Today I experimented with taking almost everything out of the trailer and loading it onto the racks on my bike (see below) to see if it made a difference in handling the hills and wind.
Then I set off along the Warrnambool - Port Fairy Rail Trail towards Koroit, to find out a bit more about the place where my mother was born and my great grandfather owned the pub.
For the first 7 kms even though it was quite windy, it was very pleasant along the Merri River and Kelly's Swamp bringing abundant bird life. After that the trail turned more into the wind, became a bit steeper, the gravel less compacted in one section and the going was a little tougher.
Koroit, a charming historic town dating back to the 1830s, takes its name from the Koroitch Gundidj people, the original inhabitants of the area.
With its fine examples of Victorian and Edwardian architecture at every turn, I found myself immediately imagining life there in the early days.
On my arrival after topping up the fuel tank at the bakery, I arranged a visit to the historical society situated in the old Tower Hill Common School. 
Kathy Baulch opened the office especially for me and was very helpful in finding information about my great grandfather, James Francis Duffus (1853-1923), the Koroit Hotel he once owned (now called Micky Bourke's) and Rosebank Villa where he lived. He had eleven children! I didn't get much information about my mother and her family or where they lived but did get quite a lot of information about earlier ancestry.
I set off to find Rosebank and when I arrived I couldnt believe my good fortune when I was invited in for coffee and tour of the grand villa, grounds and stables by Greg and Janet, the current owners.
By the time I left (2 hours later) it was dark so after a quick trip to the caravan park to set up camp, headed off for a meal at Micky Bourke's Hotel and a chat to Wendy the current owner about the hotel's history.
The hotel was established in 1853 and in 1908 my great grandfather, a State Parliamentarian, remodelled the exterior of the hotel in a spectacular elaborate Art Nouveau style and it became known as the 'Menzies of the Bush'. This was prior to the ownership by the Bourke family, and its renaming to Micky Bourke's. The signpost at the front of the hotel provides distances to towns in Ireland. This is an indication of the large numbers of Irish immigrants who came to grow potatoes, onion and wheat crops and take advantage of the rich volcanic soil, as the township is situated on the northern slopes of a dormant volcano known as Tower Hill with a game reserve now located in its crater.
The records show that the Duffus family was one of the most influential of the wealthy Catholic families of the district and its involvement spanned almost a century in the life of Koroit.
The views over Tower Hill were spectacular as I was to find out tomorrow.
I was so glad I had decided to make the trip to Koroit instead of going straight through to Port Fairy.
