Ramble Out Yonder

10 October 2026 – Stratford to Bairnsdale – 58 kms

Gunaikurnai Country

There are some people giving me the side-eye at the park this morning. I’ve got my tent spread out on the grass to dry, as the room was too small for that last night. People are kinda giving me the look like I’m homeless and camped there last night, or that I am a cheap-arse and camped there for free last night instead of just on the other side of the bridge at the caravan park.

I suppose everything does look a bit scruffy at this point. But, gosh, just look at the bike. That is NOT a homeless person’s bike. Even though I guess I technically am homeless since I ended my rental lease before leaving in May.

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9 October 2026 – Moroka River Bridge to Stratford – 88 kms

Gunaikurnai Country

Nope, the road leading away from the river that we looked at yesterday looks just as steep this morning. There’s nothing like hike-a-bike first thing to set the tone for the day.

It started with promise – there were no clouds to block the sun, I had slept well in my little cocoon even though it was cold overnight, we’d camped on grass so there was no muddy pack-up, and everything had clipped, fastened, buckled and velcroed on the first go. It was cold – there was even frost on the bike this morning – but my fingers didn’t hurt (seriously, if you’ve got achey bits, do some gut testing and fix up you gut microbiome – my terribly painful fingers and other achey bits the doc said was just arthritis went away after I got serious about gut health).

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8 October 2026 – Red Bluff Camp to Moroka River – 55 kms

Gunaikurnai Country

I get moving at 5.30am. That’s not my particular preference and not particularly easy, but it happens. But then I lose time to a toilet stop first thing. Then, of course, because we’re not camping on grass, the tent edges and ground cloth have picked up that red dirt which is very hard to brush/smear off before rolling up. Then, everything is just fiddly this morning. Things that normally cinch, buckle, slide on or snap take more than one go, when I usually get them on the first try.

Our early start is meant to try to beat the wind, or at least not have to push into it ALL day. But as we pack, little gusts of wind push against my cold cheeks and feather wisps of hair against my forehead. Great. I think this means we’ll have perfect timing to hit the more open and exposed parts of the climb just as that wind gets going later this morning. I’m generally a glass half-full sort of person… but never at 5.30am as my chronotype is not, by nature, early bird.

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7 October 2026 – Cheynes Bridge to Red Bluff Campground – 41 kms

Gunaikurnai Country

The clouds hang low again. The tent is saturated again. We pack up in the cold air and get the day underway by 7am again. The tour has its rhythm now.

Our goal today is to just get up to one of the campgrounds along the bottom section of Tamboritha Road to set us up for a big day of climbing tomorrow up onto a high plateau.

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6 October 2026 – Cheynes Bridge – 0 kms

Gunaikurnai Country

The morning brings clear skies and cold temperatures. We could move on to the series of campsites at the bottom of Tamboritha Road. That’s just another 40 or so kays, depending on where we stay. I think we should have time to ride that before the rain comes, even though there’s a gap and a bunch of climbing up Tamboritha Road.

I’m tempted. But I have a good spot here. It is at low elevation, so the low temps predicted tonight shouldn’t be as much of an issue. I’ve got good water here I can filter whereas the other spots are on river that may still be running muddy.

I mull it over and finally decide we’ll stick here. Mostly because of our water source. I think the little store in Licola is closed today but may be open tomorrow, so we could get water there if we can’t get water at the public toilets in Licola and the river still looks muddy there.

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5 October 2026 – Heyfield to Cheynes Bridge – 35kms

Gunaikurnai Country

The sun has gone away again. It’s damp and dark, even after sunrise, with low cloud skulking about. Combined with the lack of sleep last night, I am not exactly bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and raring to go this morning. However, I am not a procrastinator when it comes to getting on the road in the mornings (if only I could transfer this discipline to the rest of my normal life!). So I pack up the wet tent and roll away by 7.15am. No one in the caravans has emerged from their metal cocoons yet.

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4 October 2026 – Rawson to Heyfield – 58 kms

Gunaikurnai Country

After more than 48 hours in our little cube, with the rain pouring down on that flat, metal-sheeted roof, I am kinda relieved when the rain finally stops and the de facto white noise machine ceases.

The rain had a good hard go from 10pm last night before tapering off in the wee hours. Then there was one last hurrah around 5am.

Now, at 7am, there is still low cloud around that looks like low, misty fog. I lie there until 7.30am, waiting for that to lift and for the sun to finally peek through.

I am experiencing the laws of physics today – an object at rest tends to stay at rest. After two days of rest, it takes me awhile to get going. Pack-up is slow because everything has made its way out of the panniers over the two days and things have been spread out to dry. I don’t leave until around 9am which is super late for me.

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2-3 October 2026 – Rawson – 0 kms

Gunaikurnai Country

It rains and rains and rains. There are tropical strength deluges, there are periods of lighter drops. But there are no showers. It is just rain, rain, rain. It is impressive just to see sheets of it outside and across the valley for hours and hours.

The weather forecast had deteriorated each day I had phone reception this week. And they were not overestimating the size of the event. I am grateful for my little cube to stay in – my tent would not have withstood this much rain over this time period.

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1 October 2026 – Ezards Road to Rawson – 15 kms

Gunaikurnai Country

The pitter patter of rain on the fly momentarily ceases. There is a bit of brightness that I can detect through the tent fly. I unzip the tent body and then the fly. I fling it back, so the wet outer fly sticks to the other bit of the wet outer fly.

The sky is dark to the southwest, but the sun is trying to wrest the clouds apart to the northeast. It is a bit muddy out there in places with no grass.

I retreat. I turn on the phone. It is 6am. Oh! We need to go! The radar indicates we have a brief break in the showers. If we hustle, we might make it to town dry.

The race is on!

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30 September 2026 – Shaws Camp to Ezards Road Camp – 69 kms

Taungurung and Gunaikurnai Country

The wind still roars. And roars. All the ash tree leaves are showing off their undersides as they ripple hard in the wind. The sunrise is a dark angry red, too. If you were somewhere with a clear view, the deep maroon of the morning would compete with any of the Outback sunrises I saw over winter.

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