Up early and we got ready very quietly as there were quite a few guests in the accomodation wing, and the floor boards are ever so squeaky. We were on the road by about 6.45 am.

As I waited for Tony to finalise his bike pack I noted this old window of the pub…Cascade Beer ‘for your health’. 🤩🤷‍♀️😂

The National Park pub is a great hotel – great food, accomodation and staff and at a relatively reasonable price too. It is also for sale and can vouch they were busy last night including MTB riders heading to the Maydena course.

We had eaten some banana cake for breakfast that we had purchased the previous day at the Waterfall Cafe at the Mt Field NP. We had not had not read the packaging but was somewhat disappointed that it was made from 72% Australian products….the banana is only 27 percent of the product. Sad that we cannot make banana cake that is 100% Aussie. I need to read labels better moving forward.

It was a lovely downhill ride to Westerway. Not a breathe of wind, and the only noise were raucous yellow tailed black cockatoos who weaved about in front of us for some distance.

Arriving at Westerway, the road side shop was closed….so onwards to Ellendale via a really pretty route, with undulating climbs and descents.

Ellendale was where I found Kinky Kale being promoted. Kale is not my favourite green. The best recipe I have for it is to cook it with coconut oil, as it makes it easier to scrape into the compost!

I loved this old church in Ellendale and the garage.

From Ellendale we arrived at the bridge across Meadowbank dam.

Ouse was the first and last town on the Lyell Highway that we could grab food at. I did a raid at the roadhouse, and Tony at the small supermarket. The wind made a surprise appearance (we thought we would have minimal today) and it was to be with us for the rest of the ride as a predominantly headwind.

Another beautiful stone church, this one at the top of the hill as we left Ouse.

We had a good laugh as we approached a plethora of signs promoting the sale of eggs and honey and other farm goods. The signs started way before the driveways and they seem to be in competition with each other. Not sure which house is winning….

The hardest climb of the day was out of Wayatinah…solid climb. you can see it at the 60 km bar below. Climbed steeply!

Shortly thereafter we crossed this canal which feeds Tarraleah power station. This canal flows from Butlers Gorge power station, dropping 290 meters through steel penstocks into the Tarraleah power station.

After seeking advice from Facebook friends the previous day, we accepted my work colleague Barry G’s recommendation to take the C601 ‘Fourteen mile Rd’ to avoid the descent and climb out of Tarraleah. It was a gravel road through predominantly pine plantations, and whilst undulating gradually kept climbing. Good choice!

We came across this older power station pipe at the junction to Laughing Jack lagoon.

We were now at an altitude of around 750 metres above sea level, and the vegetation was changing to alpine.

A number of our cycling friends are doing the annual police charity ride. We knew they were riding from Strahan to Tarraleah and that there was a possibility of seeing them heading in the opposite direction. We stopped a few times for each pack as they went past. one of the packs had quite a few ‘Hi Yakka’ call outs. It was well supported with police escorts, and they even had a tail wind!

The riding was cruisey now, with most of the hard work done. We had a short climb to get to our maximum altitude of around 800 metres above sea level. Great views of mountains in the Lake St Clair NP. This one is The Acropolis.

We were quite relieved to arrive Derwent Bridge as we were both feeling it! We stopped at this cafe, where the hungry police charity riders had left a short while before. They were still cleaning up!

It is only 5 km from the Lyell Highway to Lake St Clair where we have lashed out accomodation wise. We have a nice lakeside cabin, and enjoyed a nice meal even if the steak was $47! Breakfast is included but not until 8 am, so a later start tomorrow and another big day with over 130 km to ride and plenty of climbing.

Today we rode just over 117 km and climbed just over 2000 metres. given I am not a climber, I am pleased with my efforts.

Here are some views of Lake St Clair.

Thankyou for reading, Ooroo