Friday dawned bright and sunny…. in my dreams. In reality it was bucketing down at home. Bugger. I had (for once!) packed the night before so just had to decide what to wear… leather pants and summer jacket with one piece wet weather suit? Leather pants and winter (waterproof) jacket with plastic pants over the top? Then I found my old Ixon textile pants… great team them up with the winter jacket and I should be good to go…
Saddled up and got underway… by the time I got to Hume my pants were soaked through… that’s right, the Ixon pants only pretend to be waterproof. Bugger. Filled up and settled in to wait for Stevo… he turned up eventually and we discussed our route for the day, the original plan had been to go down through the snowies but with the weather we decided no. Stevo suggested a (wet) slab down the Hume and then I remember the Cann River Road so we set off for Cooma, then Bombala.
Meet point at Hume
By Bombala my first pair of gloves were soaked through and my fingers were freezing! Stopped at the servo, filled up then inside for coffee and a hot pie (damn Mrs Mac’s pies are good!).
Soon enough we were underway again and the rain finally stopped! Hurrah! Got gloves #2 on (super thick and bulky) so had nice toasty hands for the next bit. Had a great run down to Cann River, had a nice rythym going through those bends. Pulled into Bruthen for fuel and then to the cafe next door for a burger for lunch (yum!).
The Pig at Bruthen
Continuing on down the A1, we got a little bit of rain every now and then but for the most part it was dry. Stopped at Rosedale for a bit of a rest and a snacky :o)
Swapped for the summer gloves here because it was HOT! Sure enough, come Traralgon it started raining again so Stevo pulled over to put on the wets again and off we went. By the time we got to Warragul (our next refuel stop) I was soaked through again and had had enough, so we went to the first pub (which the servo dude had recommended) and got a room for the night… expensive but it had an ensuite. Don’t know that I would recommend it to anyone. It rained all through the night (had an awful sleep, broken gutter outside made it very noisy) and awoke to the rain still beating down. Great.
Stevo texted Mitch and made out like we were just gonna turn tail and run home LOL.
We saddled up and were on our way, damn it was wet, so much spray off the road. It was just freeway all the way to Geelong… some 200km of it, so off we went. Got to Geelong, found the BP servo, filled up and it was coffee and pie time again for warming up :o). Eventually realised we were at the wrong BP servo so five minutes back on the road and we found Mitch and Mullet Boy at the servo. Eventually everyone else rolled in, given the weather only three people didn’t show up (well Ree and Louise turned up the in car) one had brake problems and I don’t know what happened to the other two. Soft? Smart? LOL.
I had decided that there was no way I was going to tackle the great ocean road in these conditions and it turned out Mitch shared the same sentiments, so we all took off up the road to Colac where we were having lunch (a whole 76km LOL). Here the wind picked up and was very scary at first but once I got the feel for it a bit it was cool, I was plodding along behind Holster and Mallaby(I think??). Stopped at Colac and took my boots off to let them drain out a bit (yeah they’re supposed to be waterproof too). After everybody had eaten it was off towards Lavers Hill… there was a lot of crap all over the road and it was still raining but I actually really enjoyed this section, just stuck behind Holster again as she was setting a reasonable pace (and the Z750 reminded me a little Jimmy.. *sob*). As we neared Lavers Hill we encountered fog… Could see Holster’s tail light, whoever was in front of her was just a black outline and the car in front of him was near invisible. Stopped at Lavers Hill for a quick smoke/regroup then the final 49km into Port Campbell. There were a few trees down on the road which was interesting in the fog but we all arrived safely in the end (even though Flipper and I couldn’t find the backpackers for a while lol).
Finally into some dry clothes at the backpackers, yay! A quick trip to the shops and then the bar was opened… we polished off a fair amount of bourbon in a very short time before going to dinner (hazy) and then on to the pub (even hazier). I made it back to bed at the very soft hour of 10pm LOL.
