Great Ocean Road

United used to be a decent airline, but as with just about everything else in the world, it's gone downhill in the past few years. We flew with United from Atlanta to Chicago to San Francisco to Sydney, but actually had to argue with the ticket agent for a half hour in Atlanta that the airline did indeed fly from San Francisco to Sydney.

Despite their best attempts to keep us stateside, we made it to Sydney after a total fo 20 hours in the air. We spent just a day in that fabulous city before heading to Melbourne, also a very nice place. In Melbourne we spent a busy day buying bicycles and tons of gear. Coupled with the gear we brought from home we were now ready to cycle the Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania.

(Coast near Lorne)



Australia is beautifully situated for biking; cities are laced with dedicated bike routes and you can even pedal along on the shoulder on major freeways.

(Coast near Aireys Inlet)



We spent a few days getting in to shape before hitting the Great Ocean Road, a 200-mile stretch of coves, cliffs, secret beaches, koala bears napping in trees and lush temperate rainforest. It's a spectacular area. We've also hit plenty of hills, bugs, cool temperatures and showery weather, but the scenery is making up for it.