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.
When the sun finally went down at the Boolarra folk festival is was tradition to head on to the footy club to enjoy an open mic night where young divas drew silence and ole country folk told tales of tragic comedy. The highlight of the night going to the two performing Oteshians. Alice warmed the crowd with the sing along "if I had a hammer" then tickled them with her Tupperware song, quickly following up with the dazzling depths of emotive truths sung in her "nothing can be separated" song, all accompanied by a quaint blue ukulele. After a jittery squirm through the nervousness of anticipation I sat upon the stage with the feeling that I imagine would be more suited to an end of days landscape covered with volcanic eruptions and land tearing earthquakes. Devastating tangents of perception aside the experience was wondrously energizing leaving me at the end of day with a greater sense of freedom and elevated respect for our group, and I dare say a growing love.
Monday 29th Feb - Tim
Told myself I would write this before the following Monday came along. Fail. But thank you for coming back to read it all the same.
Was a big day of firsts! First day of both riding and performing/workshopping, your's truly's first use of his 'granny gear'- to pull the trailer up a mother earth of a hill, and first unplanned paddock camping after knocking on the door a lovely farmhouse just outside of Tyers, as we raced between Monday's Newborough gig and Tuesday's at Maffra. Hazelwood power station was in sight for much of the day and our ABC news correspondent Tony told us of their new 20 year contract with Alcoa- hmmmm.
We had a great visit to Lavalla College, and for days to follow enjoyed the fruits of their chooks' unfertilized labour. The cycling was good times, food was out of control, company was supoibe. Another final thank you to Catherine and Paul for their passionate support  (and cycling glasses) in Boolara. Amazing.
 
Tuesday 2nd March - AniaAnother mighty cold morning, waking up at the early hour of 5am to the moon still high and the sun nowhere in sight... 5am is the earliest rise we've had so far, and for good reason; today we were to ride an ambitious 60kms to arrive at Maffra for a 1.30pm performance! We hit the road as the sun was beginning to come up and gunned it through the beautiful Gippsland Plains, passing mushrooms and apple trees (no time for picking!). Despite two trailer tyre flats, we arrived at Maffra in 5 hours with plenty of time spare before our performance.   After faffing in town, we headed over to perform to year 9s at Maffra Secondary College and found we were more exhausted than we'd thought,
THURSDAY 4TH March-Tony
On the road again after a pleasant couple of days in Maffra with Kes and Goodie. This time headed for Bairnsdale. We had ideal riding conditions- flat country, very little wind and a pleasant temperature in the mid 20s. We made goot time and arrived at our destination earlier than we expected.
We met our host Jo from Bairnsdale Secondary College as well as Meg who was organizing our program at their school the next day. Jo and Meg had volleyball training, so half the crew went along and had a great time learning how to dig, set and spike. Back to Jo's place for another satisfying meal.
Friday 5th March - Rach
Today we performed at Bairsdale Secondary, what an amazing school. The students were so cool and responsive to what we are doing. We all came away from our workshops feeling like we had really engaged with the classes. Meg was such a great host teacher so happy and enthusiastic to have us at her school. A very positive school day, thank Bairnsdale Secondary!
Saturday-Sunday 6th-7th March- Alice
Over the weekend we rode the beautiful rail-trail from Bairnsdale to Orbost.  It was so enjoyable leaving the traffic behind and riding through some beautiful forest- rail-trails are the way to go- I dream of the day that there is a network of them around the country.
After a night camping under a heavy storm it was good to warm up our muscles riding off on the Sunday.  The big news of the morning was crossing the 500km mark since we left Lilydale! The km are clocking up with amazing speed, and Sydney seems so achievable. Another highlight was meeting a guy called Steve on the track, who is walking from Melbourne to Brisbane.  Amazingly, he left Melbourne at the same time as us! What with our stopping for school visits it looks likely we will cross paths again on the way to Sydney. We all felt quite inspired by his simple approach to life and calmness, moving slowly and experiencing the world.
Monday March 8th- Marieke
Today was a really amazing and inspiring day. One of those days that re-charges the batteries and reminds you why you are cycling all this way. Waking up early for a morning jog Rachel and I found a 'rainforest walk' to meander along. The whole group had a small morning ride from Orbost to Marlo and then a few hours off to relax and enjoy the beautiful snowy river and the sea. The weather was amazing and the area was so pretty...too bad for the mosquitoes.
The group rode out to the Snowy River Campus, which is a leadership school that that takes in select year 9's from Melbourne and the surrounding areas for one term. The school kids were brilliant and really fun and inspiring. They were so excited about their outdoor education and practical learning. It was our best performance yet and the kids had some great questions that really got the group thinking. Riding back at 9.30pm meant a fun, dark and exciting ride to heat us up before a late night skinny-dip in the Snowy River. The phosphorus was really beautiful and everyone looked like mermaids, glittering in the night.  It was a pretty big day but we are getting used to that now, and the midnight snacks really helped. Everyone's smiles around bedtime showed how proud and inspired we were all feeling.
Tuesday March 9th- Matt
Today's ride was an uphill battle.. quite literally. A good sweat earned and the days end to cycling appreciated by all. We had the good fortune to have a community dinner  with the Cann river Landcare group which proved to be an eye opening and inspiring evening. The Cann river Landcare group is made up of an eclectic collaboration of varied walks of life, from white bearded 4th generation farmers to the young and hopeful green extremes. The Otesha crew gained great insight from hearing the issues the locals were dealing with and the realities of reaching agreeable compromises in a small community. Cann Rivers residents have had a definite impact on this group of sustainably minded travlers. Many thoughts to be pondered.