Sunday, December 30, 2007

DAY 86: Moe to Rosedale

71km @ 14.6 km/hr
Sun 30th December 2007
Distance to date 5529 km (3456 miles)
Cool morning, v.warm afternoon, moderate E wind

Awoke to Magpie singing at it’s best, then away soon after 8. It always seems to take well over the hour to get packed up. I wasn’t sure where I was going to end up today; a magical mystery tour. There isn’t a great deal to see for me around here, so I’ll just wander around a bit and see what happens.
As I cycled out of Moe I saw a sign for a Moe to Yallourn Rail Trail so that looked kind of interesting - what a job I had actually finding it though. I thing some of the signs have been taken away because I only eventually found it by accident, and then the trail was at the bottom of a steep embankment reached via a narrow and overgrown path. To be honest it wasn’t worth the effort - dead straight coarse gravelly trail, no views except of lots of fly-tipped waste, and then after 3km the way was completely blocked by a large fallen tree and no way to get around it without unloading everything and dragging it all through. This tree has been there for some time by the looks of it - in short this is an unloved and uncared for facility.
I managed to find the Yallourn road again and continued through green and pleasant enough countryside, passing Yallourn (coal-fired) Power Station on the way. There is also a huge open-cast coalfield nearby. Yallouarn and Tyers seem to be satellite towns to the power generation industry and have little of interest to offer the visitor from what I saw. Much of the land around here is given to beef / dairy farming, including Aberdeen Angus herds. I watched as 2 horses were exercised in a kind of towable buggy as per pic - I haven’t seen this before. Traffic was light, road surface good, so I quite enjoyed soft-pedalling away.
I could have stayed on this road and gone on to Heyfield and Maffra, but not having uploaded for a few days I decided to try my luck for internet access on a Sunday in Traralgon - and sure enough the TIC had a mchine. (This is another power statio near Traralgon.)

However it took a lot of work and goodwill on the part of the 2 assistants to get me going since at first the drives could not be displayed. One of the young ladies managed to sort it out though thankfully; it seemed that some settings had been made to prevent the public accessing areas of the computer where they shouldn’t go. In fact it turned out to be a very fast connection once up and running - I’ve noticed that connection speeds here in Victoria are faster than elsewhere in Australia.

On checking e-mail I had several from people with advice on the saddle sores - thanks for this everyone, I shall follow some of the advice.
By the time I had finished at the TIC, queued at Subway, and ate the purchase, it was nearer 4 than 3, and I went back to the TIC to ask about possibilities for Caravan Parks east of here. None until Sale apparently, which is 50km and too far on a hot afternoon with a headwind. The assistant was so very helpful though; undeterred she telephoned someone whom she thought might know more, and sure enough I learnt of a council rest / recreation area about 20km east at Rosedale. So off I set again; traffic was very heavy as I was back on Highway 1 again, but there is a good wide shoulder for much of the way so no big deal.
I found a caravan park of sorts (a faded “Rosedale caravan park” sign by the entrance), and it was at the end of a bridge as the man had told us, but I was sure it wasn’t the right place - this place looked like a home for drop-outs with mangey dogs and rusty scrap metal all over the place. No thanks, especially for $19.

About 3 more km down the road I found the site recommended to me, and it was lovely - lush green grass, no litter whatsoever, neat and tidy, and on the banks of the Latrobe River - just the job, and free of course. There are no signs saying that camping is allowed, but the TIC man had confirmed it was OK, so it’s obviously a well-kept secret. In fact only one other couple stayed the night here, and it was indeed marked in their book of Oz camping areas as an overnighter. I got chatting with the same couple for an hour or so, and the husband, Brian, made us all a banana and cream pudding which was nice.
Saw this colourful beetle in a tree near where I was pitched.
I shall probably take off again in the morning and spend New Years Eve in Sale or a little beyond, which is only a 30km + ride - unless I decide to spend another night here in this little oasis. There’s also a sizeable flock of Little Corellas stationed here (or are they Sulphur Crested Cockatoos?). I still haven’t seen them close enough to decide which.

Pic of Latrobe River adjacent to where I was camped. I really recommend this camping area - lovely! Thanks to the Rosedale Community for keepimng it this way. There are toilets (very clean portable loos) but no water, although I didn't look too hard as I had plenty.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The little colourfull bug is a "stink beetle" If you are tempted to do the wrong thing n sqash it you would soon know why they are so called. DON'T DO IT! ;-)