01:07, Friday 15 November 2013 UTC
This year, I've gone down under. If all goes well, this could be my longest trip yet but I don't yet...

01:08, Friday 15 November 2013 UTC
Straight away, here's one of the staples of this site: a picture of somebody taking a picture of som...

01:08, Friday 15 November 2013 UTC
A carousel inside a building by the harbour.

Geelong Harbour in Corio Bay, which is a part of Port Philip Bay, Melbourne's giant natural harbour.

Geelong.

Geelong has quite a lot of bollards like these.

This is the National Wool Museum. Wool is one of Australia's biggest exports and this seems to be Ge...

The museum has had some quite illustrious visitors.

A Jacquard loom.

Inside the museum.

Australia's most popular sheep breeds. Most of them are various types of merino.

Wool processing machines.

Strangely, the Wool Museum has a gallery of optical illusions. See if you can tell what the reflecti...

It's a shamrock!

Inside a shopping centre.

This kind of thing seems completely out of place in warm sunny weather like this.

A view from a car park. I came up here by mistake.

A little seating area inside the shopping centre.

Outside the Wool Museum.

Geelong Harbour.

This is what I will be riding this year: a Jamis Aurora Elite. I had never heard of such a thing but...

An eclectic selection of stuff outside my hotel: a church, a playground, some masts and the Moon. I'...

I haven't brought my sound recording equipment this year, which means that you don't get to hear eit...

Pop up veggie patches.

Ian, my boss. We've been working together around here for a couple of weeks and are now both going t...

Geelong Harbour by night.

Geelong Harbour, looking North.

Geeolong's most visible landmark, Kardinia Park, home to the Geelong Cats Aussie Rules team.

Here's a man who's come prepared.

A regatta taking place on the Barwon river. It surprised me at first but of course this is effective...

Rowers.

I also saw this cycle race.

Suburbs of Geelong.

To me, the most foreign thing about Australia is the birds. I have no idea what this is.

A big pipe passing under my cycle lane.

A pleasant route out of the city.

If it hadn't been for the director's commentary on the ...

The picture suggests that it's not a misprint of "cat".

There's plenty of space to ride on these roads.

Somebody owns a truck.

Gardens bordering onto a strip of parkland. It's not as scenic as you might think though because the...

Wherever people might want to walk, the grass has to be kept very short so that snakes can't hide in...

00:03, Saturday 16 November 2013 UTC
Expensive-looking houses.

00:16, Saturday 16 November 2013 UTC
Geelong in the distance, with Kardinia park on the far right.

00:17, Saturday 16 November 2013 UTC
The first road like this that I've seen. I didn't have to go down it.

Two places that I wouldn't normally expect to be on the same road.

I don't know what these are.

Another reminder that it's spring here.

The landscape feels hillier than it looks.

A small town.

The same place.

I wonder what's behind the bottom panel.

There's a lot of it.

A pump.

Cows have been behaving strangely today. These ones, and all the others in their field, ran away as ...

I don't know what they mean by potato material. Does it mean that I wouldn't be able to take a bag o...

Little ponies.

Like some others that I would pass later, as soon as these cows saw me, they started running alongsi...

... and then all ran away.

Local colours.

I wonder if this is what they call a billabong.

I had complaints about featuring pictures of roadkill on my American trip but it's the only way you ...

The Barwon river again, considerably smaller than it was in Geelong.

Birregurra Pubic Hall.

A deco hotel in Birregurra.

This seems to be how shops in small towns look around here.

Perhaps the roads could be a bit wider.

The village shop had cakes like this on display on the counter. I asked for one and the woman servin...

I was surprised to see a train because the timetable lists only three services each way each day, wh...

To follow on from yesterday's wool theme, I have come to Tarndwarncoort, a historic sheep farm.

I thought it was only hippos that had birds on their heads.

Tarndwarncoort advertises a self-guided tour to "see how a working sheep farm operates". I...

The view is good though.

Another view.

Sugar gum trees. According to the notes, this thicket is known as "Africa" and "hides...

Lambs! In November!

a lamb doing what lambs do.

Another tree.

This is what Australians call a magpie. I have heard that in some cities, they commonly attack cycli...

Tarndwarncoort.

