Monday, January 21, 2013

Dodging the Bushfires. . . Climbing the mountains

Watch out, Koala crossing! We are in Bairnsdale, just east of Melbourne now and having a day off, blogging from the library. We've had to arrange our riding in order to avoid the Bushfires. My daughter Laura's friend, Chris Hatfield, says that the Bushfires in Australia can be seen from outer space.
 
You haven't heard from us lately, since we've spent the last few days crossing a Mountain Mt. Hotham. To desribe the uphill - 10 km of a 6.6% grade, followed by 10 km of a 2% easy rest, followed by 10 km of 4.9% grade and finally a 2 km stretch of exactly 10% that we learnt the reason Aussies call our bikes Push Bikes.
 
When we stopped overnight in Omeo a couple nights ago, there was a large bushfire only 65 km to the West of us. called the Gippsland fire. Residents of Omeo were more than a bit concerned as the entire town was burnt to the ground in 1939. We could see a fairly thick haze in the air. Sometimes I wonder if He isn't trying to tell me something, having been driven out of California's Sierra mountains due to too much smoke for hiking, having just left Christchurch NZ before the huge Feb, 2011 quake,  and now we're having to watch where we ride because of fires all around.

Another ferry boat ride. This one pulls the ferry across a short stretch of water by pulling on cables.

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