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Around Oz with Justin Bloody Rain Part B By Justin Couch |
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Around Oz with Justin Bloody Rain Part B By Justin Couch |
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Bloody rain!!!!! It's following me, I
swear! Anyway, got in a few good days riding. I'm now in Melbourne and it's lunch time on a very wet day, so here's what's happened since part a. 23rd Dec: Adelaide - Mt Gambier --------- With brand new tyres fitted, it was time to have a look around. I'd spent some time in Adelaide on many occasions, but not on a bike. I'd heard about the Adelaide Hills area as being a great place to ride, so I needed no extra excuse to errr..... bed in the new tyre. The morning was spent fanging around the hills. There was almost no car traffic, so a lot of time was spent lent over hard into corners (note that I'm loaded up again with panniers, tank bag etc so it was not quite foot peg hero stuff). The scenery was gorgeous and by the end of the 4 hours of riding, I really was starting to get the hang of the bike's handling. It's hard to pick a highlight of the time there, but the Lobethal Bike Museum was just great. The only person there so I got a great guided tour (later on another couple of Sandgropers came in!) . Also, Hahndorf has to rate a mention too. I stopped off there, and true to form, one bike parked is a magnet for any others in the area. Within minutes of parking, grabbing a Coke and Mars Bar, a guy on a restored BMW R65 rolls up. Plumber, decided the weather was too good to work, so went for a ride. After a good half hour of chatting, it was time to head on. Chewing over the map, I decided to make waves towards Kingston or Mt Gambier. It was already 1:30pm before heading out and Mt Gambier was 450Km away. Heading down through Mylor and Strathalbyn (more twisties!) the coast was in sight at Wellington. So were the winds again. As usual, the afternoon sea breeze was blowing a gale. A gorgeous ferry trip across the river and I'm on the way. At times the wind was so strong that I was sitting on the side of the seat, not the top, just to keep the bike from being blown off the road. However, the scenery was great when I could concentrate on something other than keeping the bike upright. Travelling along the coast road, the Coorong national park flew by. A photo stop, munchies and on the way again. The scenery of the estuary here is spectacular with the windswept beaches and water. (There were huge breaking whitecaps which indicates the wind speed was at least 25knots - 45Km/h). Arriving at Kingston, it was still blowing a gale. Camping wouldn't have been much fun. So I decided to push on for Mt Gambier - again via the coast road. Mt Gambier is a huge place. Much bigger than I expected. Just scrapping in under the closing time, I camped at Blue Lake Caravan Park - right on top of the famous blue lake there. 24th Dec: Mt Gambier - Apollo Bay The goal today: The Great Ocean Road. Once again following the coastal roads through Nelson to Warrnambool, I spent more time watching the scenery rather than riding hard. Here the road was just broad sweepers so it didn't take much to keep the bike going forward. Once out of Warrnambool, I followed the GOR signs. During the first part of the trip, I played tourist. The road was great, not many cars, but I wanted to stop and look at things while there was some good weather. Bay of Islands, 12 Apostles etc. Lots of happy snaps and nice views. After leaving the touristy bits, the roads became more serious. Now the fun was really starting. The corners got tighter, the trees got taller, and the bloody rain and fog descended again! Zipping past the few startled motorists, the bike was really starting to get a workout. The sticky bits were warming up nicely and the roads were great. Um... It's really hard to describe it unless you have actually done it. Most of the time you are either going up a hill or down one, no flat stuff, through rainforest areas. A lot more slower speed corners than the South Coast Hwy back in WA, but the lean angles far greater (I think I touched the centre stand down once, not a bad effort IMHO!). Where to stay, where to stay... Apollo Bay looks really nice. Being Christmas eve, I wanted a couple of days somewhere, and naturally I paid through the nose for the accommodation (Pine Bay Views). Anyway, I was happy. Twisties to the left, twisties to the right. No matter where I go, there are roads with _lots_ of bends in them. Motorcycle heaven! 25th Dec: Apollo Bay ---------- This morning was spent carving up the various hills - minus all the panniers - playing tourist. Maits Rest rainforest walk, Cape Otway and a few other places were looked at. After travelling to Laver's Hill I moved on to Colac and down the road to Skenes. Again, more and more twisties (They wouldn't know what a straight road was here!). Along the road, just after Forest, there's an unsealed road called Turton's Track. This looked great again, so I ventured along it. Now, unsealed, gravel roads are rather fun on a trail bike. On a road monster sporting a 180 rear tyre, things are not so fun. Enjoyable, but a heck of a lot of work. Stopped about 4Km into the track for some photos and decided to turn around. The tar road was calling.... The afternoon was rather boring. At the stop at Colac, the Servo had a copy of the latest Two Wheels with BoTY, so that was required purchasing. Most of the afternoon was spent reading TW and a book. A heavy fog had set in for the day (it was like that when I left in the morning) and was not going to lift. I played local tourist as well. Pretty place, I reckon I could retire there.... 26th Dec: Apollo Bay - ??? ---------- At the point of typing out this report, I'm sitting in an Internet Cafe in the heart of Melbourne. Being Boxing Day, and Melbourne, there's only one thing to do right? Cricket Test at the MCG. Apollo Bay was a good couple of hundred clicks from Melbourne so I set the alarm early ready to go. When it went off, all that greeted me was the great, wet skies again. Sighing, I wandered off down the road at 7am towards Melbourne. Unfortunately, this time everything was wet. Just wet enough that the rear tyre wouldn't heat enough to grip when pushed around corners. After a couple of interesting moments (one including a rock fall across the road!), I settled in to play rubbernecking tourist rather than boy racer. Seeing a group of bikes pulled over at a Cafe, I decided to join the clan for a morning Cappuccino. In doing so, apparently I have joined the GOR Cappuccino club. Assorted sports bikes and stories were then swapped for a while. Before heading off again. The closer to Melbourne I got, the wetter it became. By the time I got to the freeway between Geelong and Melbourne, it was fair pissing down. Coming up to Pt Cook, I decided there was no way the Test would be on, so headed for the Aircraft Museum. I wanted to visit here because I am a pilot with a love of rebuilding aircraft and also because a very good friend of mine helped restore one of the aircraft there (The P51 back in the late seventies). A couple of hours later, and I'm back on the road to Melbourne. Never been here before, but I remember some aus.moto threads about parking in Vic. Finding a convenient footpath, I jumped the gutter and turned off the bike. After securing everything, I turned around, only to see a dedicated bike parking spot, right across the road (DOH!!!!!). Anyway, my excuse is that I wanted to keep the sheepskin seat cover dry under shelter, rather than in the wet :) Hmmm... It's still pissing down outside, I'm hungry, and there's no way the cricket will be on today. Time to take a walk around.... Over the next few days I'll be heading home (Sydney) via the coastal roads. Where I'll park my body tonight, I have no idea yet. Anyway, if you see a lost looking Blackbird with WA plates trying to work out how the hell they came up with the idea of doing right hand turns from the left lane, please wave.... ---
End of Part b - Stay Tuned for Justin's
next on-the-road update |
