I just wanted to let Aussie readers know that the ride crew and I are safe. Victoria is experiencing a major rain event where it has been raining heavily since Wednesday night. (It is Saturday here now).
I was lucky to get mobile reception high up on a ridge on Tuesday and saw the deteriorating weather forecast. They were predicting up to 120mm of rain over 3 days in the area I’m riding. I knew I needed to get out of the high country lest I get stuck by fallen trees and flooding and a saturated tent.
So we came down off the Great Divide on Wednesday, camped in a random spot that night at the forest edge, got about 7mm of rain overnight, then rode hard in a break in showers to get to Rawson on Thursday morning.
And it has been raining pretty much since then – very hard at times. There has been about 70mm in total to 9am this morning and another 20-60mm forecast for today.
Luckily, I was able to get a small donga for $50 a night at a quirky and mostly dead caravan park in Rawson. That does not break my weekly $250 budget and has kept us safe, warm and dry (except in trips to the toilet, as the donga has no ensuite).
My ‘campsite cubby is the third one down in the pic below. I’m standing in the camp kitchen with an amenities block to the left. Bike is in the camp kitchen.
You can see rainfall totals predicted in the photo below – we are on the left side of the darkest red/purple.
The rain is meant to ease by late tomorrow morning, so I hope to move on to Heyfield on very gluggy roads tomorrow afternoon. We are getting down to our final bits of food and have not done laundry since we left Albury, so we are really needing a service town pronto!
So this rain event will see some places get three months of rain in three days. Melbourne had almost a month’s worth of rain in one afternoon on Thursday. It feels a bit deja vu to the far western NSW ride where I kept getting stuck by rain in June and July!
However, I’m still feeling happy and positive about this ride, even with long-term forecasts indicating a wetter than normal October.
I’ve had a heap of fun so far and my butt has come good and I’m starting to feel stronger on the gravel climbs with less grunting and energy required. I’m loving the downhills and getting my bike handling skills back up to scratch.
I’ve already felt that joy and connection and state of ‘flow’ that I always sync with on the high country rides. I’m so ready to get back out there for more!
So, yep, we are safe and dry and just hanging out for now.
And yes, we definitely felt the 4.8 magnitude earthquake last night, as the epicentre was just about 90 kms from here. It was a big jolt that woke me, a second smaller jolt and then a few seconds of good shaking with the first jolts accompanied by a low roar that sounded like it came up the valley.
The earth systems are very active in Gippsland this week! Hopefully there are no more updates required and I’ll write up an awesome tour on the flip side in a few months time. See you then! Keep your fingers crossed we can move on tomorrow.
Oh my goodness Em I can’t believe it is raining on you again. Still dry as a bone here. Hang in there. I’ll send dry thoughts.
Yes, the weather gods obviously still have a beef with me. But, it was really an impressive amount of rain and just amazing that it could rain so heavily and continuously. It sucked for me, but the area did have soil moisture deficiencies going into it and needed rain. Just maybe not 5.7 inches in three days. I hope El Nino brings you some precio this winter. Keep your fingers crossed I don’t get hit with anymore northwest cloud bands cavorting with low pressure systems.
Yes – I was thinking about you this morning. Woke to tales of Melbourne getting 2/3rds of its monthly rain in one day and earthquakes in/near Gippsland. I didn’t think you would be near Gippsland but it reminded me of visiting some friends near Fish Creek following a couple of weeks of high rainfall. We had to travel around flooded areas and keep dodging the rain. The friends were renovating their house and it had no doors on!! Not ideal.
So – glad you found somewhere out of the weather to ride it all out and great that riding the bike after Covid is causing no problems.
Thanks for letting us know.
Tony
Hi Tony,
My plan was always to hit the top bits of Gippsland near the mountains for resupply. My original plan was to ride to Walhalla via the north and east side of the thompson valley and then on to Heyfield for resupply. I’ve ended up going the west and south side of the Thompson valley instead to get to shelter more quickly. In Rawson, I’m only about 15kms from Walhalla but will end up bypassing it on my way to Heyfield later today. Still weighing up my next moves after Heyfield as there is 1-4mm of rain forecast for Tues and looks like another iffy period this coming Sat-Tues. It’s got rain every day, but lower totals. Of course, the long range for this started out as 7-25mm on one day and ended up a 3-day deluge. The area I’m in ended up with 145mm from Wed eve to Sun morning. Full on.
Thankfully, the post COVID cough has gone. I was still coughing up the last of the crap the first five days but it seems gone now. I’m glad to have had the booster recently as I think that made it not too terrible this time.
Hi Emily, that would be a lot of rain be receive in a brief period in most places around the globe. how do you spend your time while hunkered down? i get cabin fever fairly quickly notwithstanding the daily crossword puzzle, whatever book i’m reading, and internet streaming. chuck
Hi Chuck,
Yes, it was a crazy amount of rain for a non-tropical location. I took naps, caught up my journal, looked at maps trying to figure out where we are going next since next Sat to Tues are looking iffy rain wise, also. I also watched some documentaries and some YouTube clips. I did have good phone reception so could stream videos. But yes, I’m more than ready to move on today. I’m not a sit around sort of person either.
A bit of rain here and there on a bike trip is to be expected. Periodic heavy rain is acceptable but doesn’t seem fair. An all-day rain totally sucks. Three straight days of rain is a Church of the Great Outdoors abomination, which makes the COTGO just as merciless as any other religion. I liked the little cabana you found to keep you dry. The price certainly was right. I wish we had places like that here in the Midwest.
Yes, it was an abomination. 5.7 inches of rain in the gauge up the road. Impressive but crazy.
Yeah, I’m fine with rain once a week on tour and an occasional couple days in a row of it. And I have sat out a cut off low in hill city south Dakota for three days on one trip.
This was the most heavy rain over such a long period I can ever remember though. At least the road gods gave me the cheap, good place to wait it out since the weather gods are still obviously pissed off with me!