TDU Stage Five

For the fifth stage of the Tour Down Under, we set off with a picnic and a couple of outdoor chairs to get a viewing spot and watch the cyclists come past multiple times. Our chosen position was on the edge of the vineyard. Funny that.

Our picnic naturally included a bottle of local wine - the sweet pea moscato from the Battle of Bosworth winery.  Unbeknown to us, while we were quaffing this in the sunshine, the bones of Richard III were being excavated from a carpark in Leicester. Funny that.

Here they come!

Edvald Boasson Hagen in the Sky train

The Sky boys shelter race leader Geraint Thomas

Excellent driving advice...

...perhaps unheeded by this cyclist

The town of Willunga was bedecked in Tour Down Under colours (orange and purple) and, as it was also Australia Day, there was plenty of yellow and green on proud display too.

Old Willunga Hill has a lot of bends, a lot of climb, and a lot of supporters thronging its fringes. It was exciting. In a ftting result for the national day, Simon Gerrans of Orica Greenedge won the stage with Tom-Jelte Slagter (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) taking second place and moving into the overall lead.

The positioning of the screen at the bottom of the hill meant that those riders at the back of the race could watch the replays of the finish as they rode past and celebrate or otherwise in the outcome.

Andre Greipel (yesterday's stage winner and leader of the sprint classification) looks to the finish on the giant screen

Simon Gerrans does an on-screen fist pump while the remaining riders struggle up the final climb

Stathalbyn, TDU Stage Three and a Koala

We spent the morning in Strathalbyn. It was a Scottish settlement established in 1839 when a boat-load of 105 Scottish immigrants arrived at Holdfast Bay near Adelaide on the Fairfield. It is now home to over 30 Heritage-listed buildings, a peaceful Soldiers' Memorial Gardens, and a plethora of antique shops.

This church is now a theatre, in a fabulous use of venue!

St Andrew's Church is a Presbyterian Church originally built in 1844 and gradually enlarged over the years. District landowner Edward Stirling gave the church the gift of a bell, imported from Scotland, but it proved to be too heavy for the existing steeple and the new square tower was added to house it in 1869.

The bandstand on the hill was built in 1912 by Alexander Caldwell, and after WWI the memorial gardens were developed around it, including the words 'Remember the Anzacs' spelled out in small variegated geraniums.

Old eucalypts show the scars left when aboriginal shields were cut from the then living bark. Trees were a treasured resource to the Aboriginal people and they would take pride in removing the wood without mortally damaging the tree. Prior to European settlement the area around Strathalbyn was part of the larger Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal world.

Strathalbyn is situated on the banks of the River Angas and is a picturesque spot. People rested here on their travels to the Victorian goldfields, and it was a tram terminus. Subsequently there are many old banks, hotels and bakeries. Many are now converted to shops and cafes, and we had the most excellent bacon, parmesan, red capsicum and rocket panini in one of them.

The retention of these heritage buildings meant that Strathalbyn was the ideal setting for Woodend in the 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock. The real Woodend had become too modernized to appear in a film set in the 1900's. Strathalbyn, however, was perfectly suitable, and manny of the local residents appeared in the film as extras in period costume.

Driving to watch Stage Three of the Tour Down Under, we were stopped at Mylor at a cordon for a rolling road closure. These road closures have been handled brilliantly and the traffic police (many of whom are on mountain bikes) have done a fantastic job.

They temporarily close roads for up to 20 minutes to allow the race to pass by. Once a road has been closed by the police, the riders usually take between 15 to 20 minutes to pass by. After the race convoy, the Green Light Vehicle and the final police escort have passed, the road will open again. It's done seamlessly to ensure the safety of the riders and to minimise disruption to the public. New Zealand traffic control could learn a lot from their example.


We were in prime position to watch the riders hurtle towards us, and once they had passed by, we found a more suitable spot by the side of the road near the crest of a hill which they had to circumnavigate six times.

Ian Stannard

Thomas Geraint in the leader's jersey

These boys in blue were particularly amusing (and probably very hot) in their morph suits as they cycled round the course and stopped to encourage the riders. We offered them some of our Skittles but they only took the blue ones.

Luke Rowe and Edvald Boasson Hagen get some encouragement from 'Team Blue Edge'

Edvard Boasson Hagen and Ian Stannard near the summit

A couple of the Sky boys needed to stop for a 'comfort break' and, as Team Sky was controlling the peleton, they slowed it down until the lads could rejoin them. I love the etiquette of cycling!

Ian Stannard and Mathew Hayman rejoin the fold

Him Outdoors cheers on everyone indiscriminately

Gediminas Bagdonas in national (Lithuanian) road race champion colours

Philippe Gilbert, current UCI Road Race World Champion

Andy Schleck

Phil Liggett reporting from the finish

Young rider, Tom-Jelte Slagter, looks happy enough with his stage win

Geraint Thomas retains the leader's and the king of the mountain jerseys

After a full-on day, we were welcomed home by the sight of this koala nestling in the trees by the house. How adorable is that?

Blinky de Vries

We sat out on the deck watching him (although he didn't actually do a fat lot) and drinking beer from local microbrewery, Brewboys. I liked their fabulously named and very tasty, hoppy, bitter goodness, Hoppopotamus, while Him Outdoors enjoyed their Ace of Spades with a smooth taste of chocolate malt - 'very nice indeed.'