I did have a reason for thinking that this farm might be an interesting place to visit but I didn't ...

The shop at the farm.

I have been peripherally involved with a European team which has had a few attempt at breaking this ...

Some of Wendy's hand-dyed Polwarth wool.

A lovely place to sit out on this warm afternoon. It was certainly more pleasant than riding a bike....

It looks like a bad week for farming.

Wendy was slightly ashamed of the state of her dying room but I told her it was less messy than the ...

Wendy Dennis.

The Dennis family's bikes with mine.

In a country with less history than the USA, the site of an old railway line immediately next to an ...

As you saw in the pictues of the town of Birregurra, a lot of buildings around here look very old fa...

There was a group of railway enthusiasts on some kind of tour waiting for the train. Since train buf...

The train.

These trains provide bags for rubbish.

Geelong station, with more of those lovely wide roads.

The cleaners have been into my room, changed the sheets, folded the toilet roll and, strangely, empt...

One of many classic cars in the area.

I made a mistake in one of yesterday's captions. The ornate building with the clock in picture 99 wa...

This roundabout has the railway line going through the middle of it.

For the next 35 km, I will be following the Bellarine Rail Trail, along the route of the old Bellari...

A ute, a type of vehicle common in Australia.

A car boot sale at the Geelong Showground. I have only come in here because I missed breakfast this ...

My bike, fully loaded. In this weather I don't need to wear my warm clothes so I have to have the ex...

These green pillars are spaced over 883 metres of the rail trail and are used for calibrating eloect...

The road layout and the signs have a very English feel so occasionally I find myself forgetting that...

The bin and the plastic bags are for dog mess so I'm not sure whether the tap in the foreground is d...

00:03, Sunday 17 November 2013 UTC
Dogs up ahead.

00:08, Sunday 17 November 2013 UTC
I didn't encounter any.

00:10, Sunday 17 November 2013 UTC
A very succinct milestone. It means that Geelong is 13 km behind me and Drysdale and Queenscliff are...

Scarborough station has the longest bench in the world. This isn't it....

The view across Corio Bay. The white buildings on the right are hangars at Avalon Airfield.

In the 37 years since the railway closed, these trees have grown up and, by the look of them, been i...

Golfers.

A water hazard on the golf course.

Purple flowers.

It doesn't say what this pillar is.

From Drysdale onwards, the rails still exist and carry a steam train for tourists.

Drysdale station.

A horse riding lesson.

Here's the train!

The engine is bigger than it looked at first.

A dusty road which I didn't use.

This bridge doesn't really look strong enough to support that steam engine.

Lemons.

Tracks.

The toilets at Suma Park station don't look original.

Scenery.

Here, the rail trail has diverted slightly. This track wasn't part of the railway so I don't know wh...

The tracks crossing Swan Bay Saltmarsh.

The saltmarsh.

A shop which gives absolutely no indication as to what it sells.

Houses.

Another old car.

Queenscliff.

I saw some people in the street eating fish and chips so I decided to get some myself. I had a bit o...

"ANY PERSON FOUND RINGING THE BELL EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF SHIPWRECK OR MARINE DISASTER WILL BE P...

The Maritime Museum.

This is the ferry which operates between Queenscliff and Sorrento, on opposite sides of the bay entr...

Navy cadets on a trip somewhere.

Very clear water alongside the ferry.

Queenscliff beach.

Jet-skis.

Other passengers, and a container ship heading away from Melbourne.

A tourist boat.

A sailing boat which we passed.

The container ship heading out of the bay.

The bay is very shallow and has lots of features. Some are navigation aids, some are old defensive s...

More Naval types on the ferry. I would later see a man in a suit wearing an enormous number of medal...

A bird.

The ferry going the other way. The structure on the right is a resting place for seals.

Another boat.

Sorrento.

The deeper the water, the darker it appears. Here you can see the channel which has been cleared to ...

The view from a window on the car deck.

When I took this picture, I though it was somebody stand-up paddling with a dog. I can now see that ...

Sorrento, with more of that clear water.

The sea bed seems rather hairy.

A swan.

This woman was taking close-up photographs of the sand. I don't know what in particular fascinated h...

... perhaps it was the same thing that this man was looking at.

Boats.

