Bike SA Annual Tour 2013 - Kangaroo Island - The Round Up

Bike touring is something I'm very new to, this being our second go at it. I think the greatest pleasure in attending these Bike SA events is knowing that all you have to do is get on your bike and ride, you don't have to worry about food or organising accommodation (though you do have to put up your tent), you just get up and enjoy the ride. 

       





Bike touring offers the opportunity to slow down and see the world from a different perspective, for the most part you can stop when you like, take the odd detour and generally enjoy yourself. 

Doing this as part of such a large group means that there is a lot of people looking out for one another, which offers a sense of security to bike riders on lonely highways. The other advantage of being part of an organised group like Bike SA is the volunteers, who are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. 




 





When the weathers a bit miserable or the roads a bit rough and you rock up at a rest station to a hot cuppa and a smiling face, your whole day just gets better. I apologise if this sounds a bit like a marketing exercise, but I can't speak highly enough of the organisation of Bike SA in putting on this event and the volunteers who do such a wonderful job taking care of us all.

Kangaroo Island was a really wonderful setting for an annual tour, both from the diverse range of things to see and the communities who looked after us. At least once we were tripling the population of the community where we were staying and they made us feel so incredibly welcome. The Island itself is so diverse, from windswept coastlines with unique geological features to what looks like temperate rainforest and swamp (although the swamp could have just been due to all the rain we had). It's an incredibly beautiful place and travelling around by bike offered the opportunity to see picturesque views that are too easily missed when speeding along in a car. Kangaroo Island also has a very interesting history and the locals were very willing to share their knowledge and stories with a group of curious cyclists.

I think the best way to sum this up is to do a top 5 list of my favourite things about KI:

1. The scenery - just beautiful!

2. The people - so amazingly friendly

3. The history, from the geological to the indigenous, the European and the modern

4. The Marron Farm - this place was such a surprise!

5. The small local business, including some awesome wineries!

And because I like making lists, my top 5 favourite things about touring with Bike SA:

1. The Volunteers

2. Being able to see new places or get a different perspective on familiar places

3. The people!

4. The sheer pleasure of riding a bike and being around people who also love to ride

5. The relaxation of knowing that Bike SA will take good care of me!

 

I hope this didn't sound too much like an advert, but I think it's worth acknowledging people who do a good job and both Bike SA and KI did such a wonderful job that I just have to say thank you.

Bike SA Annual Tour 2013 KI - There's a hole in my ...

The moon was still up

...knicks! But I didn't discover that until later.

First things first, packing up the tent for the last time. There's always a bit of happiness and sadness in packing up the tent for the last time, happiness that it's the last time you have to go through the procedure and sadness because it means it's almost the end of the holiday. Though it was nice to be thinking that soon we'd be back in our own bed, with a couple of days to recover!

Sunrise

The last day was a straight run back into Penneshaw, to catch the 2:30 ferry. There was a fair bit of pressure to get going early so there was no stress out on the road, but Mr Carl and I still seemed to be at the tail end of the morning group. Not quite as much as Brett and Karen, who did leave camp before us, but detoured to the Kingscote bakery before heading off. Brett also was paid a visit by the puncture fairy, which delayed them even further.

The other name for Prospect Hill

 

The ride was all bitumen, slightly undulating and very cruisy. It felt like we had the wind at our backs as we flew along the road. We picked up our orange caboose as he hitched his final ride on the Adelaide cyclist express. It was while all this flying along was happening that I noticed that the inside of my leg was sore. 

Caught him!

Now this wasn't necessarily an unusual experience for me as my leg warmers often irritated my inside thigh, so when I first noticed it I really didn't think much about it. It was when we reached the rest stop and I sat down to enjoy my cuppa that I realised the stitching on my knicks had given way. I like to think it was the sheer power of my legs that burst the stitching at the seams!

Unfortunately the precise location of the split meant that every pedal stroke rubbed skin against my saddle. Still, there was nothing much I could do about it, so I enjoyed the scenery and my cuppa. 

