Biking Solo, From Sydney to Melbourne

Biking Solo, from Sydney to Melbourne

by Justin (Find out more about the Author)

How the Solo Bike ride From Sydney to Melbourne started.

It was November 2019, a time before COVID19 knocked everyone’s travel plans off their tracks…you know…back in the good old days when you could travel internationally…anyway, that was the background and I decided it was a good idea to go biking solo From Sydney to Melbourne a to celebrate my 24th birthday, which led to one of the best memories in my life and hence this following journey.

Solo Bike ride from Sydney to Melbourne
The Grounds of the city, one of the nicest cafe/ breakfast places IN THE WORLD, definitely go and try it if you ever visit Sydney!

''I'll try and keep it Bike Orientated''

I will try to keep this as bike orientated as possible but being a foodie myself, I do not rule out occasional or borderline over-emphasis on the food I’ve had on the road as well! However, I guess you are reading this because you are more interested about my bike trip rather than sights in Sydney/ Melbourne, I shall not focus too much on those (Let’s be honest, we all know what the Sydney Opera House looks like and Google probably has much nicer photos than I am ever capable of taking)

Biking Solo From Sydney to Melbourne

The bike part of the trip lapsed over 8 days, started in Sydney, and ended in Melbourne. When I landed in Sydney, the only accommodation which I booked was the first 3 days in Sydney and the final 3 days in Melbourne – yes that means, no plans or agenda for the 8 days in between and I guess I just have to drag myself from New South Wales into Victoria one way or another. Sounds stupid? Well, I that’s synonymous to being young 🙂

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Getting the Tourist things out of the way

So after a few days of sightseeing (it’s my first time in Australia ok?!), scuba diving, catching up with friends, and VISITING KOALAs, I went and picked up my rental bike which became my faithful companion over the 8 days, but first, let’s look at Koalas!
Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne

Renting The bike

Sorry I digressed again, where was I? Oh yes, bike Right, so I rented a BMW F700 GS with top and pannier boxes for this journey.
Why not a bigger bike like R1250GS you may ask? Well there were multiple considerations to this:
  • Firstly, fuel consumption, since I have no plan or agenda, it could be hard to predict where my next fuel stop will be or where there is a petrol station for my next stop.. WIth that in mind, to avoid excessive route planning, I’ve picked a smaller bike yet it is more than capable to take whatever I have with me and still return a respectable performance on and off road.

  • Secondly, the R1250GS is considerably heavier than the F700GS. In the unfortunate event of me dropping the bike somewhere far out between civilizations (and trust me, there was a significant proportion of the journey which I am pretty sure I was the only human being in a 100km radius), will I be able to easily bring the bike back upright, especially if I dropped with the bike and suffered an injury on my leg or arms (luckily I didn’t).

  • Thirdly, the R1250GS is more expensive to rent…..and I am cheap….
So after taking all of the above into consideration, I went for the F700GS
Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne
Remember your first kiss? It’s like that, but better
Booking.com

Let's get to the Biking Adventure

After picking up the bike from the outskirts of Sydney, and miraculously fitting all of my things either in the boxes or strapped in the back seat, I set off! One of my rules which I set for myself is to avoid Motorways for as much as possible – what joy is there to cruise at 100km/h on the straight when you can take scenic backroads?! The bike was very friendly (i have never been on an adventure bike before) and within an hour, I was getting used to the dynamics as well as some functions on my dashboard. WIth no specific end point but just heading south in general, soon I reached the coast side, stopped for a few pictures for the gram and started to look for places to stay for that evening (Advice, look for places to stay when you’re still in full energy mode, this enables you to ride further and have better flexibility if you really want to stay at a specific place)
Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne
The vineyard where I stayed for two evenings, fantastic host and very nice wine

A Stay with a view

I am sure you are all aware of Australia’s wine industry – me too, and that’s why I have chosen to stay with a private family owned vineyard. It’s hard to put in words but it’s more than fascinating to see this amazing view when you wake up in the morning. You might have noticed by now that, the whole trip is going to be very chill and has no agenda – indeed, I remember spending the good part of an evening just chatting and drinking with the vineyard owner. Why stress yourself on a holiday when life is stressful enough generally? I don’t like rushing on a holiday and since this is a solo holiday, I have no one to report to or to keep them happy. If you are wondering if you should take a solo holiday, all I will say is – pick a safe country and enjoy solitude.
Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne
Peaceful beach with the whitest sand I have ever seen

