Thursday, December 4, 2008

Bathurst to Mt Hotham and return - 4 days and 1960kms

This is the TwoWheels motorcycle Forum Christmas party (or as it is known the Xmas Partee) trip that I have been waiting for all year.

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Day 1, Friday 28th November 2008

5.00am wakeup , bike packed the night before, throw on the tankbag and at 5.45am I'm ready to go meet up with a mate, Turbo, at 6.00am at MacDonalds and commence our trip. I have a tank full of gas, an iPod full of tunes, its clear weather and 4 hours to reach Robertson.

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First stop is Goulburn for fuel and a coffee, then on to Robertson to meet up with some Sydney riders before heading down the Kangaroo Valley. At Robertson Pie Shop we sampled the apple pie and cream and a relaxing coffee. We ended up waiting a tad longer than expected because of hold ups with the Sydney crew, but eventually left Robertson at 11.50am, having spent nearly 2 hours there waiting. Whilst waiting it started to rain, so wet weather gear was taken from bags for the trip south. Next stop is Nowra and then on to Ulladulla for lunch, where we had lunch on the balcony of a shopping centre overlooking the harbour and foreshore. Very nice. The rain had stopped by the time we reached Nowra, but the skies were still very grey.

Our line up of bikes at Uladulla.
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The shopping centre where we had lunch
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The harbour
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The lunch crew discussing my healthy mega "hamburger with the lot"
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After lunch we headed south through Bateman's Bay to our next stop, Narooma. As we approached narooma, the heavens openned up into a torrential thunderstorm. We were later to find that the storm front stretched from above Tamworth in the north all the way down to the NSW/Victoria border. Once again wet weather clothes were hastily donned on the road side and we rode into Narooma very damp, looking for a place to park out of the storm.

Parked under a disused Dental Practice shop front in Narooma, awaiting the storm to lift
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With no sight of the storm abating we decided to head on and kept to the highway rather than take the coast road to Tathra and Merimbula. Next stop is Bega, where we will meet up for our last leg into Merimbula where we will spend the night.

We arrived at Merimbula at 6.30pm where we met up with the other riders who had come down from Sydney and the local area earlier. Altogether there are about 20 of us. The rain had eased and was just spitting. After allocation of our rooms (I was bunking in with Luke - hope he has earplugs !!) we parked the bikes undercover, changed and headed down to the Cantina Tapas and Wine Bar for the evening. This is a great place if you are visiting merimbula - highly recommended - and the Blue Tongue beer is not bad either. The Tapas plate is a specialty and in the cooler months they do an amazing Paella.

Some of the group enjoying the wine, food and comfort of the Cantina
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Day 2, Saturday 29th November 2008

6.00am wake up, breakfast (full cooked one) at 7.30am and we are away by 8.30am. Today we are heading to Harrietville in the Victorian Snowy Mountains. Luke tells me that I didn't snore too badly, but then again, he was wearing earplugs.

Spook's Red Honda VFR800F in front of Beast's BMW K1200R
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Some of the bikes ready for the road

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Even Santa (Beast) made an appearance :)
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First stop of the day is Bombala, where we will meet up with a couple more riders before deciding which route we will take southwards. The weather is still overcast and threatens rain, which has been falling on and off all night.

The entourage at the Bombala petrol station
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From Bombala it is decided to head down to Cann River via the Monaro (Cann Valley) Highway. This is a great run and it is a fun road to ride. we arrived in Cann River about 10.00ish where we stopped to await some of the slower riders to catch up. The main group headed off whilst a smaller group of five of us waited for the little Honda NSR150 to catch up.

From Cann River we head towards Bruthen along the Princes Highway, where we will have lunch. We take a fuel stop just outside Orbost as the heavens open up again.

As we arrive in Bruthen, the main group is just about to head off up the Great Alpine Road (GAR) towards Omeo. The six of us settle outside the local takeaway for lunch and watch an assortment of motorcycles, including a group of 19 Buells head up the GAR. Once again the rain has stopped but the clouds threaten.

Lunch over, we set off up the GAR towards Omeo, following the Tambo River upstream. This part of the road reminds me of the road from Jindabyne to Thredbo as it follows the Thredbo River. it is very picturesque and a wonderful road for riding. The only pitfall of this road is the number of cyclists on it who insist on riding two abreast on sharp corners. We find this problem all the way to Mt Hotham.

Next stop is Omeo where we stop for fuel before climbing up to Mt Hotham via Dinner Plain and then descend into the valley beyond to Harrietville, where we will be staying for two nights.

Around Dinner Plain the cloud starts to fall and the temperature starts to turn decidedly chilly. we stopped to discuss having a coffee at the Mt Hotham Ski resort, but given the time and weather conditions, we decided to continue on to Harrietville, where a hot shower, beer (and/or wine) and dinner await :)

Spook, Syd and Fletch at Dinner Plain discussing not stopping for a coffee on Mt. Hotham
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The weather on top of Mt. Hotham was attrocious. Cloud reduced visibility down to a couple of metres at the most and that as well as some sleet and rain made riding quite hazardous. We crawled over the summit and started our descent, passing snow that remained from the previous weekend's cold snap.

We finally made it to Harrietville at around 5.30pm, where rooms were allocated and bikes parked under verandahs. I was fortunate to be bunked in with Spook and Fletch and hoped they had their earplugs as well. The remaining riders from Victoria arrived at the same time and the full group was there, 37 of us all up. Following a shower, change into street clothes the hotel bar was a very inviting place and much beer and wine was drunk and pizza consumed as everyone caught up.

