We awoke early, had breakfast, packed and were in the road by 6.40 am.

We had discussed various routes with Angela, one of the pub owners the night before and had decided to take the dirt road option to St Helens. Why? Well certainly not due to my ‘ love’ of dirt roads, as you would all know now that dirt is not my favourite option.

We chose it simply to minimise traffic.

Heading off on the same route as the previous day to head to the Cape Portland wind farm, we descended and crossed the Ringarooma river and today the dog was not present.

At the two km point we veered right to start our dirt adventure. We were heading to Anson Bay some 25 km away and despite the dirt, it was a pretty well maintained road, even by my highly judgmental gravel index.

I love these signs. Our kangaroos are super strength, able to lift the front of cars up. They are also bigger than cars it seems. International tourists must be shocked when they see the local wallabies. The wombat is relatively larger again. Mind you, both animals can render significant damage to a car.

Our route formed part of the Great Eastern Drive promoted by local tourism authorities.

We enjoyed this section, the weather was cool but pleasant, we were protected from the winds and the scenery was pleasant. The road dissected the Mt William National Park. Neither of us had been before and made a note to return and head up to Eddystone Point.

As we entered Ansons Bay the road thankfully was bitumen as it was a steep descent, to the so named remote paradise. What a pretty bay.

Just behind the bay was this lagoon.

Back at the bay one needs to maximise opportunities to rest. This was one of my least comfortable choices.

Further along the bay was a boat ramp and jetty.

After the steep descent into Ansons Bay we figured there would be a climb out. Dirt climb through lovely virgin bush.

We rejoined the main dirt road and another very steep descent to this flood crossing, reminding me of Spellman’s Rd, near home. Tony has the route in his Garmin and could see what was ahead, reminding me to drop into my granny gears.

Oh my goodness….17 percent climb out and it was a bit much with the bike weight for my knee and I bailed about half way up, walking a few hundred metres before riding at a mere 11 percent. I was astounded that I actually recleated my bike shoes back onto the pedals, but riding was easier than walking!

Just finishing the climb

Some interesting areas passed including conservation and farming land.

A lone wombat sign. So far we’ve not seen any live wombats but sadly have found 3 dead roadkill.

We ventured upon the newly opened Derby to Bay of Fires MTB track half way point. Plenty of bike racks, two tables (you cannot sit as nothing to sit on) and a wash station.

Given you can’t sit and chill at the table, I might as well rest.

We arrived in St Helens around 11 am, plenty of time to chill, starting with a nice coffee. After checking into our accomodation we headed to the local supermarket to grab dinner and breakfast supplies, walking along the new foreshore path.

So this photograph is really for one person, who will laugh. Leon White! We found your stolen donut trailer!

Day 4 done and dusted. Tomorrow we head down the East coast to Swansea, overlooking Freycinet and the Hazards.

Thanks for reading, Ooroo.

What a unique bed head, made by the pub owner from wood acquired from the Portland wind farm. Appropriate as that is where we were planning to ride, and that is Tony checking out the wind forecasts.

Not looking great. Better get moving!

Leaving Gladstone we descended to the Ringarooma River. Looks like a great place for a dip on a hot day.

What goes down must go up when cycling, and I laughed as I noticed Tony being chased up the hill by this dog. The dog was barking, and when it stopped, started howling. Not sure if it was seeing Tony off, or wanted to join us.

Looking ahead towards her coastline.

We had a pretty good ride up until the last 5 km before the wind farm. Then we had a northerly headwind, confirmed by the turbine blade positions. The picture below shows a good aerial shot providing perspective.

We rode to the very end of the gravel road, and found this walkway and great little beach.

Heading back along the road we turned off to Little Musselroe Bay. The shots below are from the boat ramp (fairly rugged construction) with some delightfully located ‘rustic’ shacks.

Further along the same road, we rode into the campground, and that was really nice.

There are two shacks off the campground and position, position, position. Tony went past the ‘do not enter’ sign and took these two photos.

The Tebrakunna Visitor Centre was to be the next stop a few km past the campground, up a hill with extraordinary wind exposure! The centre was excellent and well worth visiting. It was a welcome respite from the winds (inside the centre).

Mannalargenna was born c1780. His clan was the pairebenna and his homeland tebrakunna ( Cape Portland). Mannalargenna was a revered bungunna, formidable warrior, and in his older age, considered a seer.

Before the arrival of the white colonists, he and his people had lived an uninterrupted cultural life world. Throughout the 1820’s mannalargenna led his warriors in a war of resistance. Ultimately the story is shocking, with the decimation of his people too sad to write about. They were hunted and killed and their clan of over 10,000 reduced to 300 and then they were shipped off to Flinders Island.

Some wonderful examples of aboriginal arts see on display.

The wind farm has 56 turbines, 80 metres in height. Each turbine blade is 44 metres long and each turbine has 3 blades weighing 7 tonne each. Each turbine can generate 3 megawatts.

The average wind speed at the wind farm is 9.1 metres per second, or approximately 33 km/h, so hardly surprising the farm is very windy and is regarded as a world class wind resource. The turbine blades feather and stop turning at 90 km/h ( 50 knots) but are designed to withstand wind gusts of more than 250 km/h.

We later checked to see how strong the winds were that we were experiencing on our ride out and found out that it was 48 km/h gusting to 67 km/h. Close to non rideable, and questionable safety wise.

We continued to battle staying upright and the gusts continued throwing us around. We rode in the middle of the road, as we had good visibility both ways and it provided us with a few extra metres from the left gutter margins.

A welcome reprieve was a necessary stoppage to allow this herd through.

No more pictures were taking heading back to Gladstone as we really struggled, and put our head down and counted the km down . We had intended to visit Little Blue Lake, but keen to get the bikes, and us, off the roads. It was scary riding in this wind and I did my best to control the bike and stay on it. Progress was slow.

We are the only guests at the pub, and the pub is closed on Mondays. The owners were at a private appointment in Bridport, and would not return for another two hours. Once we arrived back we killed time sheltering from the wind out the front, with a direct view of this renovators delight across the road.

This old church is for sale a few doors down. Not well maintained externally but internally quite nice and only $130,000.

Tomorrow we head to the East coast. We are hoping the forecast winds are a bit less…and intend to set off early. Most of the ride will be gravel, so it will be a slower ride, regardless of the wind possibilities. We have chosen it as the main road is quite narrow and windy.

Thanks for reading, Ooroo!