Day 5: Heaven and Hell

Route: Warrnambool-Childers Cove-Bay of Islands-Bay of Martyrs-The Grotto-Twelve Apostles-Lauer's Hill-Apollo Bay
Distance covered: TBC (I forgot to check before uploading this)

Today's instalment of my scootering epic was witness to both fantastic stretches of road, as well as periods of Hell for both my faithful companion and me.

After what was a relatively warm night (that is, I didn't wake from the cold), I chatted with David and Dorothy, my campsite neighbours, for a while, before setting off for the Great Ocean Road, apparently one of the best motorcycling stretches in the world. First stop, however, was the Warrnambool breakwater:

For the uninitiated, the first stretch of the west-east route runs through farmland, rather than along the ocean. At the first opportunity to detour, I did to take in Childers Cove.

Back on the main road, I continued on, stopping at each of the vantage points overlooking the ocean, taking in sights such as the Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs, the Grotto and the Twelve Apostles (below):

As I was leaving the chaotic scenes of the Twelve Apostles - thousands of tourists everywhere - I had a chat with the couple alongside whose Yamaha 1200 I had parked. Having chosen to set out for Apollo Bay for the day, they managed to plant enough seeds of doubt about what I would likely encounter if I did so - too many people, essentially the same as in Warrnambool. They were staying in Johanna, which is apparently far quieter. As they seemed like decent people, and I like decent people, and decent people usually have good taste, I would have stayed there, were it not for the fact that tomorrow is going to be in the high 30s and both my scooter and I want to avoid too much riding in such weather.

The other factor that swayed me against staying in Johanna was the Great Ocean Road. Contrary to what the name may suggest, a lot of it doesn't actually run along the coast, but goes through the hilly hinterland. And by 'hilly', I mean mountainous for a 50cc scooter, already carrying a big guy and a load of luggage.

Whilst I can appreciate the riding pleasure on a larger machine along the road, only the downhill stretches were any fun. The uphill legs were, shall we say, torture for both rider and mount. Mentally in the first instance, physically in the latter. I had expected some hills, but nothing like this.

No need to tell me - to reduce implies that there was speed to begin with...

Over the bulk of the hills and approaching Johanna, I looked westwards, saw more hills, thought about the weather forecast for tomorrow and pushed on.

I'll write more about the ride another time, as I'm sitting in the campsite laundry writing this tonight.

Arriving in Apollo Bay, the first campsite was fully booked, the second had one spot free, which I took. 'Spot' in the loose sense. I am camping between the local football oval and a dirt track, next to the main road. It could be a fun night tonight.

Anyway, that's day five. More on the pleasures of riding the Great Ocean Road another time.

Tonight's picture is dedicated to my scooter, which has performed magnificently today, screaming downhill, outrunning most cars on its tail on a couple of occasions when the mood took and slogging hard uphill. All without missing a beat.