The Mighty Murray!
Bike It In A Dress: Melbourne to Adelaide, Day 8
I left Coonalpyn this morning feeling pretty awesome. I’ve gotten a large portion of my journey out of the way, I’ve stayed at some great places, met some lovely people, and seen some beautiful sights.
I stopped at the Coonalpyn Silo Café for a coffee, and it’s the nicest one I’ve had on my trip so far — highly recommend! Had an interesting chat and bummed a ciggie from some lovely locals out the front.
From Coonalpyn the ride was still pretty flat, much like the trip from Bordertown to Coonalpyn the day before. I was swooped by a hell of a lot of magpies today, so my first reaction when I arrived at Tailem Bend and a wedge-tailed eagle flew over me and followed me for about 150 metres was to fear it was a magpie and cringe, but I realised pretty soon after that what was going on and had one of the moments of the entire trip. Just the sheer beauty of these birds… glorious!
The next moment of the trip wasn’t far away: as I pulled into Tailem Bend, on my left the houses cleared and I got my first glimpse of the Mighty Murray River, which I’ve never seen this far west before. I love the Murray River, I call it ‘home’ and feel a deep connection to it, so this was a wonderful moment in the trip when I struggled to control my emotions and my happiness at having made it this far.
When I pulled away from the river to continue my journey and bang! my trailer’s tyre blew out, I wasn’t even miffed. I was still on such a high from the eagle and the river that I simply replaced the tyre with a smile on my face and kept on rolling…
I stopped at this kitschy little pioneer village tourist attraction, mostly to gawk at the nice old vintage cars parked at the front. I grabbed a cold drink from the café/gift shop there and kept going.
It was at the turn-off to Murray Bridge that the highway becomes off-limits to cyclists, so I rode up the back road to Murray Bridge, crossed the Bridge itself and found the information centre in town. With no available free camping, and the thermometer showing over 30ºC, I decided to cycle for a little while looking for a place to camp on the sly, but ended up lodging at the Murray Bridge Marina & Caravan Park, who provided me a second night for free.
With tomorrow set aside for some R&R, fishing and not much else, I made camp and settled down for the evening…
Follow the journey
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Prologue — Media coverage in “The Courier”: Ballarat father of two preparing for ride of a lifetime...in a dress!
A bit of media coverage this morning went a long way to help drum up some awareness of my ride. Big thanks to The Courier for the article.
- Day 1
Up the hills!
I arrived at the Royal Exhibition Centre in Carlton this morning with no small amount of nervous trepidation, as well as some weary eyes, after catching the 0520 train with my partner, Danielle. We said goodbye with a big hug at Southern Cross Station, and I rode from there to Carlton, and parked at the big fountain to the south of the Exhibition Centre.
- Day 2
The second departure
Slept in slightly, then as I was leaving from home and not coming back, needed to double-check that everything was packed into the trailer and the gear was all ready to go.
- Day 3
Horsham
I awoke early this morning to the sound of kookaburras laughing, and then cockatoos having a screaming match, so much better than an alarm clock! I love the bush!! Enjoyed a beautiful sunrise through the gum trees as I packed up camp and had a muesli breakfast.
- Day 4
Dimboola
I started this morning in the worst possible way — disaster struck my rear axle. I snapped the ‘Burley Balls’ rear axle bolt, which was made out of cheap Chinesium, as I went to depart the Darlot Motor Inn! I was devastated — this could easily have been the end of the adventure right there.
- Day 5
The silent ‘h’ in Nhill
Today was a very hard day. It started off nice enough — awoke to kookaburras and cockatoos once again, and as I packed up my hammock I saw a little possum mother climbing the tree my hammock was on, with its baby on its back — unfortunately, the possums had also taken the liberty to piss and shit all over my tarps during the night.
- Day 6
Watching Toby get chewed up and spat out by a Tiger
After the hard day yesterday, today was brilliant! Awoke refreshed, with not a lot of distance to cover to finish off Leg 4 — about 40 km to Bordertown, SA. I left Kaniva early and headed out for the border between Victoria and South Australia at Serviceton.
- Day 7
A hangover to Coonalpyn
I woke up this morning with a bit of a hangover, but nothing too bad, and got my laundry done pretty early. I wandered around town for a while, checking out the Bordertown train station, a stop for the Overland Train I’ll be taking back to Melbourne this coming Friday.
- Day 8
The Mighty Murray!
I left Coonalpyn this morning feeling pretty awesome. I’ve gotten a large portion of my journey out of the way, I’ve stayed at some great places, met some lovely people, and seen some beautiful sights.
- Day 9
Resting in Murray Bridge
Today was scheduled as a rest and recovery day, to allow me to a) recover from the past eight day’s journey, and b) rest in preparation for tomorrow, which might turn out to be the hardest day’s ride yet.
- Day 10
Pushing beyond the limit, and arriving in Adelaide
Today’s ride was by far the toughest, most gruelling bicycle ride I’d ever undertaken, and pushed my body to limits I hadn’t exceeded for more than ten years.
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Epilogue — Media coverage in “The Courier”: Ryan Moore bikes in a dress to raise money for girls charity
A bit of media coverage this morning went a long way to help drum up some awareness of my ride. Big thanks to The Courier for the article.