able to talk with the owner and winemaker Mike Summerfield.  We continued riding into the Grampian National Park and stayed in the towns of Halls Gap and Dunkeld.  We saw many beautiful and unique birds(emus, sulphur crested cockatoos, magpies, long billed corellas, etc.) as well as a full mob of kangaroos.  We had a group excursion to see Mackenzie Falls, the largest waterfall in Victoria.  We continued to ride south through beautiful countryside and into rainforests.  It was here that we had our first and frequent sitings of koalas and an occasional echidna (Australian porcupine). We reached the coast and had a picnic lunch at Childers Cove before continuing along the Great Ocean Road.  Our stays at Port Fairy and Port Campbell allowed us to see the picturesque rock formations along the coast of the Southern Ocean including the 12 Apostles, London Bridge and the Arch.  The final day of riding along the Great Ocean Road were a bit windy but rewarded us with vistas of sun sparkled waves, beautiful beaches and a coastline reminiscent of Monterey and Carmel.  The roads on the trip were fully paved, some with shoulders and mostly with low traffic with the exception of sections of the Great Ocean Road.  The combined leadership of Richard, Ron and Deb (Ron’s wife) made the trip extremely safe and enjoyable for the full group.