Steve_TLS

Easter Saturday and today was a brilliant autumn day here in Melbourne. Hardly any wind, only a few clouds in the sky and temperatures around the mid 20’s (77F) So I jumped on the bike and decided to do my local loop. I took my camera to take a few shots.

It’s a shitty camera and I’m a shitty photographer. But here goes.

(Click any of the images for a larger one if you like)

Here are some signs:

This one means QANTAS jets might fall on you for the next 2km. If you look carefully you’ll see it’s been introduced to Mr 22 by some dill.


This one means watch out for Dropbears. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_Bear


Wombats, moving speed humps. Hit one on your bike and it wont do much damage to it, but the cartwheeling from the endo will.


Some of our CFA depots have trucks modelled off this vintage one in the sign


No chance of frost today.


You’ll find these at the entrance to every town.


Ah, what the hell, steep decent and some of the scenery.


You follow a horse float and it’s full of “Caution” Horses, follow a dog trailer and it’s full of “Caution” Dogs, on our roads, we have “Caution” Cyclists.


I took this for no reason other than it reminds me of a bowlegged girl I once dated

Steve_TLS

My route took me from home (Bacchus Marsh) to Balliang, Anakie then to Ballan. Myrniong, Greendale, Blackwood, Trentham, Woodend, Mt Macedon, Gisborne and back home. About 270km (~170 miles) in all. It’s a nice ride.

Balliang, nothing here except a Church and Fire Brigade.


From Balliang to Anakie. They couldn’t spell Anarchy so they called it Anakie. It’s where the local ZX6 riders meet every weekend.


By now all the ZX6 boys are riding with erections (That’s 300 metres for the imperialists).


This weekend’s meet must have been cancelled. I hightailed it out of there quick smart in case I got put on some list. A suspect 43yo single male alone in the carpark of the Fairy park with a camera and boiled lollies in his pocket.

Steve_TLS

I didn't take any pics in Ballan, I by-passed it incase I fell asleep on the bike, next town was Myrniong.

They have a nice Avenue of Honour and memorial wall for the town's fallen.


The Myniong Hotel (Plough Inn)

Steve_TLS

From there to Greendale, nothing in Greendale except the Hotel / General Store.


Greendale to Blackwood.

If Gav wants to get a bike license when he's older, I think I'll give the road away and buy a couple of road/trail bikes. We have so much off road to explore in our area it not funny. Brisbane ranges behind us, Wombat to the side of us and the Lerderderg in front of us.




Here's the Blackwood Hotel.


Blackwood is a bit bigger than Greendale, and it's more modern too. They have those fandangled horseless carriage things. The owner actually drove it into town to pick up some supplies for his Bed and Breakfast - he's just out of shot with his groceries waiting for me to take the pic.


From Blackwood it's on to Trentham, but you have to pass through Newbury 1st. If this sign didn't exist, you wouldn't know Newbury did. There's about 6 houses. No pub.


Trentham is a reasonable size. Has most things you'd want in a small town. Here's the Trentham Hotel.

Steve_TLS

Trentham onto Woodend.

But you go via Tyden, not much in Tylden, no pub, but they have a bottle shop for grog. It's a general store, post office, bottle shop and service staion. Everything you could need.


Woodend is a fairly large hub. Several pubs, but I didn't take a pic of one.

Here's the old post office, I don't know where the current one is.


Here's a bit of a shot of one side of their Main Street.

Steve_TLS

From Woodend to Mt Macedon.

Mt Macedon



Uphill to the peak.


I couldn't be bothered parking and walking to the lookout so I pinched some pics from the net.

Memorial Cross


The lookout with distances to other towns.


From the turn off you can roll 6km+ in neutral having to hit the brakes every so often to keep under the speed limit. Here's the Mt Macedon Hotel.

Steve_TLS

From Macedon to Gisborne. Gisborne is a faily large town and has freeway access to the City.

Here's the Telegraph hotel in Gisborne (There's several pubs in this town).


A bit of a shot of the Main Street.


From Gisborne to home, but Bullengarook is on the way, nothing here except a tiny school and a fire station.

Steve_TLS

It's so dry and barren around here, we need some rain



My crappy camera and some haze makes it impossible to see in this shot, but you can normally see the taller buildings of the Melbourne CBD on the horizon on a good day on this overpass just out of my town - Roughly 70km out I'd say.

madkaw

It does not matter what camera you have, those pictures are speechless some day i will be able to go there.

arron

looks like a nice day for a ride.. Some nice pics too. Have you been to the fairy park? Saw it on coxys big break the other week on tv, looks like fun for the kids

Steve_TLS

I've not been to the Fairy park as an Adult. It's just up the road and my kid who's 10 hasn't been there either. He's probably too old now. I should take him one day anyway.

arron

looks like something my 6yo daughter would like.did you go the ride on your own or takeyour son?

Steve_TLS

Rode by myself. He coming on a ride tomorrow with me.

Buster

Some great pics, not sure about Fairy Parks though....

raized1199

Great shots.
Thanks.
It honestly looks like West Texas here.

Looks like a great ride.

Dropbear, now thats funny.
Thats better than snip hunting here.