Eleven years after completing a bike tour of the world, a western Chinese cyclist has returned to the town that left him with the greatest impression of all, the town for which he named his firstborn son — Moe.
Despite having visited countless cities, villages and townships in 80 countries, for Li Rui, his fleeting visit to Moe — a town located in Victoria's coal-fired power hub of the Latrobe Valley — proved the motivation for him to complete his ambitious journey.
And for the Moe community, it is sweet recognition of all that is good about the town, amid an ongoing struggle to shake an image of crime, poverty and hard knocks.
"Before I got to Moe, everything was horrible," Li said, recalling his journey from New South Wales to Victoria in 2012.
"My tyre was flat again and again … [there was] so much rain and wind that it made me want to give up."
Li was so fed up with the conditions that he was contemplating booking a flight back home to China, but decided against it when a kind stranger insisted he at least continue onto Moe.
After a gruelling leg of his journey that had pushed him to the edge, Li decided to continue on for one final leg.
The clouds parted as Li rode into town, revealing a perfect rainbow above Moe Railway Station.
At the age of 32, this was the first time Li, who grew up in the smog-affected city of Chengdu in China's west, had seen a rainbow.
"When I got there, I saw a beautiful, so nice rainbow," he said.
"And everyone was so nice, the people were so friendly. At that moment I thought, OK, maybe I need to keep moving on. I think it's a miracle like God gave me a sign.
"This is why I give our son the name Moe because he is our miracle."
A Moe in Moe
Not satisfied with a single cycling trip around the globe, Li was determined to do it again, but this time with a close-knit team.
Last week Li rode into Moe once again, with his wife Lily beside him and his five-year-old son Moe along for the ride in a trailer attached to the back of his bike.
The family cycled through parts of the Middle East and Asia on their way back to Australia.
Greeting the Rui family as they arrived at the Moe Library, Latrobe City Council Mayor Kellie O'Callaghan said she was glad Li had felt so supported during his first visit.
"It's certainly a reflection of the kindness and the wonderful community that lives here in Moe," she said.
"I think this is a really good opportunity for everyone to understand that communities are about the people within them."
As a thank you to the town of Moe, Li gifted the town library with a book he'd written in Mandarin about his travels, the title of which translates to 'As long as you stay on your path, you'll find friends who will help you'.
A global community of cyclists
After hearing Li's story, fellow cyclist Matt Dixon was more than happy to open his home in Moe South to the Rui family.
"It's touching, and it makes me really proud that Moe is such a place that it can be someone's eponym," he said.
The two made contact via an online platform called Warm Showers, a website that connects travelling cyclists with willing hosts.
On both occasions Li visited Moe, and for much of his travels around the world, he relied on the hospitality of strangers to get him through to the next morning.
Matt said Li was not alone in finding comfort through the extended cycling community.
"We have met a lot of cyclists over the years and one thing is common, that no matter your background, everyone is more or less on the same page when it comes to what they want to get out of life," he said.
"Getting out and enjoying the natural world, meeting people from across the world … it's all stuff that unites a lot of cyclists."
Having fulfilled his wish of giving back to Moe, Li, Lily and little Moe have set off for the next leg of their adventure.
Plenty has changed in Li's life since he last finished a world tour, but the added responsibility hasn't prevented him from getting on the bike.
But with an energetic five-year-old demanding chocolates, he admits flat tyres and inclement weather are no longer his greatest challenge.
"The bicycle is not hard, it is just a bicycle; the boy is harder than the bike," he said.
"But he can meet a different friend every day. I have learnt a lot of things [in my travels], this is why I wanted to take him with me."
