20241106-14 My Australian Bikepacking trip with Ken

When Anneli and I planned our G Adventures small group tour of Australia ending in Sydney, I planned a tack on bikepacking trip, of about 1,380km, from Sydney to Melbourne, that from Canberra to Melbourne used the Hunt 1000 Australian Alps Trail, which is billed as “A 1,000 km journey through the rooftop of Australia along backcountry trails…” 

However, my training for such an epic ride was disrupted when I had to have hip replacment surgery July 26th, so couldn’t bike in August, slowly built up cycling distances in September, and did no cycling during our group tour Oct 11th to Nov 6th. 

Given this I felt lucky that good cycling buddy Ken Waring still decided to travel the huge distance to do this epic bikepacking trip with me. Ken arrived in Sydney November 2nd. Unfortunately his bike didn’t arrive with him, and he had to worry until it was finally delivered November 5th. 

So on November 6th (after Anneli left to visit  Australian friend Rowena for a personal tour of Tazmania) Ken and I started our bikepacking trip.

Here’s my trip:

• Photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FrBLXFZw3a4PMP6g7
• My Relive consolidated birds eye view video of my trip from Sydney to Omeo, with geolocated photos: https://youtu.be/jErhCgTrEnQ?si=A0sBvw8Qlnz8o7Xk 
• Ken’s Relive video from Sydney to Melbourne, with his photos: https://youtu.be/4OjF_trYjaw?si=6QBtafkQDlO_pIgh

Riding south out of Sydney, we followed the Botonay Bay shoreline, took a quiet dirt road through the lush Royal National Park, then rode along the stunning coast with its multitude of beaches and rocky promontories. After a long day we stopped in Gerringong. 

Next day we rode Inland and stayed in Braidwood. A tough day with almost 2,000m of climbing. Nov 9th we rode to Canberra struggling into 35kph winds. Ken had a bike store fix a bad squeaking problem. I bought some chafing cream that turned out to be much better than my Chamois Butt’r, but unfortunately too late to save my butt :-). The next day we would start the Hunt 1000 route through remote rough high country with long distances between towns. So we reviewed our daily plan on the route spreadsheet I had created (using the Hunt1000 2022 route version), planning where to eat, get water, and sleep. Unfortunately I had only received a couple of days earlier, from Dan Hunt, the Hunt1000 2024 event route. As we didn’t have time to examine it and plan our trip, we decided to stick with our existing Hunt1000 2022 version.

From Canberra Nov 8th to Omeo Nov 13th, Ken and I rode the Hunt 1000, with the mantra Ride Eat Sleep Repeat. Here are my thoughts and highlights of this tough and beautiful route:

• Ken and I thought it felt like a rougher Tour Divide (bikepacking route from Banff to Mexico border) compressed into 1,000 kms. 
• Extremely long climbs of 6-11% that I could grind out in the low gears.
• One 1,000m long climb that was 12-17% that I had to mostly walk. 
• Enjoying the big views of startling blue sky and mountains rolling away into the horizon…even while struggling up steep climbs. 
• Enjoying the screaming long descents, where a few times I exceeded 70kph, while slowing down enough on the hairpin turns to avoid hurtling over the cliff edge. 
• Riding through mobs of kangaroos. 
• Seeing a joey peeking out of the mother’s pouch. 
• Riding by a large black red-bellied highly venomous snake.
• Seeing a hand-sized huntsman spider in a rural drop toilet. 
• Watching a wedge-tailed eagle (the largest bird of prey in Australia) trying to carry away a dead kangaroo.
• Seeing a large goanna lizard. 
• On descents worring about hitting a kangaroo after being warned by a driver with a freshly smashed headlight, and seeing tens of road kill every day.
• Fording a couple of streams every day, while carrying a loaded 25kg bike. Great cold therapy for tired legs. 
• Sleeping in a three-sided sheep/cattle shed and having a possum eat my helmet’s sweatband for the salt. 
• Sleeping in a herder’s hut on the wooden floor and thinking it quite luxurious as it has a door and glass in the windows. 
• Marvelling at the beautiful sunsets and glad that we have made it to our target site for the night.
• Marvelling at the beautiful sunrise, which makes waking up so early worthwhile. 
• Enjoying at a local pub a good meal and brew, after eating chocolate bars for a day. 
• Enjoying a shower and a bed after sleeping in a hut on the floor. 
• Breathing such clean air — except when a vehicle passes on a dirt road.
• Both Ken and me taking the time to stop and enjoy and take a photo of a great view.

One of my best memories of this trip will be the enjoyment of sharing it with Ken. Ken is a very strong competitive rider. Due to my lack of training, I slowed and shortened our daily rides. Yet Ken was always patient, supportive and positive. And we enjoyed talking on our many shared interests … the outdoors, cycling, information technology, etc. The best bikepacking buddy you could ask for. 

Finally in Omeo (after 842 kms with 12,984 m of climbing) I decided that my saddle sores were too bad and slowing us down too much. Also Omeo was the last stop that allowed me to catch a bus and then train to Melbourne to meet up with Anneli on our planned reunion date of Nov 16th. So with heavy heart I said good bye to Ken. 

Ken continued on the Hunt 1000 route from Omeo, past Dargo, and camped at the bottom of Billy Goat Bluff, a super steep four-hour hike-a-bike climb. The next day he started the climb. It was so steep that he had to push the bike forward, brake, take a step, and repeat for four hours. Sometime after the grueling climb he got a bad intestinal problem (locals said many in the area had got it) that sapped his energy and forced him to stop and camp earlier than planned. The next day he did make Licola where I had booked accommodation for him. I continued following Ken’s now slower progress on Maprogress and on subsequent days booked accommodation for him in Wahalla and Warburton. Today (Nov 19) Ken is taking a full rest day in Warburton to try and clear up the intestinal problem. If feeling better Ken should complete the last 100k into Melbourne tomorrow (Nov 20), having ridden from Sydney to Melbourne, about 1,390 kms with 24,231 m of climbing! Congratulations Ken!

From both my Gadventures tour and my bikepacking trip, I would like to sum up my feelings about Australia, the country and people, by quoting text from the cover of Bill Bryson’s “Down Under, Travels in a sunburned country”: “It is the driest, flattest, hottest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still Australia teems with life – a large portion of it quite deadly. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in a very nasty way than anywhere else. Despite this Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him? The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging- their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life doesn’t get much better than this…” — I also fell in love with this country and its peoples.

Cheers … Greg

Life is like a bicycle. To keep your balance you have to keep moving. — Albert Einstein​

https://gregbikingwithoutborders.blog/
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