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Today....I'm off to the Lakes Entrance according to me agenda. Whilst sitting at the cafe enjoying me flat white I was looking at the map and there is no way I flew almost 8000 miles and was not going to get to Phillip Island. For those not in the know its an island south east of Melbourne. You can go there at sunset and watch penquins returning to feed their kids. Its called march of the penguins...happens every day like clockwork. Thats cool.....but....there is something much cooler there...... Phillip Island....MOTORGP CIRCUIT BABY!! Considered to be one of the hardest tracks in the circuit due to its proximety to the ocean and layout. I have to check it out...no races sadly...week before there was Superbike...that would have been cool to see....but not in the cards.
Now the problem is that the ride today is to be a bit longer and it goes north.....so upon review of the map. I decided..to divert south too. Not sure how long it will take but worth the effort. Was out of the hotel pretty quick and managed to talk them out of charging me for parking. Bit of a win. Not sure if I mentioned but it is not cheap here. Drinks 12 bucks.....bag of chips 4 bucks....gas 1.50 a liter....our dollar value may be the same but obviously Canada's economy must be n better shape. Granted the beer tastes better here.
So off I went and getting out of the city felt good. Had to do that right turn from the left again...and I am sure I totaly broke several laws.....just kept pointing at me canadian flag sticker as I winged it. Weather was good to the east and north....ony clouds were to the south east....just were I was going....sigh.
So it was going to be about an hour to get there and about 30 mins into it....I was heading into some thick wet clouds. Quick stop on the side of the road....did me kangaroo impression again....and was on track in about 5 mins tops. Just in time cuz the skys opened up....right gear was snug as a bug in a rug. Neat thing was that about 5 kms from the island I was through it and blues skys ahead. Crossed the bridge and figured out where to go and voila....there it was.
What a cool track....no one there.....except some private cars that for some kinda research purposes had hired the track for the whole day for testing...that meant no laps for me. So ended up paying to go to the viewing spot....bit removed from the track but you can see about 80% of it. The cars seemed to be all porsches...that did not sound like normal porsches and wowser....a few of them were screaming round the track. Very impressive. No bikes though ... only cars sigh. So watched for a bit and then checked out the museum. Kinda cool but small. They have a restaurant so decided time for a latte and could redo me route at the same time. With that....I heard the clock ticking and decided time to hit the road again. Would be cool to see a GP race...must start planning......
The weather was good...the road was cool and saw some neat scenery...at one point popped out on a view point of the ocean. The surf was amazing. Big waves rolling in. So I basically wandered along me route and stopped at several cafes along the way. Was hoping to see a Koala but no luck yet. I do keep a close eye on the sides of the roads so I may at least have a fighting chance should something pop out. Nothing did so all was well and in no time ....I managed to find Lakes Enterance.
Its kinda cool place seems to be a resort town / fishing community. It has an inlet where you can get to the ocean from lakes, hence the name, a harbour and lots of fishing boats. Now the instructions I got told me to call in advance to get driving directions in to the hotel I had. PFFFFT...... I had the address...then figured I knew the way from the GPS. So I turned off when I thought it made sense.
Interesting enough it turned into a very narrow steep gravel road...errr trail...that let up a hill kinda like a back alley....but where the houses on one side were way below....and on the other way above....well I hit the address....nothing there....strange. I manuvered the bike back....and the address I am looking for is not there. I sat stumped....and I looked up...and there was a guy wavng at me from up the hill at the end of the lane. So I headed to him and stopped. He asked if I was Todd .... tada .... I must be close. Now this guy had a really thick accent. Seems the owners of the hotel were in Sydney for a few days and would be back soon. He was to give me instructions on how to get to the hotel. So he told me to continue on the road and turn right on the road above and follow the signs. He asked if it would be a problem..I couldn't think of one. So started to roll up...his parting words were "its no problem mate...take me 4x up there all the time".....
For those not in the know the RT is about 550 pounds....and with gear...add another 80....maybe not sure...either way....it is not a Yamaha yz125 meant for ripping up dusty trails. If you lose balance and it starts to go over...best you can hope to do is hop off and out of the way for the inevitable crash bang etc etc..etc. So the trail is narrow...and I come to a bend....I can't stop and turn...so need to keep going. I come around the bend and it becomes steeper...but I got momentum... I look around and it keeps turning to the right. So must just be round the bend a bit I think. So I keep going. Commited at this point....then it gets steeper....and its loose dirt gravel.
Now its getting hairy as I round a bit of the bend....I see it only gets steeper....and there are water gullys cut out....so I have a choice to make of three paths....while I still have momentum. I chose my path....and keep going...then start to loose traction....Crap! Problem with most modern bikes these days is that they have traction control. When the tires start to spin...it takesover and kills the throttle to stop the spinning. Nice on a highway....but not so nice on gravel....on a hill.
End result.....on a narrow finger of terra firma...the throttle drops off....I loose momentum and have no choice but to try to stop and not lose balance....on about a 30+ degree incline. I manage to stop, almost go over as I can't take a wide stance with me feet. I got a death grip on the front brake....and its starting to slide back...only choice I got right now is to lift my right foot and put it on the rear brake to get better braking. What a balancing act. So I am panting pretty hard....survey whats in front of me....turning around isn't an option. Worst is that I chose the wrong path now that I could see farther up.
So....taking as much care as I could....I managed to ever so slowly back up about 3 feet.. if I went too fast....I would not be able to stop the bike again and I would be going for a tumble.. so ever so gingerly I did a blancing act I did not know I was capable of I was using mostly rear brake as the front had no traction and would only slide. I needed to take a path forward a bit to the right to have a fighting chance. But had to back up to be able to get over to it. Finally I got to a spot where it stopped sliding back....I put the side stand out and was able to stop for a breather and take another look. Hopped off...leg was wobbly. Walked up the path and sure enough it got to the road. Turning around was not a great option. I saw a path that could make it up....
Hopped on the bike, sparked it up.....turned the traction control off. Had to do some serious clutching, and throttle control......and I started to make some headway up...then the back end just started to spin out on me....frig......stopped....Reevved er up...did some serious clutch action....and finally got some bite...and climbed it. Popped up the top and even got air. Stopped and all I could smell was nasty burned clutch. It wasn't pretty, but I had a big arse grin on. I managed to find the place but holy crap...bizzare roads. When I got there the guy that I had talked to earlier was there with a grin on. I could still smell clutch. He chucked a bit and pointed me to a lil cabin with a balcony overlooking the ocean and gave me the key. Said the owners would be back later with that he waved and was gone.
Wow...what a place amazing view and cool room. Unloaded and decided to head into town to find beer ... and food. But....took a totally different road...made it so much easier. I found a cool restaurant and managed to get a not bad steak. Burped and decided time to head back. Saw a gas station and decided to fill up. Again they all have the stupid nozzles. I commence to fill up...watching the pump.... no probs.... then I smell gas..... the shutoff on the nozzle isn't working. Gas everywhere...grrrrr. I tell the attendant...and he has a puddle to clean up. I push the bike out of the way....and sit for a bit to let the gas on it evaporate. That's twice....frig. By now its dark out.....so .... I did a very ginger ride back to the hotel...no kangaroos in sight whew.... Sat on the deck and looked up...clear night and what a view...night sky was awesome and stars seemed to look different and nothing is where it should be. Nice way to end the eve.
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