 

Amazing views

Morning tea was located at the top of Prospect Hill. Well, not the actual top, but close enough! The view was amazing and for those hardy souls who still had the energy to climb to the top of the stairs, I'm sure the view was even better. But we were on a mission to make it to the ferry on time and there were hills to climb.

The path to the top

I think that thought was lurking in a lot of peoples minds, the profile for the day showed a nasty kick just before Penneshaw and we were all familiar by now with Kangaroo Islands hills. I knew there was every possibility I would be walking up the last hill, but given how far we had ridden and the various illnesses and injuries (a small hole can cause a lot of pain), I was ok with that.

 

We rode through beautiful country with the sun shining down on us and the sea gleaming in the distance. It seemed like a bit of a tease after all the weather we'd been through over the past week, but I was never going to complain about riding on a glorious day like that!

Mr Carl - photographer extrodinaire!

Soon enough we approached the base of the climb and agreed to ride it at our own pace. This is mostly for my benefit as there's something a bit torturous about watching someone easily chatter away next to you while your struggling to take a breathe. That being said, it's always nice to have support and Mr Carl has guided me carefully up hills before, but I wanted to do this myself, just me and the hill. Possibly the sun was getting to me, it was a bit of a shock to the system!

The top

Anyway, in my head I had resigned myself to walking up most of the hill, but once I started riding up it, I found my stubborn streak. This was the last hill of the tour, I was not going to walk! I tried hard to remember to look around and enjoy the scenery as I ground my pedals, trying between gasps to notice how lovely the country was and not how close I was to overtaking the lady in front of me!

I made it to the top of the hill and then I stopped. I lent over the handle bars and sucked in lung fulls of air, trying to recover from the slog up the hill. But I had made it! And Mr Carl was nowhere to be seen. I figured that he was just over the next rise, so I got back on the bike and gently took off. 

Found him!

The road followed the ridgeline, so there were many next rises for Mr Carl to be hiding on. I actually started worrying, as there were a few maniac drivers in the area, and I had yet to find Mr Carl.

Eventually I found him, waiting for me on the side of the road. He had also made up the hill no worries, so the two of us road towards Penneshaw and the waiting ferry. I'd like to say it was no worries from that point, but while it was all down hill from there, my desire to stop and take photos on said downhill left Mr Carl a little worried at the bottom as he waited for me to join him. Still, I think the photos were worth it! And in truth, with my CX brakes and some very affectionate traffic, flying down the hill didn't really appeal to me.

 

Penneshaw

We had made it, with time to spare! I hadn't quite come out of it unscathed though, the hole in my knicks had resulted in a small but painful amount of skin removal. However a band-aid soon fixed it enough for the rest of the afternoon. We even managed to have enough time to track down a coffee shop before the ferry trip. And thankfully the ferry trip back was as uneventful as the ferry trip over. We even managed to get the same seats! 

 

The four of us made it back to Cape Jervis in one piece, chased down various pieces of luggage and said goodbye to many new friends. We had all made it, none of us had made use of the sag wagon and all of us had pushed the boundaries of our cycling and in some cases our taste buds as well. All in all it was an amazing trip and while it was nice to be home in my own bed, I'd go back in a heart beat.

Happy campers!

 Strava data

Bike SA Annual Tour 2013 KI - These shoes were made for . . . throwing?

I don't think he was getting in our tent!

This day began a little earlier than all the others, as I woke some time in the wee hours of the morning to a "thunk, thunk" against the tent wall. Thinking that the local fauna were being a bit enthusiastic, I went back to sleep. A bit later, I heard it again, except being slightly more awake, I realised it wasn't local fauna, but someone throwing shoes against our tent!

What's in that bag?

