Day 7 - Ahhh Victoria the land of decent shoulders and confronting road signs

Today began for me with the soothing sound of log trucks screaming through Alfred National Park at 4AM in the morning, all I can say is that my alarm seems like a pin drop in comparison. Like every other day I some how managed to detach myself from the sleeping bag, awake Adam (I'm needing less and less effort each time), pack up camp and scoff some muesli. I decided given the frequency of log trucks passing at high speeds I would hold off starting until it was light.

Log trucks are not fun to confront on a bike :o(

The first leg of the day was to Cann River, a nice easy run of 23km. The first half was pretty bad, consisting of windey hills and narrow roads throughout the national park, but Adam kindly tailed me through this rough patch (He saw how the log trucks drove through there too). Once at Cann River I demolished some toast and tea and moved onto the next leg, which at a short 19km winded up in National Park again. The following leg was a different story...

Cann River Pub

Due to a lack of rest stops the third leg had been set at 35km, distance wise this would not be bad at all however the hills were horrible!!! Once I had finally made it 20km into the leg I received a message from Adam saying the following:

Hey it is a bit further than google said. It is about 38-39 km. The area is signposted well. See you soon XXX

At that stage I had over come many hills, ducked into the bushed, had a drink and was feeling fantastic. Phhht whats another 3km I thought, and went on my way. It would have been about the time I was meant to arrive at the originally planned distance where I decided I was really quite pooped tackling all the hills (yes I had more) only to look up to see a sign saying "Rest Stop 5km". Firstly I would like to say from the point of view of a cyclist that's just mean as 5km in a 35-40km hilly leg is a long way. Secondly I would like to say that I did not appreciate the sign directly behind it saying "Mt Something State Forest" (Clearly I only paid attention to the Mt bit of that sign. As sure as my luck would have it the next 4.5km were up, and up and up some more and boy had I well and truly had enough. However I made it!!! To be greeted by darling Adam standing by ready to make me a Tuna Sandwich with the last piece of my Gluten Free Bread.

The last leg in to Orbost was easy and filled with paddocks and rolly-poly hills which seemed like mosquito bites in comparison to the earlier leg, I would however have hated to do that leg on a hot day as it was very exposed. Once I arrived at the intended camp site I was informed that we couldn't camp there anymore so instead we drove into town and booked into the Orbost caravan park. This was a fantastic decision as it meant I could finally wash, 4 days of cycling and camping with no shower was getting a bit much.

Munchies while playing cards, organic cheese flavored corn chips... ummmmo

So far the evenings activities have consisted of the already mentioned showers, playing cards and table tennis as well as a very unsuccessful hunt for gluten free bread as I have none left :( ....

Before I end I just wanted to share some observation of the day. The first is one I have recently discovered and really should have worked out sooner and that is the "Over Taking Lane" signs. In a car you always get so excited about these signs as it means you can get in front of that darn truck which has been slowing you down, well today I learned that cyclists should dread these as they indicate an uphill which is long enough and steep enough for the potential energy of a logging truck which comes screaming down the down hill before not to be enough to get up the other side, translation is it means work, lots of it. Second observation is those cute Vic Roads signs warding people off unsafe driving habits such as not resting, these read slogans like:

Sleepy? Power nap now!

A micro sleep can kill in seconds

and my favorite...

Drowsy Drivers Die

I hope you are all well.

Stay on the flat.