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Slept right to the alarm....popped up not having a clue where I was. I think that means it was a good sleep....bit unnerving feeling for a bit however. Did the quick rinse off....jumped on me socks...they are moving quick now...got ready to go. Only took me about 20 mins to dry off and be on the bike ready to go. Beauty day rolled out in search of a cafe. Found one about two blocks away...parked it for some breaky and I was good to go. I have been fueling up at night so I only need to hop on the bike and go.
Today I am to head to a town called Castlemain (thats easy to say). The idea is to get me west of Melbourne sdly the route looks like it is to go over the great plain..... translation...flatlands....not liking the sounds of it. Its also a longer ride today. They did give me optional routes too so I loaded up the one that kept me off the freeways. It added about 150 km to the trip. So it sshould be around 500 for the day. Sooooo I looked at the map I bought and was mesmerized by a road the was just off the route I had it went up to the a mountain and was located in Buffalo park.....hmmmm what to do....looks like it about 40 km to a look out...then 40 back but lots of twists n turns. Decided I would decide if to take it when I got to the road. Off i went. not sure but I might have passed a car right beside one of the ghost cars parked on the other side of the road. Hope it was catching guys going the other way. The police cars are hard to spot..I think they are peugot station wagons...grey silvery... and the lights are uber hidden. In no time I was at the intersection...of course I went!
Holy crap....no one was on it and it was a top ten road. Had a blast going up.......turned around.......and did it again. Tires seem to be gripping better now back only slipped out once. I did that road for the ride not the views.....all in all it added about an hr to me ride,but wellllllll worth it!
Hit my main route and me gal told me to get on with it. Not too far down the road the route wanted me to turn off. Seemed like it was a point of interest....so off i went. Welllll.....I ended up on a gravel road to not sure what....I kept going until I hit a gate.....and some cows....not sure what the heck this was about and the route description didn't describe it....so....talked to the cows for a bit....did a 180 and did my best BMW 1200GS imitation with an RT...definitely a dust trail behind me. Noooooo kangaroos however...only cows.
Got back to the main road and it turned into a huge variety of ride. I was having to turn left and right....was going west then north...then south.....through all sorts of small towns...ended up in flatlands....with wide open space....cows and sheep. Lotsa sheep...holy crap lotsa sheep. I stopped at Wannabeyetanothercrazynameforatown as I saw a bakery...and bikes. was still running and I was surrounded by fellow bikers. Great bunch of blokes they were going to where I came from went on and on about how to go to Canada was a bucket list thing for them. I smiled and just said...I'm checking em off as I ride..... They gave me some pointers about the coppers....admired the bike.....and recommended the bakery for a bite. With that I troddled of for a pie. Went with the chicken, bacon, mushroom.....how could I not like that. Sure enough it was great. I could get used to the pie thing and everywhere the Lattes are excellant. Also there are cafes everywhere so I think Lattes, cappuccino are pretty big around here...thankfully I have not seen one starbucks....and only a couple of fast food joints....rotten ronnie's of course..they are everywhere. Off I went again.
Now I was hitting a lot of lonnnnng flat straightaways...biking hell......but the scenery seemed to make up for it. The roads are lined with gum trees...and they look quite cool. Only downside I learned it that they shed there bark...it rolls up and falls off the tree, in big long sections. Sure enough I am cruising along and WATANGGGGGGGGGGGGG! Crapped my pants. One of these fell as I was going under it.... hit the top of the screen then the top of my helmet. Just about knocked me off the bike. PUlled over.... thought a tree branch hit me. Nope...just one of these rolled up bark things. was about two feet long....about 4 inch diameter. Great...need to look out for, kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, emus, eagles, cows, horses, stoopid drivers (they are everywhere)....and now...things that fall from trees randomly. Did I mention the roads here are narrow...a lane seems wide enough for the width of a car...not much more. Semis are on these roads too...they fill the lanes and some drivers seem to hog the centerline. Bit unnerving at times.....specially when you meet and I am on the inside of the corner leaning hard....and they are part in my lane.....I am not sure but I think my tires actually rolled on the side wall on one of these trucks as it went by....... felt a bit of a bump....was leaning far as I could for the speed going...was a crazyyyyyyyy view out me visor. I think we both crapped a bit.....decided to try a tighter more inside line from now on.
Next town....Wannaguesswhatwallywonkacombowecanusethistime .... took a break....parked.....and lo and behold....lawn bowling. Cool. I watched for a while....and figured they wanted me to join in...but it was pretty serious. So figured I best not as I might give Canada bad wrap. Right about here a flock of hundreds of Cockatoos started flying around making a racket...holy crap are they loud and they seem to really be evverywhere.....I even found a bunch of them when I pulled over at the side of a roadn in the middle of nowhere. I looked over and there were white things all over the field....I waked closer and it was hundreds of Cockatoos...just walking around on this hill....bizarre............
Part of my plan is to not have to rush anywhere....I will only rush if the road is a fun one. So I pulled over quite a few times to take a break and just look at the views. Took some cool breaks at the side of the road. Had a bit of a siesta with the bike parked by a couple of huge standing deadwoods near the side of the road at one point. No one around...no dingos that I could hear.....or Kangaroos ....sigh. But finally the road took a turn for the better and I ended up in a gap that was cut out of the hills and was quite a fun ride for a while. Very narrow winding hilly road. Then......after a bit of flatness..... I was in Clairmount...the hot rod capital of australia....apparently. Found me hotel...great lil spot....went to get me keys and she announced that I was also upgraded to a spa room. So I got a jaccuzi tub, thought a soak later might be a good thing. She also recommended a pub across the tracks for supper. I offloaded...hopped on the bike and headed to the pub.
Great pub. got me a pale ale...was awesome...went outside to just sit....a bunch of blokes were out there....they commenced to bend me ear for quite a while ...one of them was the chef. He recommended a steak and said he would take care of me. Awesome!!! So half the staff was drinking with me and they eventually had to get to work just before they left two ladies and a gentlemen asked to sit with me. Catherine, Katie, and Peter......they are on a family holiday seems Peter is 92 and its his birthday trip. The gals were his daughters. They were heading to where I had come from, Bright, seems that is where Peter was born and raised. Well they bent my ear for a few hrs and would not let me buy a schooner....ohhh there is a whole beer sizing thing here ....every state is different too.... so it is hard to know what size you can order.
Stubbies seem to be like a normal bottle back home. That is a small here....cept there is a middi which is smaller still. You can of course get pints....and there are several others that I can't remember. Seems it is a big issue cuz even the locals get messed up. Katie had toured all over the place on bike, she was in Bogata.....Central America....all sorts of places and seemed to be a no fear kinda gal in her younger days. We had supper together and had a great time....that made it a pretty late eve...Peter needed to get to bed......with that I begged off...and hit me room for a soak....and to crash. Pretty cool day.
- comments
Ward Dude, that is an awesome picture. It should be on a bimmer bike calendar. Although the other 11 months could still be girls in bikinis, if they still do that...
Don Webber If you get a chance try Castlemaine xxxx larger......loved drinking this stuff when in Brisbane