If you look closely at this picture, you can see...

... a man standing in the water.

The cycle lane on the main back towards Melbourne.

Rye.

Rye Pier.

Putting a boat in or out of the water.

Doggy paddle.

They were quite a long way out from the shore but it's shallow enough to walk all the way.

Bowls.

This must be one of the electric barbecues that I've seen signs for.

I could have stayed on that cycle lane on the main road but I'm not in a hurry so I've come this way...

A pelican.

The track comtinuing on its meandering way, and a tree which looks like it has lost a lot of its bar...

There was another car exactly like this one on the ferry. It's not the same one though.

How Australian is this vehicle?

This doesn't look like it's been used for a while.

The cycle path.

Clear shallow water.

I think it's a starfish.

Rosebud Pier.

View from the pier.

On the pier.

A SCUBA diver resting.

I think they have just waded all the way over from the shore.

A house in Rosebud.

Wherever I go, I keep seeing bike shops. The one where I bought my bike was amazingly good. It was e...

I haven't really got room to carry one.

Seriously? Bowls? Express?

This looks like a petrol station but it actually just sells alcohol. I saw one a few days ago where ...

My motel room. It's as plush as a hotel but I could wheel the bike straight into it and it also has ...

A piece of paper in my room said that if I wanted breakfast, I would have to order it last night so ...

An odd bit of cable patching in the roof of the motel's reception.

The weather today will take a while to warm up.

Along the coast.

Plots for sale.

A view of the bay from part way up a climb which seemed pretty long on the way up and incredibly lon...

The road has become rather busier. It doesn't have a dedicated cycle lane either but the normal lane...

00:21, Monday 18 November 2013 UTC
Toorak College looks quite posh.

00:21, Monday 18 November 2013 UTC
Oh, does that mean that the school year here is the same as the calendar year? These Southern season...

00:23, Monday 18 November 2013 UTC
Parking signs in Australia are always rather confusing. Some specify when you can park and whether y...

Now it's starting to become hot and sunny again.

Somebody on the water.

Somebody else.

Frankston.

This is more of a drive-through bottle shop.

I think they might be rosellas.

I used this boardwalk for a while.

It was quite pretty. A few minutes after this, I was riding along a long straight suburban road when...

A bowling green.

Funny place for a flag.

The strange thing is that this isn't the only road I've seen which was called Progress but didn't al...

Either all delivery drivers around here look like this or this one has been following me all morning...

Carrum.

Busy traffic in and out of the entrance to the Patterson River.

Another jet-skier.

I thought it would be interesting to have a little race against some of these boats. That didn't rea...

This place is busy. There are at least three double slipways like this, all in use.

Interesting that the trailers can go off the tarmac but the off-road vehicles can't.

Patterson Lakes.

A weir.

More rowers, this time at the National Water Sports Centre.

The start of the rowing course.

I don't know what the purpose of these beds is.

Seems a little vague. It could refer to the weather or anything.

The Eastlink motorway.

I'm following a route recommended by Google Maps. It's rather pleasant.

A sculpture.

Shops.

Trees.

I have to go over this bridge to cross the railway.

My bridge across the motorway has an inexplicable structure above it. So does the next one along.

A bit more of the cycle route.

Under the motorway.

The traffic is pretty quiet at the moment.

This sign on the cycle path through a park flashes up your speed. I don't think there's a speed limi...

Wow!

It's rather hard to tell whether shops are open or closed. They don't have many lights on inside and...

At some times, you can only park here for a quarter of an hour, which is about how long it takes to ...

Messy.

The Tom Wills interchange, named after one of the inventors of Aussie Rules Football.

An impressive house.

I have heard perople say that some kinds of bamboo grow so fast that you can hear them, or am I thin...

A broad strip of parkland runs out from the city under the power cables.

Jells Park.

Fetch!

Here's where I rejoin traffic. The last 25 km has been a pleasant ride on quiet cycle lanes but it h...

This isn't it. It's just a pretty little cul-de-sac.

Here we are. Fans of Australian TV soaps might recognise Ramsay Street, known in real like as Pin Oa...

I think these are fire hydrants but I'm not sure how they work. You see them all over Melbourne.

A street.

The other side says "ELECTROLYSIS". So does the green box on the right and the metal plate...

