The "4 Musketeers" Winter Run

These questions and more will be answered as you read on.

Pedro and I departed my place just after 8.30 that eventful morning, and our first planned stop was to meet Mark (Fulham) and Garry (Buckland) at Lancefield. Pedro and I enjoyed a leisurely cruise out past Eppalock, thru Redesdale and down to Lancefield, where we experienced our first drop of precipitation. It did only last a few minutes and had passed by the time Mark and Garry had arrived. At his point in time repairs were being carried out on the Triumph's heated grips, which had decided to stop warming Pedro's fingers.

This repaired (at least for the first time) the four of us headed out through Pyalong to Broadford were we stopped for a break to consume breakfast. From Broadford we headed out towards Strath Creek and a run down to Kinglake West. No long after Strath Creek the first rains came and continued. At Kinglake it was decided to delete the Myers Crk road from our intended route (due to the weather) and head into Healesville from Yarra Glen. By this time most of us where damp and cold, but not fully wet, except for Garry who was discovering that his dririder wasn't so dry any more. After fuel in Healesville, Garry charged into a farm produce store to buy a pair of gloves to put inside his gloves. I was discovering at this stage that my gloves and boots were taking in water, and to remedy this purchased a large can of silicone waterproof spray to deal with the problem that night.

From Healesville the constant rain was getting heavier, and the trip thru Don Valley, Yarra Junction, Powelltown to Noojee, resulted in another change of planned route, and we headed out of the mountains in a southerly direction. Garry had another route, which took in the old Sale road, and wound us thru Neerim South, back of Moe, Yallourn North and into Tyers.

When we stopped for fuel at Tyers, the sun was shining, and this proved to lull at least one of the group, into a false sense of security, when someone removed his yellow waterproof coat. Not five minutes after leaving Tyers it was raining again, and it persisted all the way into Bairnsdale. Do you know how heavy leather gets when it is full of water? For an answer to this question – ask Pedro.

Question – What would you do on the day when Gippsland had its wettest day in 27 years? You would probably be indoors in front of a heater and the telly. Not us, it turns out to be the day we're riding through Gippsland. You have never seen some much rain, sheets of water running across the road, couldn't see 100 feet in front of ourselves, and don't ask about the idiots in the cars tailgating. The last 50 klm stretch into Bairnsdale felt like an eternity, all I could think of was a nice hot shower and a good heater in the room. We were staying at the Grand Terminus Hotel in Bairnsdale, and at least we weren't disappointed with the shower, but the heater in our room left a lot to be desired. Probably wasn't designed to be drying out wet motorcycle gear.

After we all managed to remove ourselves from the wet riding gear, which was now spread out all around the room, we headed down to the bar. Gees, I never though ordering a hot chocolate in the bar, would create so much interest!

After we had all eaten, I quizzed the barman about bringing our jackets and stuff down to hang in front of the gas heater in the bar (we were the only occupants in the bar), and he said this would be fine. The gas heater was doing a great little job until someone decided he would check to see if the fan was on high, instead he managed to turn it off, and no matter how much he tried, the barman couldn't get it to relight.

Sunday morning we awoke to the sun shining through our window, and we all thought it was a good omen for the day. Ho hum. After departing the hotel, fuelling up, we headed for Lakes Entrance for breakfast. Lovely little bakery, great bacon and eggs, hot chocolate, and cappuccino's. After brekky, I decided it was time to have another look at the Triumph's heated grips, which had given up again, sometime yesterday arvo in all that rain. As it happened we had parked right out the front of the local auto parts store and it was going to open at 10am.

After buying some test equipment, discovered the relay had let go, so, after wiring in a new switch, replacing the relay, re-insulating it all the heated grips were all set for another days riding.

We headed from Lakes Entrance along some of the best roads Victoria has to offer to motorcyclists; long sweeping bends, hills and valleys, great scenery, and about 10 minutes out of Cann River it started raining again. We found shelter under a carport at the Mobil Roadhouse in Cann River and decided that this would be as good a spot as any to have lunch while we waited for the rain to stop. It stopped raining while we were having lunch, but started again just as we were getting ready to leave. After locating a set of lost keys, Pedro was thinking he would have to remove that nice yellow wet suit again to find them, but they turned up in the top of his bag, three of us were now ready to head north along the south coast. Unfortunately Garry's leave pass only extended this far, and he had to turn around and head back to Melbourne.

From Cann River we enjoyed moments of sunshine followed by rain. At least the rain wasn't as bad as what we had experienced riding into Bairnsdale the day before. We cruised leisurely up the Princess Highway enjoying the coastal scenery, riding in and out of the rain for the best part of the day. When we stopped the rain would catch up and pass us, and then we would head off and catch up to the rain again. Ah well. Next fuel stop was at Bega, and by this time we had outrun the rain again, and we enjoyed the next 150 klms into Batemans Bay without any rain at all. When I say enjoy, I finished up doing about 50 klms of this stretch with one of NSW finest sitting about 400 metres behind me, before he pulled into the Police station at Narooma. Not sure how far Pedro and Mark were ahead of me at this stage, but they arrived in Batemans Bay well ahead of me.

