I set off on my bike from the steps of Melbourne's landmark Flinders Street Station, with one hand splinted from a fall I'd had six weeks before. The busted hand only added to the uncertainties I usually feel at the start of a mountain journey, especially one like this: Melbourne to Sydney, 800km by road, but by the mountains and rivers, over 1500km.

My first leg was going to be a three-day ride from sea-level Melbourne up to Mt Baw Baw, a small ski resort at 1500m, the southerly snow limit. I was heading into the mountains.