18 March - Day 2 Lorne, Apollo Bay, Castlemaine

Woke up in Lorne this morning after a great night's sleep. Breakfast at the bakery in the main street and checked out of our motel right on 10 am. Another fine, clear day with a maximum temperature forecast of 29ºC. Our trip today would include about 50km of the best scenery along the Great Ocean Road (GOR) so I spent a bit of time making sure my helmet action cam was set up properly to capture all the action. It was nearly 10:30 by the time we hit the GOR and the traffic was light. We mostly encountered cyclists. The GOR is fairly winding with fantastic views on the left side so it is quite a challenge to take in the terrific views and keep an eye on the road and traffic as well.
We made several stops for photo opportunities along the way and all to soon we were on the outskirts of Apollo  Bay and time to turn North towards Ballarat.

Initially the road winds its way way up through the Otway Ranges before flattening out as you approach Colac. The ride through the mountains was fantastic, hardly any traffic. Refilled our tanks in Colac and then pushed on to Ballarat where we had a quick bite for lunch. As it was still relatively early we decided to continue to Daylesford where we quickly discovered that there was no accommodation available, so then we pushed on the extra 50 km to Castlemaine. I had never been here before and was very impressed with this city and really hoped to spend the evening here, but once again accommodation was proving difficult until eventually we rang a place suggested by one of the other motel owners and struck it lucky. A twin room in a beautifully restored old mansion for $115/night. We quickly changed out of our bike gear and walked into town for a beer or two or three. Also found a great Indian and Malaysian restaurant and after a nice evening walk to check out the town we sat down to a great meal. We have just walked home, had showers and are busy recharging all our cameras, phone etc.

Total Distance 300 km