Beautiful Beaches and The Australian Hospitality

Nothing in particular worth elaborating during these couple of days – just rides and beaches and chill, but one place I would highlight – Kangaroo Valley Coffee Co-op, a community run coffee roastery with one of the most amazing coffee I have ever had and uber friendly staff who treats you like a long lost friend rather than a customer (or is that just Australians in general?). Pay a visit if you ever pass by!
Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne

The Roads

Over the next few days, more riding and into more difficult terrain yet with fabulous views – some dirt road which they call “highway” and between crop fields and grazing land. The bike worked hard, most certainly didn’t lack low end power and perhaps this is the time when you would want a R1250GS, you can feel it starts to struggle above 120km/h but, for all practical purposes, this did not bother me too much – unless you are one of those who can confidently blast through dirt road and choose not to embrace the nice scenery then perhaps you should go for the bigger brother. Oh yes, you may ask how was the weather for the trip, did it rain much or was the sun unbearable in Australia? Afterall, it was November and that marked roughly the start of the notorious Australian summer right? Ha! Nope! And I have never been so wrong in my life!
Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne
Yep, snow, in Australian Summer

Unexpected weather change

So if you look on a map, in the region of south east Australia, there is a patch which you may read, “Snowy Mountains”. Turns out, Alpine conditions there do last quite a while and when I went, it was snowing!!!

Put yourself in my shoes, if you are to ride in what you think it’s an Australian summer, what gear would you bring? Summer riding gear right? The porous ones which let maximum cool air come through to cool you down.

Now imagine wearing that set of gear in a 5’c environment with winter gale poking into your skin like spikes

If I remember correctly, I think I wore 5 layers at the end. Kids, bring one winter item wherever you go….you never know.

Then I had to make a difficult choice – when I finally reached the skiing chalet (yep still talking about Australia…), it’s forecasted that there might be a blizzard coming my way. The question I then had to ask myself was, do I brave this still pretty terrible weather with sleet and cold rain, or risk being snowed in for who knows how many days…I picked the former and started ride out of the ski resort

This is where HEATED GRIP SAVED MY LIFE!

Gosh I have never realised how amazing they can be. When I was riding down the mountain roads, I had the heated grip on max and I bet they kept me away from hypothermia – I am not remotely exaggerating. After 4 hours or so, finally, I reached double digit temperature…

Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne

Finally more sunshine

The next few days were less eventful, and after some more riding and chilling, I have finally reached the famed Great Ocean Road!

Stunned and left completely speechless by this majestic view, no one can take a bad photo at this place. The horizon stretches out to as far as you can see and the colour on these photos does not do the scene justice. Even if you are just going to Australia to see this scene I think it is totally reasonable.

The roads were impeccably paved and serviced, long and windy (though you do see quite a lot of roadkills – wombats, in particular)

Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne

The Final Few Days

There were not too many interesting things which I have not written about at this point, lots of comfortable riding before eventually turning towards Melbourne. Of course there are lots of things to do/ to eat/ to see along the way but I shall save that for another day.

Were there points which I wished I had rented a 4×4 instead of exposing myself to the gale and freezing cold? Yes

Were there points which I wished I just be normal and just spend a week drinking and eating in somewhere nice? Yes

But will I do all these all over again knowing what I would be facing? Hell yes! Maybe with a set of gears though.

Want to Find out more?

For more information, please reach out and I am more than happy to discuss any aspect of this trip with you. I deliberately keep things at a high level to avoid boring you people but if you are interested, I am more than happy to share more details e.g. where to stay or what to pack!

Alternatively, if you want to go on a chill bike trip with me in the future, please also reach out and we can work something out!

Author

Solo Bike Ride From Sydney to Melbourne

Justin

This Blog Post was written by Justin, a Hong Kong native and Motorcyling Enthusiast.

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