After the full program in Tasmania, we did not mind lounging around on the ferry and waiting for our return to the mainland.

From the port of Geelong, we were still a day’s ride away from the former gold mining town of Ballarat, where we were looking forward to a long break! We were able to spend the nights with our Warmshower hosts Adam and Claire, which was an extraordinary stroke of luck. We felt at home in their very tasteful home surrounded by forest and were greeted with a wonderful dinner in great company. Many thanks to Adam & Claire! During the days, we visited the beautiful city, ran a few errands, took care of organizational matters and spent a lot of time doing nothing😊. At the end of our stay, another Warmshower user invited us on his professional city tour. Jarrod had places left on his tour and took us on a walk through the hidden alleys of Ballarat together with two American women. A great experience with lots of exciting, humorous and friendly stories from the wild days of the gold rush!

With many positive impressions and new strength in our legs, we left Ballarat heading west. As soon as we had passed the last shopping centers, our eyes wandered over the vastness of the horizon until, after 300 kilometers, the outline of the Grampians National Park appeared. This area had been closed from December to February due to fierce forest fires, so we prepared ourselves for a sad picture of burnt tree trunks and the smell of smoke. But many of the scorched trees were already recovering, with fresh leaves shooting straight out of the trunks!

In the unharmed northern part of the park, we undertook a short hike to Pinnacle Lookout, from where we had a view of the surrounding plains. The next morning, we left the mountains behind us and pedaled through these plains with huge, brown, harvested grain fields. A strong tailwind made the ride under the vast sky not only impressive, but also really enjoyable! A great supporting program was the visit to the artistically painted grain silos along the Silo Art Trail. What began in 2016 on the initiative of an artist in Brim quickly caught on. Many villages in the rural grain-growing region of the Wimmera decided to have their silos decorated and attract a few tourists to their area with this outdoor art gallery..

We quickly approached the border with South Australia. However, there is still something to report from our last morning in Victoria: we cannot emphasize often enough how friendly, open-minded and welcoming we experience the Australians! However, there is a small proportion of convinced bicycle haters among them. They make it clear to us with varying degrees of effort what they think of us. The simplest variant is to raise your middle finger from the steering wheel instead of your index finger and turn your wrist slightly to greet us. That message is unmistakable. It takes a little more effort to press the horn long and hard, shout out of the window or overtake us extra close. We think it’s worth mentioning the special effort that two people went to on the morning in question.

From the rear window of a slowly overtaking car, someone showed us their naked butt. Oops! Whoever owns this hairy, pale man’s ass: sorry, it wasn’t a pretty sight! Just a few kilometers further on, an oncoming policeman started shouting at us from his police car. We didn’t understand anything, but the tone of voice was not benevolent. Shortly afterwards, he turned over the double safety line to force us off the road coming from behind. He yelled at us that we couldn’t be seen well enough, that we should ride with our lights on and wear more conspicuous colors. For our safety! Without giving us the opportunity to react, he zoomed off in his dark gray car… without lights, of course😉. Fortunately, stories like this are rare and don’t spoil the fun of traveling in Australia!

With the friendly support of the tailwind, we also made excellent progress in South Australia. Near the Murray River, the landscape was dominated by huge, intensively cultivated fruit plantations. Where there was no irrigation, the fields were dust-dry, as it had hardly rained in this region for a year. Despite the effortless sections of the route, we didn’t get bored due to a few small bike punctures: practically daily flat tires made a change of tires unavoidable. A rusty dent in the frame where my kickstand is attached had to be treated with nail polish. From now on, my loaded bike has to be leaned on or put down… And then a brake spring broke, meaning that only my front brakes work properly.  But fortunately, this doesn’t matter in this flat country😊. Oh yes, and the rear derailleur on my bike is so worn that dirt is getting in and we have to clean the spring over and over again.

Planning and shopping for supplies for the coming weeks also kept us busy. From Loxton, we had to carry 17 kg of supplies in our bags over the weekend before packing everything up on Monday and taking it to the post office in Burra.

The very next day we stocked up again at the last major supermarket on our route in Jamestown. We had already covered the route between Jamestown and Parachilna in the opposite direction in November. The view of the Flinders Ranges was great the second time too. The last time we visited the Parachilna Hotel, we were allowed to have a coffee before the official opening hours. Back then, we had agreed that if we ever came back here, we would treat ourselves to dinner. The very tastefully decorated hotel is known for its emu, kangaroo and camel meat specialties. Said and done! Although we went a little over budget, it was a unique opportunity and the ferral platter tasted delicious😊.

From Parachilna (no permanent residents) we rode the good asphalt road from one small settlement to the next: Lyndhurst (3 residents), Leigh Creek (91 residents), Coupley (83 residents) to Marree (65 residents). This is where the paved road ends…
Although Marree lies on the edge of the outback and is the starting point for many tours through and into the desert, there is not much going on. There is a roadhouse with a petrol station, post office and general store as well as a typical hotel. We end the afternoon in the bar under the stuffed buffalo head and toast to the route we’ve covered and the road ahead…

This post was written on April 5, 2025 and published on April 19, 2025.