Creepy crawlies

Now admittedly, Mr Carl, being ill, was doing a fairly spectacular job with his snoring. However I thought it was a bit of a drastic reaction when a disembodied voice yelled "turn him over, he's keeping the whole camp awake." Not being 100% awake (what with it being night time and all), I simply looked over and realised that Mr Carl was already on his side, so what she said didn't make any sense. 



It was then my brain caught up and I realised she was having a go at him for his snoring, which made me mad. So I yelled back "He is on his side, leave him alone, he's bloody crook!" This unfortunately woke Carl, effectively stopping the snoring. Which left an opening, which the frogs in the pond took up with full gusto!

 

Easy to spot!

 



Suffice to say I was a little grumpy at breakfast, and had planned many terrible things to do to the lady's shoes should they still be there in the morning (they weren't). However there were places to see and riding to be done, so there was no point in staying grumpy.

Not so easy

Today we had a few options, we could see a bird display at Raptor Domain, we could ride the extra 11 km down to seal bay and go on a tour and we could visit KI Spirits. Being that neither of us were feeling all that flash, we decided to head straight to Kingscote, with the priority getting some cold and flu medication for Carl. Thankfully this still involved stopping at both the bird park and KI spirits, which were rest stops for the day.

Almost found them all

The road was pretty cruisy and the weather was smiling on us once again. The Adelaide Cyclist freight train made good use of these conditions to fly along, though illness and interrupted sleep had left us feeling a little fatigued. Still, it's impossible to be too grumpy on a bike and the shoe throwing incident wasn't worth ruining the day over.


 

Disturbingly realistic

Soon we rolled up to the Raptor Domain wildlife park. Carl and I had decided to forego attending the show in favour of getting into Kingscote sooner, however we still had a lot of fun playing tourist. The wildlife park has a really cool game for kids (and grownups) where they've hidden insects around the place and you have to find them. They're not real insects, but some of them were surprisingly hard to see and we had a lot of fun trying to find them all!

Baby Wedgie

Karen and Brett had ridden down to see the bird show the day before and had recommended that we keep an eye out for the rescued wedge tail eagle chick, however when we had first turned up we found the cage but it was empty. Thinking that we were going to be out of luck, we continued to play find the insect, until the majority of riders had either gone in to the bird talk or headed down to seal bay. As we were getting ready to head of, one of the keepers rocked up and she had the wedge tail eagle chick with her. 

Bikes equal happy!

The lady called us over and told us the story behind the chick as she put her back in her cage. She had been rescued from the Northern Territory and was 6 weeks old (I think). She was probably about the size of a large chicken so it was amazing to think about how much she had grown in 6 weeks. Because we were such a small group, the lady invited us to carefully pat the chick. We were all a bit tentative, after all she had a wicked looking beak, but she was gentle and seemed to enjoy the attention. This was truly an amazing moment, having always admired wedge tails as powerful and graceful birds, I was truly honoured by the opportunity to touch one.


 

No matter what the bike

Now that the day had definitely brightened, Carl and I powered along, heading to lunch. We picked up our orange caboose for a while, until the undulations resembled hills a little too much. We were trying to catch Karen, as she had taken off to try and stay in front of Brett (who had gone to seal bay), however she beat us to the lunch stop. It was a bit of a novelty for us being one of the first ones into lunch, rather than the last and we gorged ourselves on baked potato with all the trimmings. 

No cold can stop him!

Soon we were on our way again, chasing Karen and heading to another awesome stop. This time our destination was KI spirits and afternoon tea would be provided with a bit of extra kick! Brett and Karen also managed to turn up and so the four of us set about trying a vast assortment of spirits and liqueurs. This was actually a bit tricky, as we didn't want to put ourselves in a posistion where we were unable to ride, so we chose carefully a few that tickled our fancy. Karen and Brett, having been here before, recommended the honey and walnut liquer. This was delicious, and if we had more room in the backpacks we would have grabbed a bottle of that as well as the KIS lime and ginger bottle that we did take with us. This was a fruity, tart drink that was perfect with tonic water and I can't wait for summer so I can sit outside, relaxing, sipping it and listening to our pond.

