Tapping out at 1116 kms

Hey all,
An unfortunate note to update you all with. Around 100 km from the end of our tour, I've decided to tap out and train back to Melbourne from Kyneton. We had a bushfire scare in the area last night and, while the rest of the crew is making their way to the next town and back to Melbourne on Thursday, I figured that this is venturing into 'unreasonable craziness' and made the decision to leave.

We were relaxing in a mud brick home a few kilometres out of Kyneton's town centre when someone noticed black smoke off in the distance. The radio confirmed that there were bushfires about 250 hectares big and 25 km away from Kyneton. We decided to pack up and move into the town centre and meet up with a sustainability group hosting a BBQ for us early and get more information. The locals were very unconcerned about threat of the fire, but with us being on bikes and unable to evacuate quickly if necessary it was pretty alarming for our group. We kept an ear out for the radio and had a nice meal with the community group and performed our skit for a group of scouts. At the end of the evening, the fire was still far away from Kyneton and there was no alert for this town, but the group decided to ask to stay in the scout's hall for the night so that we would be closer to the town centre in case things changed over night. Towns south-west of us were on high alert and the winds were bringing the fire east, towards the town that we were planning to go to today.

We rotated team members over night to get up and check the radio updates every hour and had everything ready to go in case. The fire was downgraded from 'urgent' to an 'alert' in the area and it had slowed down its eastern movement, but by morning it had burned through 2200 ha and 300 firefighters were on location working through a cold morning to prevent it from moving further.

The crew had a meeting this morning and there were many mixed emotions as to the events of last night and everyone's perceived level of danger. I don't think that the crew is in any immediate danger on their ride today, but not being particularly comfortable with the team's ability to move or make decisions quickly in an emergency, I decided to head back to Melbourne today and will meet them when they arrive on Thursday.

So that is the end of my bike riding adventure around rural Victoria! It went really well and we had some really amazing experiences along the way. I'm really looking forward to starting the next leg of my Australian tour, but I'm definitely going to miss seeing the country from the seat of my bike. It's definitely the best way to travel!

Cheers,
Candice