We packed lightly and flew to Adelaide to begin the ride. A couple mates supported us by driving the cars, doing the grocery shopping, checking into the hotels, and everything else in-between. There are quicker ways to get to Sydney from Adelaide, but this roadtrip wasn’t about getting from point A to point B. We didn’t ride the entire way from Adelaide to Sydney, but rather cherry picked some of the best roads along the route to discover some of the areas we’ve always heard about and wanted to ride. Adelaide to Sydney is about 1900kms, but we’ll have only done 900 of that.
You don’t need to go all the way to Europe to find some spectacular riding. Australia has some of the most beautiful riding I’ve ever experienced and we got to see even more of it this week. Many of the best roads we cycled are within a short drive or ride from where many of us live. The Adelaide hills were just magic. The town of Strathalbyne was stunning. The Coorong Salt Flats along the Murray were alien. Riding into the seaside town of Robe was one of the highlights. The Grampians reminded me that I need to visit there far more often. The Victorian Alps lived up to being one of my favorite places in the world. The biggest surprise was the road Benambra-Cooryong Rd from Omeo to Cooryong. There was about 60kms of gravel but it was well maintained and through some of the most increadible and remote countryside I’ve seen in Australia. Cooryong to Tumut is equally spectcular. As I write this we haven’t quite finished the ride, but I have more than enough photos to show off what we’ve done so far.
This roadtrip didn’t have a higher purpose such as raising money or awareness for charity. It was simply a few mates setting out to ride some of the roads less travelled, smash each other when the opportunity arised, and do something slightly different than we’d usually do on Melbourne Cup long weekend. I hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did ours.
-
- Little Italy. Probably one of the most beautiful places to ride in Australia. And it’s a stone throw away from Adelaide CBD
-
- The vineyards in Adelaide Hills
-
- Coorong National Park, South Australia
-
- Riding the gravé along the Coorong Salt Flats, South Australia.
-
- Half-wheeling, showing off the quads, and smashing one another.
-
- The gravel roads sometimes take you places you’d never otherwise visit
-
- (left) Quite an entertaining story about our hotel owner’s father and a few of his mates who decided to ride from Robe to Melbourne (without any experience) and took them 83hrs.
-
- Finishing the day at the oceanside village of Robe. Stunning.
-
- Gangnam Style
-
- Lake Bellfield near Halls Gap in the Grampians
-
- Gravel Roads outside of Ballan, Victoria
-
- (bottom left) Blue Lake in Mount Gambier, South Australia and (bottom right) Larry the Lobster in the town of Kingston. Many country towns in Australia have notable “Big Things.” such as a big penguin, pineapple, banana….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia’s_big_things
-
- The Victorian Alps near the top of Mt Hotham
