DAY 127 - MELBOURNE VIC

MELBOURNE VIC

DAY 127

PORT FAIRY - MELBOURNE AIRPORT

63.35km

Total Time – 08.50 – 19.00 (10h 10m)

Time on Bike – 4h 04m 13s

Max. Speed – 54.8 km/h

Av. Speed – 15.5 km/h


I've said it all before, but good plans are meant to be changed.

After 127 days, 18 weeks, 4 months, 6100 kilometres I have decided to finish in Melbourne a week earlier than scheduled.

I actually started the day dry.

It didn't last long.

10 kilometres along Princes Highway A1 towards Warrnambool, blanket rain moved in and sat immovably over large sections of the southern Victorian coastline.

And unlike in Port Fairy, there was no wind to blow it all through.

I made Warrnambool in good time considering.

By 11 am, drenched to the skin, freezing cold and just a little fed up with the whole deal, my immediate options seemed particularly weak.

The primary cards weren't that smart and in hindsight I can see it even more clearly.

Having already eliminated the more direct route via Great Ocean Road, Plan B via Ballarat was looking even less inviting.

Ballarat is presently Australia's coldest destination outside the alpine areas and most likely one of the wettest in addition.

For an extra week and 300-something kilometres all I stood to be was cold, wet and just a little temperamental.

Warrnambool happened to offer a Plan C and this is what came to be, in not very long this morning.

First step however, was to check flights from Melbourne to Sydney and move my pre-booked flight forward a week.

If this could be done, a train to Melbourne from Warrnambool could also be done.

A 10-minute stint on the Warrnambool Library Internet later and I was in business.

Almost.

There were indeed seats on the last flight of the day to Sydney, so back on the bike and around the corner to Warrnambool Station where the next train to Melbourne was revving not so quietly on the platform.

In a 7 minute period, I queued for an enquiry, pulled my rig apart, got it on the train, pulled my bags apart for dry clothes, got changed, re-queued for a ticket and was on the move to my final destination.

That's exactly 1 minute per thing and I was quite proud of that.

Damn thing was, I ran out of time to re-book my flight.

The worst I could think of for the next 3½ hours was hanging out in Melbourne for a few days for a flight to be available.

Not so bad really.

By 3.30, I was set down at Melbourne's Southern Cross Station and confronted with another logistical horror show.

All I had to do was rip apart the rig and put it back together on the train platform, get warm clothes on, ring Virgin to re-book my flight, ring home to re-arrange a pick-up, get a feed and then somehow barrage 25 kilometres through city traffic as night fell and the fun at the airport was even yet to begin.

To make a great story a little shorter, I did make it to Melbourne Airport intact.

Dark it was and dry I was.

I did get lost a few times and ended up taking a most interesting and often precarious route to Tullamarine Airport.

One can survive on this, if only just.

By 7 pm and with 2.25 hours remaining until showtime, the final challenge persisted and I needed to get everything on the flight to Sydney with the least possible drama and inconvenience.

2 hours hence, I joined the boarding gate queue for my 9.15 flight with about 12 minutes credit - everything packed, onboard and no excess baggage charges although the Virgin staff were quite obviously lenient to my plight.

There is no way I'd have been off so lightly in a foreign land and I know it but this is surely a bridge for another day.

I'm now back home in Sydney.

'Twas indeed a day of high stress and action but I got there.

And of the ending, am I disappointed ?

Yes, of course I am.

Truth is that both my spearhead plans were flawed and I believe, in the circumstances, unnecessarily difficult.

After 4 months, 6100 kilometres and a marvellous, fulfilling period of unique experiences, places and people, there was nothing to prove in pushing for the sake of another week and a few more pissy cold and wet miles.

The deed is done and I absolutely can't wait for the next one.