The Grand Adventure

A bike trip with no end Read more

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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Orbost via Salmon Rocks
March 23, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
Pack up somewhat grudgingly as the location is great but have minimal food. Spot a few Roos on the way out. Stop and explore Salmon Rocks. Tempted to snorkel but it feels too chilly. Continue onward along the relatively flat coast. Stop at Marlo for some lunch and then down into the farmland. Arrive in Orbost - a tiny town with a good supermarket.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
East Gippsland rail trail
March 24, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Cloudy morning and again get a late start. Load up on food and baked goods and head off to our first Australian tail trail. Path varies in quality but a nice change from the road. Mist ensues but not too bad. Arrive in Nowa Nowa and opt to stop. Nice, eccentric caravan park.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Paynesville
March 25, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Longer yet flatter day awaits us. Get an earlyish start and hit the rail trail. Pass an impressive trestle bridge and run into fellow cyclists. Hop off the trail for a bit and find ourselves amongst a lot of cows. Back on the trail meet up with a few kangaroos. Stop for lunch and finish off the trail on smooth asphalt. Pass through busy town of Bairnsdale and then onto Paynesville. First caravan park is full so end up in a somewhat deserted one.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Raymond Island & Koalas
March 26, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Sleep in as it’s a day off of riding. Return to town for breakfast out before catching the very short ferry to Raymond Island where koala sightings are “guaranteed”. Sure enough one is spotted tight by the ferry. Over next few hours, stare upwards into the eucalyptus trees and spot 30+! Most are high up, lounging on small tree limbs. A few are more active but all very cute! Take our tired necks back across the waterway and lounge about ourselves. A very successful outing!Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Long ride to Sale
March 27, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Another cloudy day but a flat day awaits us - albeit long. Lots of cows and sheep and not much else. Hard to even find a place for lunch. Find our way to caravan park in Sale. Not even a picture to mark the day (took one the next morning)Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Yarram
March 28, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
Sun is back! Nice start along a river on a bike path. Less cows and more forest. See another echidna and a live copperhead crossing the road. Arrive in Yarram - a little town with some historic character.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Great Southern Rail Trail
March 29, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Into the wind we go along the Great Southern rail trail. Nice surface but the exposed sections are rough. Pass through small towns; Welshpool, Toora ( great Italian deli) and Fish Creek (fun sculpture garden) before popping off the trail and get back on the road. A short ride to Tarwin Lower but nowhere to stay. Continue on to Venus Beach and check into a cabin in the caravan park.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Bass Coast trail to Phillip Island
March 30, 2025 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 19 °C
Very windy night and it persists - though thankfully, in our favor. Another long day but a tailwind certainly helps. Sadly spot many dead animals. Come into a supposed koala area and lo and behold, Doug spots one. Towns are getting bigger as we get closer to Melbourne. Hop on Bass Coast trail and make our way to the southern coast, across the bridge and onto Phillip Island. Cross the island - and check in to caravan park ( with a few minutes to spare. Offices tend to close at 5:00).Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
A day of wildlife
March 31, 2025 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 18 °C
Very windy, still. Start the day with a little walk along the northern beach. Much calmer than the southern side. Ride to the Koala Conservancy and get up close to them as we walk along the raised boardwalks. Return to the campsite and attempt to arrange an Uber to take us to penguin parade. This does not work, so spend the next hour trying to figure out a cab - which we ultimately do. Arrive at very crowded and touristy site and find our seats and wait in the wind for the little blue penguins to come ashore in rafts (groups).
So cute as they tentatively leave the ocean and make a beeline across the sand to get to their nests. Able to see them close up in the dunes as well. No photos allowed.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
A ferry ride, cycleways and Melbourne
April 1, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Early morning departure as we need to catch the 8:30 ferry to Stony Point - back on the mainland. Head north through small towns and eventually hit beautiful cycleways along the roads and railways. Cross over to the coastline (on a bay) and continue towards Melbourne. Nice protected paths almost all the way to Mansion Hostel. Check in and head out into town. Wander around the city a bit and have Mexican food and gelato.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Melbourne Day 1
April 2, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Beautiful day though morning chill reminds us that it is fall. Wander about with little direction. Visit Fitzroy gardens, Cricket Club and sports fields and the Southbank of the Yarra River. Very busy city but it also seems on the small size. Back to hostel for dinnerRead more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
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Melbourne Day 2
April 3, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Go off in separate directions for awhile. Check out Carlton Gardens, Carlton neighborhood (very Italian), and University of Melbourne before staring at Queen Victoria Market. The variety of food and goods was somewhat overwhelming. Eat Borek for lunch and get fresh fish for dinner. Meet up and head south of Yarra river and explore Royal Botanical gardens. Quite the collection of native and nonnative plants trees. Head back through quite the elaborate war memorials. Check out one of our local pubs before making our dinner.Read more
Traveler Ohh I remember this too
4/8/25Reply
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Melbourne Day 3
April 4, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Cool and cloudy so we head indoors to get some culture. Check out the National Gallery of Victoria: Australia. Great collection of Australian art from the last 200+ years. From there do some shopping at a very large outlet mall, refuel with gelato and return ‘home’. Not a big picture day.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Back to the coast
April 5, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Load up and head down to Docklands to catch the ferry to Geelong. Sunday but a rad bit cool. Speed along (saving us a day of riding). Arrive and then a short ride to Torquay. Take a walk along the coast before getting dinner supplies.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
A walk along the coast
April 6, 2025 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 19 °C
Set off on a hike along the coastal walk. Watching surfers riding very large waves. Though it is somewhat sunny, cool temperatures and strong wind make swimming impossible. Do manage to get toes in and the water is about as warm (20 C) as the air. Return to campground and have nice salmon dinner.Read more
TravelerCoast is beautiful! Wow
4/9/25Reply
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
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On to the Great Ocean Road)
April 7, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Day start’s annoyingly as someone had stolen my towel from the bathroom during the night. Pack up and head out into grey morning. Though we start on the busy GOR, veer off into the countryside. Spot a few Roos before rejoining the big road. Stop at overwhelming chocolate factory. Short stop for lunch, gazing at the ocean. Arrive in Lorne and check into campground.Read more
Traveler I remember this sign!
