Tuesday 30th - Ride Nowra in the rain (yay!).Stay with Angus, Hiromi & George (tony)
We awoke to the relaxing sound of rain falling on the roof. We had been extremely lucky with the weather, but today there was no escape - we HAD to ride in the rain. After sad, and much photographed farewells to Helen, Andrew, Patrick, Mathew & Alannah, we headed off. This was the first day for a while that we were a complete team - Great, Matt was back!!!
Kelly, Rachael, Alice & Matt headed north into the rain, while Ania, Tim, Marieke & myself rode to the local bike for some spoke work on one of Marieke's wheels. What started as drizzle, soon became heavy rain, but Bart from Ulladulla cycles soon provided a refuge for us. As we watched a video about the world mountain bike titles, drank his coffee & relaxed in his waiting room, he worked away on the bike.It would have been so easy to stay there all day, but we reluctantly decided we better head out into the rain. When Marieke went to pay him, he said he wouldn't accept anything because he appreciated what Otesha was doing. He is a great example of a business man, who believes that business as usual is not an option. He runs film nights for his customers, runs a bikeclub out of his club & is organizing a bulk buy of electric bikes to make them more affordable. He is happier making less money, if people live more sustainable lives. Onya Bart, long may it continue
Riding in the rain was quite pleasant as it wasn't cold & we were soon reunited with the others in Nowra. We stayed with Angus, Hiromi & George, a friend of Alice's. George, who is quite an accomplished musician soon arrived with the members of his band - "Feral Highway" - Matt, Will & Ben. Another very pleasant evening was passed eating, listening to great music(including George's) & chatting.

Saturday/ Sunday 20/21 March - mid tour evaluation. Ania and Marieke

Saturday 27th - Ride 75km Ullladullawicki yo, check it one two, yo yo, can I get a huh huh? Yo yo. We rode and rode on the frog and toad with a heavy load as the...sweat flowed. Uh huh uh huh. We chilled at a bike shop, others had a muffin, flew to ulladulla, 75 felt like nothin'. yo...yo. My bike has two wheels, my blanket has none, doesn't matter though, coz they serve different purpai. Hmmmm. I liked the ride today. Don't know about the others; I wasn't the vibe-watcher. My gorgeous friend helen, whose place we were headed for in ulla', was a star with driving around for us, and when we got there, we met her new baby alannah. Oh my goodness, so beautiful!  

 
Tuesday 23 march -Marieke
Finally, back on the bikes. Oh how we missed riding!!! It feels like ages since we last rode our bikes and after our off-road forest experiences they are very dusty and looking unloved. But we do love them so much.  It was a hilly day from Bermagui to Moruya and Tim and I had the trailers...I really felt the burn but Tim looked fine. That is on top of Tim running the first 5kms as his chain broke and Alice had the chain-repairer up ahead. Alice played 'bike-doctor' and fixed the chain (very impressive) and they even caught up to us lazily eating in the next town and hiding grapes under bus shelter seats for Tim and Alice to find.  The day was long and hot, but everyone did an amazing job (particularly Ania and Tony for riding into town and picking up food for us, donated by the very giving Moruya TAFE coking class). Congo campsite has to be one of the loveliest places I have ever camped. It was so beautiful. The river meets the sea and swimming is warm and refreshing and the beach is wonderful for sunrises and to jog along. I highly recommend it. Quick note: it may sound very energetic to be jogging as well, but if you saw the amount we eat you would understand! Massive shout out to Bruce who donated the funds for our wonderful campsite and brought us beautiful fresh veg from his garden, thank you so much. It was an early night for us all.
 
Wednesday 24 march, moruya high school, matt sick, David

   
Wednesday March 10 - Tim
'Morning is bro-o-oken...' sang Kelly between fits of 6am giggles. Today was her day as stage manager, perhaps the most serious of our rotating portfolio's, including alarm clock duties. She was quirky but firm as she demanded that we emerge from tents to start the day. Her leadership would have inspired the sleepiest of campers had it not been bellowed from the comfort of her sleeping bag, in her tent, between yawns and snoozes.
We eventually emerged, broke fast, and hit up the smallest school of the tour and possibly the state, Cann River P-12, totaling 50 students. It was a blast, particularly converting the skit to a pantomime style for a primary school performance. Grant, from the local DSE, and also of the landcare group, tour guided us that afternoon sharing his insights as both a public servant and landcare volunteer, thank you Grant. Jan and David hosted us for dinner, along with welcome stranger swaggie steve, and their li'l boys mason and Elijah entertained with musical items in the evening. In health news, Matt is a bit of a sickie dickie, Tim's toe is warding off infection, Rachel's leg may need amputation and Ania's bladder is flowing like rivers of yesteryear. Alice is eating things she normally wouldn't, Kelly's tattoo is staying healthy, Tony somehow still has his gloves, and Marieke is still Gluten Free.
Thursday March 11 - Ania

