Wednesday, Sept 4.

Lara

Clear and sunny day, all day.

Had a lie-in this morning after the walking day in Melbourne yesterday. Haven’t had two consecutive rest days for a long time.

Spent the early part of the morning dealing with luggage -dividing between what I need to carry in the panniers and what is being forwarded up to Sydney.

At 11.30 I hit out for the You Yangs, a prominent hill near here from which there can be a great view of the surrounding countryside. It was just 7.5 km to the gate of You Yang Regional Park and another 2.5 km up through the park to the end car-park. This part was through gum trees which showed the results of pretty recent bush fires. Didn’t spot any movement by wildlife.

The You Yang range is the land of the Wada Wurrung people and the name means ’Big Mountain in the Middle of the Plain’ and is held sacred by them. Flinders Peak stands at 314 m ASL. In 1802 Matthew Flinders (we have heard so much about the activity of this man) spotted this peak from 60 km and used it to survey the surroundings and naming it Station Peak. It was later changed in his honour. All exposed rock here is lovely granite while  the plain below is basically basalt.

Flinders mapped out the coast so accurately that many parts never needed correction. He produced his first map of the great southern land in 1804 and was titled ’Terra Australis’ or Australia.

From the car park it is a 1.6 km walk up to the peak with 450 steps along the way. The path weaves its way around giant granite boulders.  A notice  at the start advises to watch out for koalas, but I spotted none.

At the top is a good viewing platform and I spent quite a while here. It was clear; I could see the outline of the high rise in the city in the distance...65 km away. I could pick out the coast of the Mornington Peninsula; Geelong and Lara were clearer and the long straight ribbon of a road that I had cycled to get here stretched into the distance.

All the lower slopes were totally covered with a canopy of gum trees. In Flinders time, I expect that the fields beyond we're also like that before being cleared for agricultural activity. I stayed on the viewing platform for a long time to take in the spectacle before retracing my steps down. Many bushes were in bloom along the way.

There was another viewing platform in order to view the Bunjil Geoglyph, created on 2006 as a tribute to Bunjil (the wedge tailed eagle) who is the Creator Spirit.

I dropped onto the shopping centre in Lara on the way home for a bite of lunch. Busy enough; busier than a lot of similarly sized towns we passed through on the way across.

Tonight I went with Thomas for a meal and a few drinks with the Bartolis, the usual Wednesday fixture.

Enjoyed the relaxing day and a chance just to keep the legs in order- just 22 km of an interesting trip.

Tomorrow, I start moving again.

....and thank God for a lovely day.