Bikes parked under the room verandahs
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Day 3, Sunday 30th November 2008

0630am wake up with breakfast at 7.30am.
Blue sky, a few white clouds and it looks like a great day for riding.
Today is a play day. A motorcycle suspension specialist from Melbourne has been brought up for the weekend, so some riders will have him take a look at their bikes and tinkle with them, (that's a technical term ! :)) whilst others will go out on rides in the local area. Poor Spook has found that his lovely red VFR has a slow leak in the rear tyre and being a Sunday there is virtually no way he'll be able to get it repaired, so he's stuck at the "base camp" trying to plug and repair it.

Harrietville General Store
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The Main Street of Harrietville (The Great Alpine Road)
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After breakfast I decide to head back up the mountain to Mt. Hotham and take some required touristy photos. The ride to the top is magnificent and the roads are dry and totally different than the previous night. I thoroughly enjoyed this road today.

On the way up I stopped to take some snaps of the road and surrounding scenery.
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On top of Mt. Hotham I ran into a group of our riders about to head off down to Omeo and then up to Angler's Rest for lunch at the Blue Duck Inn. I decided to stay at Mt. Hotham and have a coffee.

The group about to take off for Omeo
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The Mt. Hotham Ski Resort
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Zirky's Cafe, where I had coffe and walnut slice :) Yum!
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A view over the ski fields (without snow)
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My bike beside the remaining roadside snow
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I made my way down the mountain and caught up with a group of riders heading up to Bright for lunch, following which they were heading across to Mt. Beauty and then up to Falls Creek. i decided to tag along :)

Lunch at Bright after filling up at the BP servo was a pie and diet coke. Beast arrived during lunch, having unfortunatelt run out of petrol just on the entrance to the town and having had to push his Beemer a kilometer to refuel. That is a huge bike to push that far !! Another rider, PistolPete on a sweet sounding Hyosung 650 pulled up just as we were getting ready to leave so he literally threw a pie and drink down and we headed of towards Mt. Beauty. The Tawonga Gap Road between Bright and Mt. Beauty is an absolute brilliant bike road, full of twisting sections and tight 30kph hairpins. The one thing I have learnt from the trip is that Victorian speed advisory warning signs for corners are accurate !!

The view from the Tawonga Gap Lookout towards Falls Creek
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Onwards and upwards from Mt. Beauty we climbed up the twisties to Falls Creek, where there was a fair bit of summer rebuilding and maintenance going on. The trip down was reasonably eventful - being caught behind a tourist bus on the way down isn't too flash and then to meet a 4WD towing a monster trailer full of rowing 8s on a hairpin heading up the mountain was an interesting experience :)

The three GS500Fs with JPugz and Miller lined up at Falls Creek Upper Car Park
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The day ended back at Hariettville around 4.30 pm. A brilliant day of riding some wonderful roads, with great scenic experiences and I'm feeling slightly knackered. I had time for a long hot shower and then to prepare for the nights Christmas Dinner festivities, during which many fine wines, beers and a Christmas dinner were consumed, many stories told and brazillions of laughs had :)

Day 4, Monday 1st December 2008

Departure day.
6.00am wakeup, packing of bikes, breakfast at 7.30am and hoipefully hitting the road by 8.30am.

Well this day was supposed to see me head back to Merimbula overnight, but family commitments made me reschedule my return to Bathurst to do it all in one day. A number of others were also riding back to Sydney in one day, so Turbo and I decided to cadge along on their ride via Corryong, Dead Horse Gap, Thredbo, Jindabyne, Cooma and Canberra - well that was until it bucketted down the night before and we woke to crappy weather. We decided to take the more direct route home via Albury, Wagga, Cootamundra, Young and Cowra.

Vando already for the road north towards Tamworth via Thredbo.
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So bidding all a fond farewell, safe riding and hoping to see them all again soon, we headed up to Bright to refuel before doing the Tawonga Gap Road again to Mt. Beauty, but this time turning NW and heading up towards Wadonga. We ended up in a small group with Stevo, Syd, Emax, Leatherpants, Turbo, Miller and myself. Stevo, Syd and then Emax on the NSR turned off at Wadonga, whilst Turbo, Miller, LP amnd I sought out the local Harley dealership where LP could get his Buell's brake and tryre problems sorted. having taken a cooks tour of Wadonga and then Albury, we finally found the "Tractor" dealership and bid LP a safe journey and Turbo, Miller and I set off northwards.

Turbo and I farewelled Miller at the Olympic Way turnoff just outside Albury and the two of us commenced the final leg home. Just enering Wagga Wagga we encountered our first locusts. lunch in Wagga, refuel and then on the road north we encountered the main swarms and by the time we stopped at Cootamundra, we and the bikes looked quite disgusting.

Turbo's helmet at Cootamundra
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My helmet, with embedded passengers - after I cleaned the visor as best as I could.
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Just after Cootamundra my throttle lock (a cheap version of a cruise control) decided to break, so I was stuck holding the throttle rather than being able to relax a little with it locked in position. I didn't realise till then how much vibration there was in the handle bars and my right hand started to tingle after a while of riding at "speed limit" speeds :). A coffee stop at Young, refuel and we headed up through Cowra to Blayney, where I waved Turbo goodbye as he headed off to Orange and I completed my trip home, arriving at 6.30pm. I oiled the bikes chain, put it to bed in the garage and was totally rooted !! I must admit, at that point I was not looking forward to unpacking the bags and panniers or the big cleanup of the bike and gear the next day !!

All up 1960 Kms through some absolutely stunning scenery and roads and riding with some fantastic people. Turbo, Luke, Spook and Fletch are legends. I can't wait for the 2009 Xmas Party.