Nothing like a good ride in the sunshine

 ..to counter the months of cloudy and wet that we have faced and face  over the next few months.. 

It seems we all like a good climb, especially the Mamils who occupied the steepest parts of the Tour de France yesterday . While the 850 metre climb to Marriners lookout is 17% , there are very few places in the Otways  where road grades are over 5% . Even the long steep road out of Adelaide up to Eagle on the hill has never been more than 5%.

 The popular bike ride  road from Lorne to the ridge ( slow down ) is a  consistent 5% . Colac is fun because few climbs are 3% and the climb are short .

It took a long time to get a road into Apollo Bay with that first road having a consistent grade of 4 % to make it easier for the horses . A bag of grain cost twice as much to carry up Wild dog as a passenger because the bag couldn't get out and push . The current road through Skenes Creek is not much less steep, but is less affected by landslides. 





LANDSLIDES maybe a natural feature of the area but our leaders still do not understand the risks with major avoidable and big landslides on the Skenes creek road and the new extension from GOR Cape Otway turnoff to Horden vale being in recent years . Ask me if you want the details . Clearly our current reps prefer to remain ignorant . 

Yes, its a good hope that we make less mistakes , and that our children understand the land and environment better so they can enjoy it rather than fear using or abusing it.

Early farmers were not the only ones to think flat areas halfway up hills was a good place to clear. I have had to say No to many wanting to build houses on the toes of the many big landslides like the above sites east of Wild dog river . and moving land on the Blue Johanna , the Heytesbury and along the coast . 

We shouldn't feel too bad about clearing, or even roadmaking , if we obey the understanding principles above. The tall timbered land east of Wild Dog River was busy moving in a big way long before any human being got near to Apollo bay. Now that we are all moving now more in the right direction we can still maintain the roads through this almost impossible country and do more drainage before the land is reafforested.

With understanding, the same applies to our work with road building. Some of the most sustainable roads in the wettest parts of the Otways ( wetter than France ) were built on very low grades with sound planning of crossfall and appropriate surface and cross drainage so that they will still be useful for our grandchildren ; eg Turton's track and access roads in the top of the West Barwon dam catchment .

YET  our Representatives still haven't learned the lessons they should have ,

TAKE THE WASTED recent EFFORTS TO IMPROVE OUR ROADS

VERY CLEARLY not enough surface cross drainage was used on the upgrade of the Princes Highway to Geelong and as the grass verges ( even in France as the footage shows ) have replaced graded edges, the need for more of that cross grade has increased.

If we had Provincial control of our own district , this slow ,error prone, ignorant and ineffective contract control of works@Joe McCracken @Bev McArthur MP @Sarah Henderson Richard Riordan MP Barnaby Joyce @Matt Canavan @ Dan Tehan MP would not be the huge and costly problem it now is.  @Representing South West Victoria

Our forefathers weren't as ignorant as we are now . They had to cope with clay surfaced roads that stopped all traffic. Even the flattest roads in the world need cross drainage and even some of the flattest roads can't be driven on when there is a bit of rain .

Please don't join the chorus of fools on the net and in Parliament who blame the weather.