 
Saturday 27th February - Matt
Leaving Trafalgar with warnings of a steep ascent into Thorpdale we headed on into an ominous sky with caution. The climb toppled easily by our high expectations, nature decided to give us an extra challenge with a thunderous storm unleashing it's lightning above and around us.  Thunder rolled around the mountains as we flew down the mountains, rain stabbing at our faces. The day rolled on and we rode through the gray drizzle it had turned into eventually coming to Boolarra. Finding it kicking out the colour and sound of a lively folk festival the whole Otesha crew got there grove onto the energetic Croque Monsieur while Boolarra residents looked on with amusement and a touch of confusion, our blend of collective joy and varied movement matching the plethora of our attire. We received a warm and cheerful reception from Kathryn the owl and Peter the elephant, Kathryn offering treats from her magical garden of organic goodness and Peter a place to sleep in his fairytale home where art, practicality and ingenious ingenuity met.

Sunday 14 February 2010 Kelly

Happy Valentines Day! On this day
traditionally set aside for chocolates and flowers we woke up bright and early
for our first group bike ride. It was exciting to ride all together but within
the first 30mins I got my first flat and then a few minutes later I got my
second puncture so I wasn’t off to the best start. Once we sorted out a new
tube we were back on our way to our day time rehearsal space which we
discovered was at “Kilbride Centre” a beautiful location across from the beach.
We played energizer games and then got down to business discussing how we are
going to function as group for the next 8 weeks. We are allocated rotating
roles for the day such as facilitator, stretch guru, composting ninja, vibe
watcher and blog writer – that’s me. So we all get a chance to experience
different tasks. We also talked about living as a democratic community and how
to make consensus decisions. With this working model we worked out our food
mandate to reflect our sustainable consumption ideals which includes eating
vegetarian, local, organic, free range, fair trade and bulk foods. I’m learning
so much about sustainability and putting it into practice. 

Monday 15 February 2010- Alice

We will try and keep an ongoing record of what's been happening
along our journey on this blog and our newsletter. It's going to be an amazing trip travelling from Melbourne all the way down to Sydney for 2 months over 1100+ KM's, meeting new faces, living in a cycling community for 5 weeks, and trying to "be the change [we] want to see in the world!"

We all can't wait to jump onto our bikes and hit the road!

- The Southcoast Tour Crew

PS - Thanks so much to all of those individuals who have
supported with inkind and monetary donations. It is helping our project sustain itself.

If you would like to donate you can do so by clicking on the donation button below.

And we are back!  Presenting at the school we started our first, slightly anxious, and very excited days anticipating the trip ahead.
Started the day sleepy, despite our 'amazing' 8:45am start.  -oh, that's right, we rode 104km yesterday.  bum-chek-a-wa-waw!  Uhuh, so, done with the ringing our own bells.  We performed our very last school performance at Kilbreda College (where we're staying), to a group of year 8's and 9's, followed by two runs of each of our workshops.  We then had lunch with the Justice and Democracy group here who are working on some awesome projects - from fair trade to refugees.  Mmm, falafels too, the other way to our hearts!
After lunch, a mad rush to make our eco villians and eco superhero costumes ensued, including perusing of op-shops, amazing new used found for ex-inner tubes, and manic crafternooning.  

 On a chilly morning, we left Woodend, the whole group feeling a bit low in energy as we headed back to Melbourne.  As we continued to Sunbury, our meeting spot for the day, the hills increased in size and length and trailer riders (Kelsey) pleaded, "please, please, don't make me do it.  i don't want to!"  But she made it up, along with everyone else.  At Sunbury, some 50kms into the ride, the group separated with some choosing to peddle on for another 54km to the center of Melbourne and others choosing to avoid the manic traffic of city life and the hot afternoon sun, but taking the train back to Mentone.
Welcome to the train option: