Another restart but without the trauma.
One is always a bit unsure on what to expect from a new country on the first day of cycling. It is true that this is not the real first day as I cycled from the airport to town but it sort of feels like it.
The guys in the dorm were out of the room by 8:00 and I was not planning to leave before then, this meant that I did not have to do the preparations on the tippy toes and I am almost sure I did not leave anything behind. The same cannot be said for my departing New Zealand, the inflatable pillow is m.i.a. so I suspect Adam will find it somewhere at some point.
Cycling out of Melbourne meant going through south Melbourne so i revisited some of the places I had seen on Saturday only this time, with the bicycle I indulged myself and rode on the loop inside Albert Park also known as the strip of tarmac where the Australia Grand Prix is held every year.
Like all the other road races it is quite difficult to think of super fast F1 cars going through these roads when you see small cars locked in a traffic jam on them, in this case it looks like they are making an extra effort to camouflage the track by painting the curbs green when they are red and white for the grand prix.
Not to far from Albert Park there is the suburb of St Kilda which, as well as for the Aussie Rule Football club, is famous for the historic funfair called the Luna Park. I stopped just long enough to take the picture, it was early in the day and I was unsure how fast I would have progressed.
It turns out I progressed really fast, overall covering just over 60 miles in 4 hours. This was helped by an egg and bacon bun, two flat whites and a mixed berries muffin. I really need to retrain my brain when I am in my next inter-cycle phase as this crap eating cannot be good for me.
The route offered really little in the way of scenery. The coast part, all the way to Frankston was nice enough but the most impressive thing was the amount of joggers and cyclists, rather than a dramatic coastline.
I know it’s early in the trip to draw conclusion but it feels a little bit like to fit in Australian society you have to be fit. What I mean is that I suspect unfitness might be seen here as invasion of privacy is seen in the UK or requesting privacy is seen in Italy.
Anyway got to the campsite, which is not that fab but it will do. Sun has now set and I’m toying with the idea of lighting up a fire, not completely sure I can be bothered, might just read in the comfort of my now fully fixed tent.