It has been a while but it has been a busy few months moving into our new house. We’re pretty much settled in now, just waiting on the dining chairs to arrive! Other than that I have been keeping up with the cycling when I can.
Category: Australia
Perth Holiday
It is still quite strange flying for 4 hours across 3 time zones and still being in the same country but it does make you realise how vast Australia is. We’d booked a brief trip to Perth at least 6 months ago to meet up with one of Michelle’s Australian friends she’d met in London who was back home, in Perth, for Christmas. This was all booked before we’d even started looking to buy a house so it has ended up breaking up Christmas and the proper move in to our new place.
Harrietville Cycling (Victorian Alps)
Last weekend i was lucky enough to be invited to go on a cycling trip to the Victorian Alps staying in the small village of Harrietville down the road from the larger town of Bright.
The trip was organised by one of the guys who I’ve met through Croydon Cycleworks and they have been going for a few years now. We stay in a large house that has had bunk beds put in all the rooms and use that as a base for a few days of riding.
This was my first chance to try some of the climbs in the 7 Peaks challenge. The aim to to ride 7 specific climbs in Victoria during the summer season, this is something i hope to complete this season if i can.
Alternative Cycling Climbs on Mt Dandenong
In a previous entry i have written about the main climbs on Mount Dandenong, – our local hill which is very popular amounts cyclists being the highest point in the metropolitan Melbourne area. As we are lucky enough to live so close that means that i get the opportunity to explore the other routes up, these alternatives are mostly from the Fern Tree Gully side and a bit more out of the way. Similar to my previous post i will just give a brief description and link to the Strava segment for each of these.
Continue reading “Alternative Cycling Climbs on Mt Dandenong”
Around the Bay 2018
The Around the Bay in a day cycle ride is an annual ride around the Melbourne bay now in its 26th year. Since i first visited Michelle’s family over here it has always been mentioned as i ride i should do, so was on the bucket list from the moment i arrived. Almost as soon as i got a bike here i booked a place on the 210km Anti-Clockwise loop.
Gold Coast Trip
This week we headed up to the Gold Coast for the wedding of one of Michelle’s friends, and also stayed on afterwards to enjoy a bit of winter sun. We started at the resort the wedding was being held at before heading over to South Stradbroke Island and finally back to stay in Surfers Paradise for a few nights,
Cycling Mount Dandenong
We are very fortunate to live so close to Mount Dandenong which is a hill just over 600m high to the East of the Melbourne CBD. The various hills in the range form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, the ranges are mainly covered in large trees and ferns forming a ‘temperate Rainforest’ (stole that definition from wikipedia).
There are a number of roads that criss-cross around and over the hills with some great climbs (then descents) in lovely scenery. There are a few little villages dotted around with some pubs, restaurants and cafes; at the Pig and Whistle Tavern as well as great parmas (Australian “classic” which is schnitzel with tomato, cheese and ham on – just realised now it is a schnitzel pizza…) you can get Old Speckled Hen, London Pride and other English beers. I’ll go through the main cycling climbs on Mt Dandenong and throw in some pictures too.
Strava Starred Segment Explorer
Since I have moved to Australia i have started using the starred segments in Strava to find climbs and recommended routes to ride but it is a real pain to see where these are located relative to each other. So I decided to knock up a page using the Strava API to do it (the weather was rubbish so i didn’t use up cycling time).
Click Here to give it a go let me know what you think or if you have any issues / ideas in the comments below.
Update 19/09/2018: Now includes segment category filters
Australia Cycling so Far
As promised in the previous post I said I would add more details of the cycling I have been able to do since I got out here to Melbourne.
Moving to Australia – Settling In
We have been in Australia for a few months now and feeling settled in. After landing in Melbourne we stayed with Michelle’s parents in Caroline Springs in the Western Suburbs. Michelle’s Dad had sorted a car for us before we had arrived which made getting around to sort things much easier.