I don't know where from. I didn't see an undertaker's or a cemetery near here.

Melbourne!

I quite like the warning sign on the tram stop, depicting a tram as a rhino on a skateboard.

A road with tram lines.

Flowers.

A church with big antennas.

At this time of day, all the commuters on the cycle lane are going in the same way as the cyclists o...

A storm drain.

Now I get to ride along under this motorway.

For quite some distance, the cyle lane is suspended from the motorway and follows the same curves. I...

Along the same route.

Under the motorway again, and alongside the Yarra River.

I guess rowing must be quite big in Australia.

There's a bouldering wall under here too.

Bikes and boats.

There's no room under the motorway here so the cycle lane has had to be built over the water.

A mobile bike repair shop!

This cycle lane is good fun. I like it.

The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium doesn't look very rectangular from this angle.

The stadium.

Across the road from the Rectangular Stadium is the tennis complex where the Australian Open is play...

Tennis.

That sports ground has impressive floodlights but virtually no seating for spectators.

The tennis area. It didn't really look like there was a way through here to reach the city but there...

The cricket ground. Strangely, the statues to either side of the top of the steps look like they are...

Around the side of the cricket ground.

One more view of this.

Melbourne.

Skyscrapers.

On the way into the city centre.

Flinders Street Station.

I didn't think there were this may people in the whole of Australia!

Central Melbourne.

The statue on the left is wearing a party hat.

This restaurant does a taster selection of local beers.

An office block with a hotel on top.

Chinatown.

My bike has acquired a detour sign since I parked it here.

The lights in my room take a very long time to warm up. This it what it looks like when you first tu...

The view from my room.

The car park under my hotel includes this bike parking area.

Here's the shop where I bought my bike. They're just giving it a free check-up now to make sure that...

Yarnbombing on the bike racks.

04:24, Tuesday 19 November 2013 UTC
There won't be any riding today or tomorrow, partly because I thought the bike shop might have wante...

04:27, Tuesday 19 November 2013 UTC
A sleepy koala.

04:29, Tuesday 19 November 2013 UTC
This one's got a baby.

An Ibis going past what I thought for a moment was a "No ibis" sign.

A kangaroo demonstration.

Kangaroos.

Red kangaroos.

A simple guide to kangaroo feeding habits.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this room is. The stream flows in through one arch and out through ...

A bird with a baby.

Emus.

Even having looked at the signs, I don't know what some of these birds are.

Birds.

Two types of bird.

A wallaby.

Bats.

From a European perspective like mine, these bats are the right way up.

I can't remember what lived in here.

I don't know what this keeper is doing. She's holding a camera and is sitting very still touching th...

A Tasmanian devil.

A devil in their breeding pen.

Yet another bird. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a kookaburra yet, either here or in the wild. There...

I haven't taken many pictures of the woodland here because it's much like what I was riding through ...

An odd bird.

That's the last bird for today.

An interesting rego, as they call registration numbers here....

A strange sculpture.

The parking area of a posh hotel.

Either the police are expecting a lot of trouble around the parade of fast food shops today or they'...

The clocks across the front of that station aren't different time zones as I thought at first. Each ...

The Elephant & Wheelbarrow, which claims to be a traditional British pub. I haven't been inside.

This picture went a bit weird but I like it so I'll leave it in.

My hotel's rooftop pool, on the 18th floor.

"NO DIVING" - probably a good idea.

View from the roof.

There's a woman on the phone on her balcony over there.

It's strange to be so high above the streets below but to still have other buildings towering above ...

I don't know what the huge central wall is for.

01:00, Wednesday 20 November 2013 UTC
Ian with all his belongings outside the apartment where he will be staying for the next month. I had...

01:47, Wednesday 20 November 2013 UTC
I'm using the plane-spotting car park near the airport as a quiet place to pack my bike up for a fli...

03:42, Wednesday 20 November 2013 UTC
My bike compressed to a small size ready to be clingfilmed. It doesn't need to be made this small to...

Melbourne Airport, with the city skyscrapers just visible in the distance.

The departure lounge. I'm glad to have got this far. First there was a question at airport security ...

The in-flight entertainment on this plane is odd. There are no built-in screens so you have to use y...

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