Across the road Sunday morning
Sunday morning dawned grey again… but it wasn’t raining! Hangovers abounded but my early night saw me feeling only slight shabby (for once!). Packed up and left everyone there, Stevo, Mitch and I filling up and getting underway. A short way up the road we waved goodbye to Mitch and then Stevo pulled over - he’d left his phone behind! It was 16km to the next town, he’d had breakfast and I hadn’t so I said I’d meet him at Cobden. I went to the bakery and had a very nice pie and then some cheesecake and by the time I was having my afterfeed smoke Stevo turned up. A quick picture and we were off again.
Didn’t get any real rain from here on, headed through Ballarat which was pretty cool, I’d never been there before and it was a lot bigger than I had expected. Stopped at maccas for quick cheeseburger and it was the strangest maccas I have ever seen…
Continued on to Daylesford and Woodend… it was so green through some of these sections.
On to Yea and Bonnie Doon and Mansfield before hitting the Mansfield-Tolmie-Whitfield road which was also covered in crap but at Mel Pace it was quite enjoyable :o) Pulled up at the pub in Whitfield (which we had to ask directions for LOL) and got a room for the night… even more expensive, $100!!!!!!!! It was more like a motel room than a pub room though so I guess that’s okay.
Dinner at the pub was good… steak and mashed potatoes… and gravy, lots of gravy :o) A couple of games of pool and it was off to bed… Stevo had the telly on for a while, there was an interesting thingy on the building of the transcontinental railway in the US but I kept falling asleep and I couldn’t see the telly properly from my bed anyway.
Monday morning dawned bright and sunny - FOR REAL!!!!!!!!! it was cold when I went out for my first smoke break but it quickly warmed up. We were on the road by about 8:15am (I think) and were quickly in myrtleford where we stopped for fuel and a smoke break. Then up through Happy Valley, I really enjoyed this stretch, it’s nice coming around the hills there and I think I finally edged my rear tyre! Onto the Keiwa Valley Highway for a short stretch then onto the Redbank Road… had to pull up very quickly when we came over a rise and at the bottom of the hill was a big herd of cows. We made our way through (the dog really didn’t like the pig, it ignored the cattle and came for me! eeek) then into Tallangatta where we swapped bikes for the stretch into Corryong.
The FZ1 was very different from the SP2 (duh). I felt like a princess on my throne, I was so upright! the seat was very soft and it took me a while to get used to the handle bars position. It was quite nice to ride but in the end I didn’t really like it, I think it was the handlebar position that I didn’t like. I also didn’t really like the shorty levers but that’s just a personal thing, it was good to try them, now I know I don’t like them and won’t ever get them (like I ever have enough spare money after fuel and booze for extras for the bike LOL).
Lunch in Corryong, once again no food at the Courthouse Hotel :o( But the milk bar across the road does a mean chicken schnitzel burger, which saw me overfull and wishing for a snooze!
Got back on the SP2 (it really is a ridiculous bike… but oh so much fun) then up into the Snowies.
I had never been able to pick Jonno Corner coming from Kiandra end but I knew exactly where it was coming from Corryong end. Stevo had slowed down to wait for me there and then we continued down the hill and stopped at our usual spot at Tumut Ponds so I could have a smoke break :o).
The Pig at Tumut Ponds
Continued on, getting near Cabramurra there is a sign… “detour ahead” … eventually come to the detour, up a dirt track. Grrr. at least it’s not raining! It started off good, good hard packed dirt but then came the really loose gravel… for the first time ever I felt okay about the front wheel sliding around… from then it was a mixture of everything, in places there was hard rock sticking up and then there was little streams coming across the road (yay, mud :S) and loose dirt where the grader had been working. I managed to stall it at one point.. .oops. Eventually we got back onto Tar in a huge car park… confirmed we were now at Mt Selwyn. It was only 8km but it felt a lot longer but it was an adventure, I’ve never seen that corner of Australia before and there is a good chance I never will again :o) I declared a smoke break and then we were underway again.
The yellow lined section between Kiandra and Adaminaby was again divine. Into Adaminaby for a last smoke break before heading back to Canberra and straight into Coffee :o)
Was an interesting weekend and looking back on it I really enjoyed it, even if I was cold and wet and miserable most of the time :o)
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