Coast to Coast

We left the Southern Ocean at Lakes Entrance and spent the next two days heading inland and around the southeastern corner of Australia to Eden, where we met the coast of the Pacific Ocean. We had talked to many people about this ride since it was not part of our bike book's route and met a variety of reactions. Almost everybody emphacized the numerous hills we'd have to ride over and while some said "Good-on-Ya" for doing it, others looked at us like we might be a bit crazy, and some were convinced that we couldn't possibly ride that route.

We headed off early and refreshed after a days rest and set out for the foretold hills ahead. And there were certainly many, many hills. As soon as we climbed one and zoomed down the other side, another hill began. We didn't have any long mountain climbs, but the endless hills were certainly draining. During the first day, we recieved numerous friendly honks of encouragement from the cars passing by to provide a bit of motivation as we grinded up the hills. The beautiful forested landscapes and views of distant mountains also made the hilly ride quite bearable. We saw many great sweeping views of the surrounding scenery as we reached peak after peak of the endless hills. The weather was in our favor as well. The first day was cool and a bit grey (but no rain - phew!) - a pleasant change from the heat wave a couple days before. The sun came out the second day, but only sent warm glowing rays our way... no super hot rays.

The hardest part of the ride were the endless signs suggesting we take a nap. Apparently Australian drivers tend to fall asleep a lot on the road. Every 5km or so signs read "A 15 minute power nap could save your life" or "tired? try a powernap" or "rest - revive - survive"... and "rest stops" were labeled as "powernap areas". Even if I wasn't sleepy before, all these signs just made me want to take a nice long nap. Luckily, we didn't have any encounters with these sleeping drivers. The roads were pretty clear of cars for the most part... especially on day two.

The roads were pretty clear of most everything for that matter. On day one, we took a side route through the town of Orbost, but that was the only town we encountered over our 132 km. of riding (our longest day!) until we arrived to our destination of Cann River... a very small town... with one cafe serving ice cream... a small general market... and one campsite where we met two very friendly people from England. On day two, we passed through the tiny town of Genoa (which had no open shops) and then didn't see much more than an occasional rest area (where we were told to pull over and take a nap) until we pulled into Eden 116 km later. We were pretty exhausted after two long days of hilly riding and were very happy to arrive, find some scrumptious food, and fall asleep once again to the sound of crashing waves.