Karen really likes honey

Suitably happy, we cruised the final leg into Kingscote and found we had plenty of time for one more stop. On the outskirts of Kingscote is the Honey Shop, which sells all different honey related products based on the islands thriving honey producing business. KI honey is particularly special, as it is made by Ligurian bees and I believe it is the only place in the world where this species of bee still exists as a distinct species. Every effort is made to protect the bees, and no bee related products, including honey, may be brought to the island. The shop also has a display hive where you can see the bees hard at work.

Happy Bees

After some honey chocolate fudge and and honey icecream, we headed into town to the campsite. It was a real novelty having plenty of space to choose from and we even had the luxury of the soft grass on the oval (no subsurface irrigation here). Mr Carl and I tried to choose a slightly more remote spot in consideration of other campers, however as the day wore on, more people chose to camp near us.








I indulged myself in a massage, then Carl and I wandered down to the town centre in search of a chemist. After wandering around aimlessly for a bit we found a map, which indicated that the chemist was up a side street, not something we would have figured out by ourselves.

  

Aussie icon

Having purchased a enough drugs to knock Carl out we wandered back to the city centre to have a bit of a poke around. On our way we caught site of a couple of signs from a notable Australian cycling icons hanging in shed, so I had to grab a picture. I'm sure the locals thought we were daft!

Patience is not a virture for birds

Since we had a bit of time until dinner we wandered down to the beach and eventually found ourselves at the place where there is a pelican feeding display everyday. It was about to start, so we joined the crowd, which included Brett and Karen, and settled in to watch. 

Mr Percival in person

Honestly I wasn't expecting a lot, but the gentleman undertaking the feeding was incredibly knowledgeable and had quite a sense of humour about the whole thing. He probably needed it given the amount of gulls that kept trying to land on his head. He told us quite a bit not only about the pelicans, but also the gulls, including a pacific gull which had joined the feeding. It was a really awesome experience and a far cry from the 5 minutes of watching birds eat fish that I was expecting.

Take off!

Finally we wandered back up the hill to dinner. Dinner was a slightly more gregarious affair, with people making full use of whatever they could find to dress to the theme of pirates vs frocks! We were entertained by local musicians and enjoyed the party atmosphere, however we were both still a bit worn out due to illness and opted to head to bed early. We fell asleep to the sounds of the party kicking on and the knowledge that numerous people, many years our senior, were partying so much harder than we could! 

A festive affair

Strava data

Bike SA Annual Tour 2013 KI - Caves, Crustaceans and Chardonnay

There was a little bit of relief packing up the tent that morning and leaving Western KI Caravan Park. Not that it had been a terrible place, quite the contrary. Knowing that we'd have a chance that evening to pick a new campsite, possible one that was less exposed, made me breathe a little easier as we got ready for the day.

Tourist time

I was also fairly excited since I had managed to talk Mr Carl into being a tourist and coming on a guided tour of Kelly Caves with me. I absolutely love caves and I had been hoping for a chance to get to see these ones. There had been a tour available on the rest day, but we hadn't been sure what the weather would be like, so we decided to sign up for the tour a day later. 

Posing for the camera

 

Mr Carl had unfortunately contracted a cold and was feeling a bit worse for wear, so our plan was to take it easy. With the rest stop at Kelly Caves a mere 13km from the starting point, this was an easy thing to achieve. However, just to make sure we weren't stressing ourselves too much, we stopped for photo opportunities part way there.





 



Soon we were at the caves and I signed us up for the tour. The most difficult thing about the tour was walking up the path to the cave in bike shoes. As I had found the day before, bike shoes are not the best shoes to hike in and the caves were at the top of a reasonably steep incline. However we made it and soon we were climbing down a ladder, deep underground.







