I am safe. I am in Elmore and will make my way to Bendigo tomorrow.
This post is mostly for my Australian friends who will be seeing lots of flooding pics on the news from the area I’ve been riding. Just want you to know I’m fine and making good decisions.
I left Echuca on Saturday before any evacuation notices were issued, but it was obvious that was going to happen! The road I used to leave town was under water 24 hours later.
I rode out to Terrick Terrick National Park and spent the night there on high ground and assessed all my options.
There are really no roads to ride. Roads are closed everywhere, and most roads that are open have water over them in many places.
So I found the one way that would allow me to get to Bendigo, since the western or northwestern direction I’d wanted to head is pretty much impossible at the moment due to the flooding. I need to get out of the flat areas where the water will just stick around.
See my route to Bendigo on the yellow line below. This is also the evacuation route for Echuca where I turned south. The green circle is where I’m heading. The red dots I added were additional roads that closed today (as this photo was from my phone the night before).
There is more heavy rain forecast Thursday to Sunday. This will likely renew all the flooding where it has started to recede.
So I will weigh up my options once I get to Bendigo but am strongly considering getting the train to Melbourne and then a train to Warrnambool. This would allow me to bypass all the closed roads and get to an area that has less rain forecast.
So we’ll see where I am next Saturday! Just wanted to let you know I’m safe.
Thanks for letting us know Emily. We were concerned as Echuca looked a bit wet on the TV news this morning. So, it’s time to implement Plan B – tackle your route from the south?
Not quite sure. I did not have any plans to visit Warrnambool on this trip as I’ve been there and Tower Hill a few times before. I guess I’ll have time to make a plan on the train. I’m lucky I got my bum over to Elmore as one of the roads I used today to get back over to the evacuation route from Mitiamo is now closed. There was water over half the road and then flowing 3 or so inches deep over the other half in several places when I went through… lucky I went when I did!
Stay safe 🙏
hi emily, i’m trying to catch up on the material you posted about the new bike, the shake-down ride and your first days on the road. your tires are twice as wide as you used to ride; how does it feel vs the 35s and what air pressure are you using? i’m moving to 38s on my new bike (still hanging parts onto the frame) vs 32s on my aged touring bike and i anticipate an improvement from the larger air volume in cushioning against bumps, pot holes and gravel. also, now that you’ve some experience, how are the solar panels working? they sound like a nifty way to keep equipment at full power. i saw some wire service stories over the weekend about torrential rains and flooding in victoria, NSW and tasmania; not that van diemen’s land was on the itinerary. stay dry. how do you get time on the road with all the rain?
Hi Chuck – the tyres on the new bike are probably a bit more than needed, but have come in handy for all of the water over the road and the generally rough roads from several years of above ave rain. They ride about 1-2 kph slower than my 35s on good chipseal, but I average at least a couple kph faster on rough chipseal and gravel on the big tyres. So it probably evens out! It is a very comfortable ride fore sure! I don’t have to lift my butt off the seat for much anymore 🙂
The solar panel has been really good. I had used it a fair bit at home to understand its capabilities at different times of day, different amts of sun, different times of year. Today in full sun in the late afternoon I fully charged my camera and charged my phone from 50 percent to full within about 2.5 hours. So I’m happy with it and happy to carry the weight for it.
Rain… well, I haven’t made much progress! I eventually had to abort the northern part of the state because so many roads were closed I just couldn’t get further west. Plus, I was not very happy about the clouds of mosquitoes because there are so many mozzie viruses that the mosquitoes carry up there. So I took a train to the part of the state that isn’t flooding and doesn’t have heaps of mozzies. But rain is predicted for the next 6 days in varying amts… so we’ll just see what we can do. I’ll ride in rain, just not heavy rain and storms. Granted the predicted rain amts are much less here than where I was or back home, so I’ll just keep doing what I can do and making good, safe decisions!
Great to hear the bike is coming along. I hope it’s finished enough for some good rides before winter sets in.