Orbost/Walwa Weekend– Day 1 [Hallam to Orbost]
Ben
Warden (Fireblade-929) [Leader] Rhys Williams (ZX9)
Bruce
Saville (VFR800) [1st
rear rider] Bronwyn Manifold
(Ducati Monster) [2nd
rear rider]
Derek Atkinson (FZR1000) Dave Ward (Ducati 996)
Ray Walker (GSXR600) Trevor Harris (YZF1000)
Dianne Welsford (CBR600)
Liz Oliver (CBR900) and
Peter Weyermayr (GSXR750L) - (arrived
11 bikes, 11 people Approx. 550km 22º and sunny
Route: Hallam – Pakenham–
Hallam (
A
beautiful weekend and the promise of good roads brought out quite a turnout for
the Melb. Cup Weekend. Dave and Bron rang
me early in the week to say they were going up for the Saturday but had to
return Sunday for work and asked if I wanted to do the same. With a forecast of 24, then 28, I couldn’t
refuse. However, with the noise of the
pub still ringing in my ears from the last time I stayed at Orbost with the Club,
I opted for the safe option of a motel this time. Apparently the Honda Red Wing Club booked
the shitty one (the Commonwealth Hotel) this time anyway and the Club stayed in
the quieter one down the road. Geez, no disco music to go to sleep to this time! Are the Club members showing their age?!
After
fuelling and getting the rundown on the day’s route we headed down the Highway
to Pakenham, then did the usual route through Tynong-Garfield-Longwarry-Ellinbank
crossed the Highway at Yarragon and continued parallel to the highway to Moe
where Rhys intended stopping for fuel as he likes to use Premium. I presume he did as I corner-marked for quite
awhile at this stage. Derek turned back
to see what the delay was but then the others arrived. A little further along a bunch of galahs
darted out of the bushes and swooped in front of Derek’s bike, basically on a
suicide mission. One succeeded as Rhys and I witnessed a very messy reduction
in
Apart
from that and apparently Trevor also killing a galah, the trip to Tyers was an
incident free cruise. We stopped at
From
Tyers we headed north and came to a lovely lake called
A
little further along, I sat behind Bron for a while with
Derek in view in my mirrors. However after a while I noticed Derek was no
longer there. I thought Derek and Bruce
must have just eased off the pace a little or maybe stopped for something, but Bron and I then found Rhys and Trevor corner-marking and I
thought they’d soon notice if the others came through or not anyway. Then we passed Dave and Ray corner-marking and
found Ben stopped. Ben waved us on and
later overtook us, but no-one else did.
At Dargo we waited and discussed what could have happened to cause the
delay. Trevor pulled up giving a thumbs
down causing a bit of worry, but didn’t really know what had happened still.
It
turned out first Bruce’s battery had carked it big time. He rang the RACV who arranged for a battery
to be brought out from Bairnsdale. But
apparently he also had a fuel line problem.
Bruce had made himself a seat cover which was quite unique but also had
a lot of excess cloth. It seems that
this could have blocked off airflow and to put it in unmechanical terms…stuffed
his bike. It was taken by trailer to
Bairnsdale where he rang us from at dinner-time to tell us he was on his 5th
beer and his father would be coming with a trailer to collect his bike.
In
the meantime, at Dargo the Unleaded fuel ran out just before I wanted to fill
up, so most of us put Super in. We were
lucky to even get that with rate the 4WD’s were arriving and refuelling. It was an extended lunchbreak for Ben, Bron and I, but the scenery was magnificent and it was a
lovely place to have a break anyway.
Bron took over rear rider duties
for the rest of the ride. Ben left Dargo
first with Dave in pursuit, then I left but very early waved Ray and Rhys by to
go after the others. Ray did, but Rhys
didn’t, so I followed Rhys for a while, which was fine until a couple of cars
put a bit more space between us and I couldn’t quite retrieve that, so I let
him go. Every now and then I’d see him up ahead and give it a go! I finally caught up when the roads opened up
at the end. I had an absolute ball coming
back down the
We
stopped at Bairnsdale where Rhys went hunting for Premium again and Derek
rejoined the ride after staying with Bruce when his bike broke down. I also learned here that Ray had a left hand
front end scare on the way up to Dargo, and a right side front end scare coming
back (too many Red Bulls making you go a bit hard hey Ray!).
On
the final leg we did the Bruthen detour. I love this section. It’s a beautiful
forestry area with nice open, sweeping bends. I could ride roads like this all
day. We arrived at Orbost not long
before 6, a little later than anticipated, but at least this time there were no
holes in radiators or bikes running off roads, unlike my last trip to
Orbost! Dave tried to convince me to let
me keep his Ducati in my motel room. I was willing,
but also warned him I would rent it out all night to the Honda Club up the
road! He mustn’t have liked that idea as
he parked it behind the pub!
We
met at the bar for a drink. Most walked up to the Commonwealth Hotel to meet
the riders with taste (the Honda riders!).
I stayed and heard stories from Rhys of soaking bike boots being put to bed
with an electric blanket on to dry them out, of a blue tongue lizard so scared
of turtles he will never be free again, and of huntsmen spiders that rear up
when threatened with rolled-up newspapers!
We
had a filling dinner at the pub (even if Dave’s steak looked like it was still
moo-ing). We swapped stories of the day’s ride (I
found out Ray sits out on his petrol tank to stretch his legs….as you
do!), and a million other things. Liz and Peter turned up at
Di Welsford (Honda CBR600)