 

On a side note, I love the way some of the names for places on Kangaroo Island have evolved. Kelly caves was apparently named after the horse that fell down a hole which made people aware the caves existed. Unfortunately for the horse, having fallen down the hole, it was never heard from again. However the rider eventually made it out in one piece and decided to name the caves after the horse he had to leave behind.

Successful cave photos

Kelly Caves are stunning, with many examples of stalagmites, stalactites and other cave formations. The lady who guided us through was full of information and stories and told us so much about not only the caves we were wandering through but how caves are being managed the world over. I think the scientist in me, having just been involved in putting together some other ecological management documents, was thrilled to hear the amount of care that is being taken with these natural wonders.

 

The caves were a photographic challenge, but we both managed to get a few shots that were worth while. The guide also talked about the adventure caving that they offer there and I was hard pressed not to sign up for it then and there, but I figured it might be best to continue on with our cycling holiday before jumping head first into something else.

Eventually the guide dragged us back out of the caves, I don't think any of us really wanted to go but another tour was on it's way and we had more cycling to do! Thankfully morning tea was still being served at the caves and even better, Rory the coffee man was on hand as well, as Carl and I had once again forgotten our cups. Admittedly this was a very convenient excuse to indulge in amazing hot chocolate and coffee as well as some fruit cake.

The only evidence of rain we saw

 

After gorging ourselves we decided we probably ought to roll out and started the trek to our second destination of the day, Two Wheeler Wines. This involved a cruise along the bitumen, then a left hand turn up a dirt road. The effect of the rain was evident on the dirt road, with large puddles running along the edge and a slightly sketchy surface in places. But for the most part it was a gorgeous cruisy ride and I believe we had a slight tail wind, which made it even better. 

The view from the top

Another view from the top

The road was mostly undulating but a couple of hills made sure that by the time we reached the winery we were ready for a drink. I probably also needed to recover from the slightly scary experience of flying down a hill and encountering a concrete creek crossing. While the condition of the crossing was quite good, it was difficult to make out from the top of the hill and it required a certain degree of blind faith that speed would get you though. Suffice to say that once we reached the winery, I was more than ready for a drink and the barman was more than ready to oblige.

To clear up the confusion

Strangely enough, I think that Two Wheeler Wines was my favourite place (except the caves) of the whole trip. The barman really made the experience so enjoyable and allowed us to relax after the stresses of the last couple of days. He insisted that we start from the top and work our way down, we weren't allowed to miss anything and really, who were we to argue? 

Marron

He told us about the winery and the marron farm and it was really easy to see how passionate he was about both the wine and the food. This was evident in how good the wines tasted, I don't think there was one I really disliked and I was very surprised just how awesome their anise myrtle liqueur was, especially as I don't like liquorice. 

A happy cyclist

Speaking of dislikes, neither Mr Carl or myself are big seafood fans, but a friend recommended we try the marron cocktail and after all the wine tasting we thought that was an excellent idea. It was delicious! We split a bowl of chips and a marron cocktail between us and the plates were almost licked clean. Not only was the marron amazing, but the locally produced sauces that accompanied it were just perfect. I think this was the most amazing find of the whole trip as you really don't expect unique, top notch food and wine up a dirt road on Kangaroo Island. 

 

Posing again!

Eventually we had to head back into town and Mr Carl graciously offered to carry the evenings imbibement. He was actually looking a bit second hand at this point in time so I tried to jump on the front and give him a break from the wind which was no longer behind us. After enduring some corrugations slightly reminiscent of the first day of the tour, we rolled into Vivone bay with our wine bottle intact and proceeded to scope out a place to set up the taj.

The roads we travelled

After a bit of investigation, we set up in a secluded area which included our very own koala overseer and a evening frog chorus. It also had the remnants of an irrigation system, which was a little worrying until we figured out that it was well and truly disconnected. After a shower, we headed over to tea to share our bottle of wine and find out what Karen and Brett had been up to. All in all I think this was my favourite day of the tour!

Happy Snap!

 Strava Data