4/8/25Reply
Helene Rimberg Glad it’s not all just a blur!
4/8/25Reply
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
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Bushwalk in Great Otway NP
April 8, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
After breakfast, walk up out of town to start of our bush walk in the Great Otway NP. Quickly the trees get tall as we leave the ocean behind. Very dry path. “Phantom Falls” isn’t even a trickle. Walk through the narrow Canyon and then enter a wetter part of the bush. Next set of falls actually has some water. Continue along St George river - searching for platypuses. No luck. But do see a koala as we walk back along coast to town. Nice pizza dinner!Read more
Traveler Please tell me that is NOT what it looks like.
4/12/25Reply
Helene Rimberg What does it look like?
4/13/25Reply
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Skenes Creek
April 9, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Short day planned so no rush getting out. Allowed the sun to warm the air up. Head out along the GOR. The road is narrow and twisty and clings to the rocks. Fortunately, traffic is light. Beautiful coastline. Stop to seek out koalas on a nature walk. Do spot one there and then one hanging out in a tree by the road. Arrive in Skenes creek. Check out beautiful beach, rocks and tide pools. Sun sadly disappears behind clouds and it gets cool again.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
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UP to Beauchamp Falls
April 10, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
A very large hill awaits us as we bid farewell to the ocean and head inland, momentarily off the GOR. A steady climb of almost 10 miles and we are at 1800 ft - highest thus far in Australia. Turn on to Turtons track and wind along a very narrow forest. Trees start off very tall but then get shorter as we hit a plateau and area of a lot of logging. Turn on to our gravel road and go down a bit to Beauchamp Falls campground. Set up and then take the short walk to beautiful falls. A few other campers join us, but it’s very quiet!Read more
Hannah Boe Cute 🍄🍄
4/12/25Reply
Traveler Beautiful.
4/18/25Reply
Traveler Love this picture
4/20/25Reply
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
DOWN to the coast
April 11, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
One of those rare days with more down than up planned. Wake up to a wet cloud hovering over us. Manage to dry off before setting out. Ride through the farm land until we hit Lavers Hill and the return to the GOR. Fast and winding descent! Opt for a dirt road along the estuary. All is fine until the road is flooded. Attempt to ride through but hit a deep spot and tumble in. Oh well almost to Princeton and campground. Surrounded by kangaroos and wallabies!Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
AWEsome coast line
April 12, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Our Roo friends have joined us in the campground overnight. Takes a bit to dry everything (lots of condensation) but a bright sun helps. Short ride to first look out over the 12 Apostles. Make many stops, taking the short walks to catch incredible views. Many tourists ‘blocking the views’ with their selfie taking. Stop in Port Campbell and have lunch with a father- daughter pair riding across Australia. Opt to only go a bit farther and stay in Peterborough. Take a short walk to the local beach and watch the surf.Read more
TravelerTruly awesome!
4/20/25Reply
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
50 miles of cows
April 13, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Morning oddly warm and there is a strong wind from the north. What should have been an easy, flat ride became challenging as we battled the wind. Scenery doesn’t help as it’s a lot of cows and sheep - though a few camels and alpacas break up the monotony. Arrive in Warrnambool and ponder our options. Decide to keep going to Port Fairy. Much less wind! Wash off the road grime and bugs and get some food.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
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Griffiths Island & Port Fairy
April 14, 2025 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 18 °C
Rest day. Head into town for very nice breakfast. Sun is out but wind is cool. Put more clothes on and wander over to the beach and Griffiths Island. Walk around it, spying many underground bird nests and a few wallabies. Apparently the shearwaters (mutton birds) come back here every spring to mate and then fly to Alaska for their summer. Hang out for the rest of the day at the beach, hunkered behind rocks to stay out of the wind.Read more
Traveler Yummy!
4/19/25Reply
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Portland?!
April 15, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Sunny and relatively calm day. Head off on very busy Princes Highway. Though we have ridden a lot of it since Sydney, it seems particularly busy with trucks. Do spot quite a number of koalas on our way. Early arrival, check in and wander into Portland - a relatively busy port town. Back for a very nice lasagna dinner.Read more
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The Grand Adventure Helene Rimberg
Glenelg National Park
April 17, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
Depart from Portland, taking what we thought would be a quieter road. Unfortunately, if was a logging route and main thoroughfare for trucks in general. Do spot almost 10 koalas along the road, swinging in their trees. Finally pull off big road and head down a rough track into Glenelg park. Fortunately the road improves and we cruise into our campsite. Take a quick dip in the chilly river. Wait a bit too long to start dinner and have to fend off the possums. They eventually knock our Brussel Sprouts over but we protect our lasagna. Nice fire helps to keep them at bay.Read more
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