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The Great Southern Rail Trail

Stumbling into a little gem.

All in all not a bad day, as the song say “ain’t got no rain”. Getting out of Inverloch was a bit weird as it appeared as if nobody was around.

Inverloch rush hour

Inverloch rush hour

I’ve decided that I’m going to keep a tally of the animal I see, or better, the ones I am not seeing. So today we had:

  • Kangaroo: 0
  • Koala Bear: 0
  • Fox: 2 (one alive one dead)
  • Wombat: 4 (all dead)
  • Snakes: 0 (phew)

Hopefully the stats will get better in days to come.

Route 3,038,356 – powered by www.bikemap.net

 

After the first 20 miles, at the point I was getting really famished, I got to Fish Creek, the place I had eyed up on the map for breakfast. It was nearly 10 so I decided to have brunch instead with a big mama burger.  I also did a bit of food shopping including a four pack of 250ml V.

After that I did a bit of map reading as today I was aiming to make up some of the ground I lost yesterday, by chance I discovered there was a bike trail just skirting Fish Creek and it was an easy choice to get onto it especially as I discovered it was a ex railway trail.

Getting on the Trail at Fish Creek

Getting on the Trail at Fish Creek

Trailtiquette

Trailtiquette

The obvious benefit of rail trails is that they tend not to have major gradient change, this however, I learned during the rest of the day that this might be less of a concern in Australia than it was in New Zealand.

The Great Southern Rail Trail is “More than just a stroll in the park” and yet it was nowhere near as taxing as the other rail trails I have cycled in New Zealand. I kept a keen eye out for the ever so elusive Koala Bears but, despite the abundance of eucalyptus trees, I saw none.

New bridge, old bridge.

New bridge, old bridge.

Foster Station

Foster Station

The trail came to its natural end in Welshpool and I took the opportunity to stop for lunch. I was by now just past 50% of what I had planned to cycle today and it was just 13:30.

After lunch I picked up some speed, despite the same gradient, cycling on tarmac is way faster then the gravel of the trail.

Some big birds in Welshpoll, for some reason I only get birds.

Some big birds in Welshpoll, for some reason I only get birds.

But they are impressive

But they are impressive

By 15:45 I was approaching Woodside and I decided that I would stop there rather than going down to the beach. I will spend a couple of hours cycling by 90 Miles Beach tomorrow and the 6 extra miles tonight that I would have to ride back tomorrow morning did not appear as adding anything to the experience.

The campsite in Woodside is quiet and reasonable and really close to the pub where I am now writing this next to a wood burning fire. And yes I’m having a couple of beers too.

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