Day 9: so where am I, and where's north?

Route: Warratah Bay-Walkerville-Tarwin Lower-Venus Bay-Inverloch-Wonthaggi-Dalyston-Woolamai-Bass-Grantville-(around in circles for a while)-Nyora-Lang Lang-Koo Wee Rup-Cranbourne-Frankston-Chelsea

Distance covered: 275km (very approx.)

Today was most likely the longest day of the trip so far, but due to a non-functioning odometer and a non-functioning sense of direction, I shall likely never know for certain.

I usually have an excellent sense of direction. Once in a while, however, I lose it completely. As I did today.

At this stage, I still knew where I was

Starting the day off in Warratah Bay, I set off for Walkerville, quickly realising that when I reached a boat ramp that I had made the same error as yesterday, namly not noticing on the map that the road was a dead end. The view was worth it, though:

Retracing my path, I motored through Tarwin Lower to Venus Bay, hoping for a scene that lived up to the place's name. Clearly Venus was not in a good mood, as memorable as the view was, it was anything but serene, with the wind blowing strongly and the waves pouding onto the shore.

Inverloch was riden through on the way to Cape Patterson, where the windswept dunes and crashing surf impounded a feeling of desoution into me. Wonthaggi was quickly behind me and I turned off the highway at Dalyston for a more enjoyable ride to Bass.

Sweeping hills, cliffs and overhanging trees lined the road for the first segment, before opening up onto a plain. Getting low on fuel, my destination was in sight - the Big Earthworm:

Spending far longer with it than it deserved, I rode a short stretch on the dual carriageway to Grantville for fuel, before turning eastwards for the road to Nyora.

It was at this stage I discovered just how bad my sense of direction was. Whilst the map I have may not contain every road on it, and not having a working odometer or speedometer and no watch makes it difficult to estimate distance covered, the biggest issue was the rider, who managed to completely lose any sense of direction.

I did find this bridge, however

This complete loss of sense meant that frequent doubling back, riding roundabout ways to cover short distances and generally far more distance than should have been necessary ensued.

And this tree

Reaching Nyora, I nearly ended my trip at that point by completely not seeing a 'Give Way' sign, carrying on through it and then noticing a ute and horse trailer enter it from the side about a second after I did. Gulp.

Highlight of the day came shortly after the near-premature end to the day. Riding down a dirt road, I turned a corner and found the road covered by ducks. Yes, ducks. Dozens of them, happily sitting in the middle of the road. By the time that I got my camera rady, most had disappeared, but a few considered reoccupying the road even before I had ridden off:

Moving on, my sense of direction failed once more and I eventuallyended up on the wrong main road heading in the wrong direction. On the positive side, my dirt track skills are now at a much higher level than they were before this trip, and I am happy riding at full throttle on most dirt roads, corrugations permitting.

Eventually reaching Lang Lang, which hadn't been my intended destination, I set off for Koo Wee Rup, choosing to rely on my instinct again. This time I wasn't too badly off, and the route taken, whilst not the intended one, did get me there. From Koo Wee Rup, it was a straight ride to Cranbourne and Frankston, where I hoped to find a campsite. Finding the information centre already closed, I bought provisions for the night, before finding a campsite in Chelsea, a southern suburb of Melbourne.

For the next couple of days I'll be in Melbourne, catching up with friends and generally enjoying what the city has to offer. I'll still be blogging when time permits.