Bayview Hotel, Batemans Bay, not sure if this was New South Wales worst pub accommodation or not, but it had to go close. Enough said. It was at this point that I discovered the zip in my right boot had given way; at least I still had the Velcro to keep it closed, sort of.

After discovering the pub didn't do meals on a Sunday night, we feasted at the local Hog's Breath Café across the road. Nice steak meal, followed by a great Strawberry Pancake stack.

We departed Monday morning around 9am after discovering that the local boot repairer had closed shop. From Batemans Bay we headed for Braidwood and discovered a great flowing mountain road over Mt Clyde. The road has various limits ranging from 70 –90 klms but flowed well considering it appears to be a major traffic route between Batemans Bay and Canberra.

Morning tea at Braidwood consisted of Cappuccino's and Hot Chocolate – not sure if there was a Latte in that or not!! At this point Rainman had rung and wanted to change our rendezvous point from Murrumbateman to Fyshwick in Canberra. From Braidwood we then headed to Bungendore and picked up the Federal Highway, which would run us into Canberra. Thankfully we had to turn off just out of Canberra and head south to Fyshwick. Pedro seemed pleased about this, something about roundabouts? The roads between Braidwood and Sutton are just to die for. Wide flowing roads that meander gently up and down through the hills. Worth the experience.

We caught up with Pennie and Rainman at Canberra Motorcycles were Rainman was having the speedo looked at on the GTR. Didn't think he used it anyway. After lunch at a local diner, we headed off around Canberra and towards Yass. Pennie had left earlier as she had a 4pm lecture in Orange. After stopping for fuel at the Yass overpass, Rainman headed north for home, and the three of us had a leisurely run down the Hume Highway to Gundagai, for a short stop before heading towards Tumut and another breathtaking run down through the mountains.

This turned out to be another new route for the three of us. From Tumut we headed to Tumbarumba, Jingellic and Walwa. From Tumut we were traveling along the top of a mountain range that provided spectacular views, but was very cold on the old nose. By the time we had reached Tumbarumba we had dropped in elevation and the chill factor had decreased.

The Next Discovery; was the road from Tumbarumba into Walwa. None of us were quite ready for this. This would have to have been another of the great roads we had discovered on this trip. Long flowing bends, great scenery, good road surface, just a pity that by this time of the day we were riding into the sun and it can become a little disconcerting coming into a corner not being able to see which way it went, but we made it okay, and were pleased to pull up at the Walwa Hotel, another a life's great little pleasures. If you ever need someone to stay along the Murray between Albury and Corryong, you just have to stay at the Walwa Hotel. The accommodation is great, and inexpensive ($25), and includes breakfast. You have electric blankets on the beds, and fan heaters in the rooms. The 'restaurant' menu is comprehensive and reasonably priced, and the pizzas are superb, although I recommended not ordering a large one if you are on your own. They are definitely a 2-person feed.

Fuel is available in Walwa (unleaded and premium unleaded), but be prepared for it to be expensive. Pedro and Mark paid $1.26 a litre for premium.

We headed out of Walwa on a new track, from Walwa to Shelley; only to discover the middle 10 klms or so was dirt (total distance 35 klms) and is inhabited by log trucks hauling timber out of the Burrowa Pine Mountain National Park. At least we were heading in the right direction, as the log trucks were coming towards us and not from behind. There were a couple of surprised drivers to see three bikes up in those hills.

From Shelley it was a straight forward run along the Murray Valley Highway into Tallangatta. After fuel for the ST, and morning tea with Latte, it was off through Kiewa and Dederang, and the Ovens Valley highway into Myrtleford.

Experienced some great views of the snow on Mt Bogong and Falls Creek before the turn off to Myrtleford. After a fuel and rest stop in Myrtleford it was back on the bikes heading for Oxley and then down to Moyhu. From Moyhu we turned and headed through Ryans Creek, Tatong and Swanpool before joining the Benalla road back to Maindample.

From here it was another leisurely cruise into Yea for another re-fuel and break. We said goodbye to Mark at Yea as he was going to head down the Melba Highway and make his way down to Frankston. This just left Pedro and I with a 130 klm run to home. The trip from here was pretty sedate and uneventful, having to take care through the Pucka area with the roos and the sun once gain in our eyes. We have to organize ourselves a bit better; we always seem to be heading west last in the day.

What a trip, experienced pretty much all weather conditions and road surfaces. Experienced some pretty great roads and some ordinary ones. The trip proved a great recce for the 2005SSR trip, which is planned for areas we covered in the first two days. The trip also enabled us to flush out some good and bad accommodation.

I know not everyone is able to do a trip like this, but if you get the chance give it a go. You could spread the trip out over a week and you will have a ball, but most of all you would get a chance to enjoy the great scenery and sights this country has to offer. One tired, exhausted, and happy traveller.

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