Crabs on Bikes

We had a quick breakfast and were at the long term car park in Torquay by 6:30am. Bikes were already in bags, so it was a quick shift to load them on the waiting cattle trucks. We then stood in a queue for the buses to Robe. As they arrived, it was apparent that there were no toilets on board, necessitating a quick visit to the cross-training gym nearby. There were a few cyclists taking advantage of this. We stopped for a quick break en route and then lunch in Hamilton.

We arrived to a beautiful afternoon in Robe and gathered our gear, finding a spot in the immaculate grass at the edge of the golf course. There was lots of activity as people assembled bikes and ditched cardboard boxes. We wandered into town, where the street had been closed and little stalls lined the road. We found one shop selling crabs on bikes, and there were lost of decorated bikes lining the street. We ambled through to the beach and then settled into one of the restaurants for a beer, listening to live music and watching the crowds of cyclists enjoying the lovely evening. Turned out we were seated at a table next to another Suzanne and Simon which made us laugh.

We were curious to see the setup to feed around 4,000 people and dinner was a very smooth operation with multiple bays set up and the food stored in styrofoam boxes. It was surprisingly good. However, the queue for the bar was too long - could be a dry week! The dish washing station was most impressive and doubled as a clothes washing during the day.

Back at the tent we had the dual pleasure of listening to Bohemian Rhapsody on the movie screen and live music from the adjacent big tent. Thank goodness for earplugs.