I had arranged to meet Tess at Hume at 8:00am to go down to Hotham to meet up with some of the VIC netriders... and the gods must have been smiling upon me as (get ready for it) I was actually EARLY to the meet point! By a whole half hour 
Tess rolled up and I finished my pie, we had a quick drink and we were underway... rolled through Cooma and onto Adaminiby. Pulled up at the servo and alas! couldn't turn the ignition off! Sought the assistance of the dude in the servo WD40 down the key hole didn't help, so he tried to pick the lock on the fuel tank so I could at least get fuel to no avail. So... about face and back to Cooma to the bike shop.Amy at the bike shop in Cooma was very helpful, Greg was loading a bike onto a trailer at the time but said to leave it with them, she would get him to take a look, we left all our gear in her office and were about to head off to grab a coffee, when Tess came back in - he'd got the key out! Didn't I feel like an idiot
still couldn't turn it to off but at least could get the key out by turning it to "P"... so I was right to go... just meant I would have to leave the key in the ignition while parked... meh she'll be right. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, sat in the park and watched some of the Austraila Day stuff going on (ain't it great to be Aussie? i can choose not to stand up for our National Anthem!) before heading off again.A quick run to Adaminiby and straight through to Kiandra (helloooooo yellow lines!
) and then down the Elliot Way 
Tess was a bit off form so I managed to keep up with her! we overtook a friend of mine on the Elliot Way so we pulled up at the end for a quick chat, then stopped for a smoke and on to Corryong for fuel/drink/smoke/drink/drink/drink - it was hot by this stage! From Corryong we just went straight along the Murray Valley Highway as we were a bit behind schedule after the delays of the morning... well so we thought anyway...Took the Redbank Road after Tallangatta, heading towards some very ominous storm clouds - saw a few very impressive bolts of lightning and we were just getting closer... and closer... pulled into Mt Beauty to refuel (Caltex Servo on the right has visor cleaning stuff for "motorbikes only"
goodonem!) by this stage it was only 3:20pm and the original plan had been to meet the VIC crew at the other side of Tawonga Gap at 3:00pm so we weren't too far behind at all! Up Tawonga and started to see evidence of the cyclists we had been warned about... no sign of the Vic crew so onto Harrietville with those clouds getting ever closer. There must have been some kinda vintage thing on, enjoyed checking out all the bikes as we over took them one by one... just before Harrietville it started coming down... but so close to the destination and the storm didn't look like it would last long so didn't bother with wets... started up the mountain, heaps of bikes pulled over donning the wets... got overtaken by a Ducati... Tess gave chase to him for a while before letting him go and slowing down to wait for me... come around a corner, Tess is pulled over and the duc is on it's side 
poor duc, but rider was okay, bike only scratched so picked up and he sent us on his way (his mates had caught up by then). riding along and WTF? snow on the side of the road?? realised it was actually hail! what a storm that must have been, glad we missed that!
up further there was a section of road that still had a fair covering, though the wheel tracks had been cleared (thanks cars! ). Got to Hotham, pretty cold and wet, but what a ride! The Vic crew were already there, so after drying off we headed for the pub Sunday morning, woke up to hear the first of the Vic contingent departing... some time later 4 of the Vic crew and Tess and I left for the run down to Omeo... Bryan and Tess took off in the lead and I was second last... not for long!
eventually worked my way through the traffic then caught up to Bryan and Tess eventually Bryan waved us both through and it was a mad dash down to Omeo what fun! Was totally buzzing when we pulled up for fuel there but alas! the first of the cooked rear tyres! Tess's rear was completely kaput. Luckily Bryan is well connected and hooked us up with a dude at Lakes Entrance, got the local bike shop opened up for us and he had a second hand rear that he fitted and we got on Tess's bike! It was a much more sedate run down to Bruthen and then onto Lakes... waved goodbye to three of the boys who were heading for Phillip Island at Brutehn. After Tess got the tyre on we decided that Lakes seemed like a good enough place to stay for the night - so the search for accommodation commenced. We decided to try all the caravan parks (cabin plus pool!) to no avail... ended up at Marlo (where the owner kindly locked all our bikes in the shed for the night )and what a good idea that was! Bryan is an awesome man to have along on a trip - not only does he know dudes to get tyres from on a Sunday... he went to the shop and fetched bourbon! a quick bourbon then down to the river for a swim... then back to settle in for the night... bourbon was consumed, I believe we had a meal in there somewhere... that's all I'm gonna say on the matter (yes I was trashed )Trippy thing happened through the night - siren started going off, sounded like World War III was about to commence or something... Tess and I got up to see what was going on... it was like we were the only ones who heard it, nobody else was investigating... asked the owner of the park in the morning and he said it was the CFA...
Monday morning was overcast and muggy... a quick look at my rear tyre told me that I should be taking it very easy for the run home... Tess and Bryan took off for Orbost for fuel and I eventually turned up
we had a breakfast before Bryan went his way and Tess and I headed for Cann River, and onto Bombala... so much for taking it easy! We made *very* good time on that stretch an inspection of the rear at Bombala showed the second cooked rear for the weekend... so it was a very sedate run from there into Cooma where we had lunch (even got overtaken by a car ) before limping back home to Canberra... and begging a lift into coffee Another great weekend of riding, riding, partying and more riding
What a way to spend the Australia Day long weekend!
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