Portland, Victoria

Our arrival into Adelaide was the first day of an 8 day heat wave - the first ever recorded in South Australia in Nov.  The few days were in the upper 90s and the last half were over 100.  Much of our time that week consisted of riding in cars and soaking up air conditioning.  We spent one day walking around the city and spent a few hours in the air-conditioned South Australia Museum.  They had an excellent exhibit on Aboriginal culture including original works of art and spears, boomerangs, baskets, and shields that were used by the different tribes across the continent.  One day David and Noelene took us for a drive into the Adelaide Hills - east of the city.  We went to Mt. Lofty - the highest point in SA and then to Hahndorf - the oldest German city in Australia.  We did some window shopping and had a nice coffee and bienenstich (cream cake with a carmelized topping) at the German Cafe.  We went to a conservation park just outside the city and saw our first koala bear.  It was sleeping in the nook of a tree - a good thing to do on such a hot day!  David and Noelene's friend got our bikes back in working order for only $20 and a 6 pack of beer.  Quite a deal!

We were thinking we might head south a short distance (somewhere we could get to by mid-am) for a change in scenery.  We had met Ian and Annie, who live in McLaren Vale (wine country south of Adelaide), in Coffin Bay so we decided to give them a ring.  They were back home and invited us down.  We rode all 30km to McLaren Vale on a bike path.  It was awesome!  We totally avoided all the highway traffic out of the city and had a quiet ride through the country.  Ian and Annie own a winery called Pertaringa - we got a tour of the vineyard and did a tasting at the cellar door.  We learned a lot about the whole process and had a good time sampling.  Then they invited us down to Penola (SE of Adelaide - N of Mt Gambier) for the weekend to their Black Angus cattle farm.  Oh and by the way, they would trailer our bikes down and we could start from there.  What a prospect - get out of the heat and closer to the coast.  We took them up on it.  I won't go into details about the weekend because it's too much but we had a great time to say the least.  We were both feeling a little surreal about it - we had talked to these folks about 5 min in Coffin Bay before they invited us to their home and the generosity just kept rolling from there. Truly amazing and wonderful people!

So instead of leaving from Penola, they dropped us in Robe on their way back home.  Robe is about 200km SE of Adelaide along the coast (just south of Kingston SE - if you're looking at a map).  There were several conservation parks along the coast we wanted to check out.  We camped in 2 of them - both were nestled behind beach berms protected from the wind and a short walk to the beach.  Great birding as well.

Which brings us to Portland...We are staying with Dale and his family.  We met Dale back in WA - he took 8 mos and biked "Around" Australia - he left here the end of March, made his way anticlockwise around the continent (and to outlying points) and arrived back almost 2 wks ago.  They have been great hosts and he showed us his beautiful surroundings today.  The highlights were a Gannett (sea bird) colony and a fur seal colony.

Our trip has definitely taken a more relaxed pace now - our assisted rides have taken off the pressure to keep moving.  Mornings are more leisurely and include some birding and we stop when we find a good place to camp.  It was strange being off the bikes for a week - we missed the groove of being on the rd and not knowing what the day will bring.  Our bodies had to readjust as well - it's amazing how quickly you lose the conditioning.  If feels good to be under our own power again and we are looking forward to following the coast along Victoria and the famed Great Ocean Rd. 

News flash!!! Pictures have been posted.  Click on the "Our Pictures" link on the left side of the blog page and it will take you to the photos.  Just a taste for now....