ANZAC Day Weekend 25^th -28^th April, 2002

Thursday morning it was raining hard as per the weather forecast that we had been anxiously watching all week. Bummer. Never mind. On with the wets, waterproof gloves and plastic bags inside the boots. I knew it was going to be a long day, and there is nothing worse than being soaking wet in the first hour with another eight or so to go. Bruce was waiting at Whittlesea when we arrived and Ben turned up shortly after. No one else appeared, so we left for Yarck to meet Rhys.

Carrying on through to Mansfield it was warming up and the rain seemed to be easing. Mansfield to Whitfield was a good run and when we stopped at Whitfield I chanced taking off some of my wet weather gear. Next stop was Myrtleford and things were looking pretty good. I knew that all of the less fun roads were behind us now and the next three and a half days were going to be awesome. Myrtleford to Harrietville (not via the highway obviously) was fantastic with Tawonga Gap being my favourite road for the day. While we were stopped in Harrietville we heard a bike coming down the road. It was Mike who had missed us at Whittlesea (thought we were leaving at 10.15 instead of 9.15). Mike had left about 10 mins after us and had been chasing us all day.

The next section as far as Bruthen was new for Pete and me. The road up and down Mt Hotham became my second favourite for the day. Next was the Omeo Highway from to Bruthen which follows the river most of the way and is quite spectacular, not to mention fast. I think that road was a firm favourite for Bruce and Mike. From Bruthen it was a quiet cruise down the highway to Orbost where we were staying for the night. A hot shower, a few beers (or ciders), a good meal and contemplation of the next 3 days of riding ahead of us. Life doesn't get much better than that.

The next morning we were all up and ready to leave by 8.30 am. It was pretty cold and Cann River was a welcome break for a hot breakfast and a chance to put some extra clothes on. From there we went to Rockton Junction and turned onto Imlay Road that was fast and bumpy. The handling on my bike was awful and I found I was really struggling on the bumpy bits. Pete slowed down and I talked him into swapping bikes so he could have a play with the suspension. He made a few changes and it felt a bit better after that.

A few shortcuts, new roads, and an easy stretch of dirt road later, we ended up in Jindabyne. Then we did Charlottes Pass. Fast and fun! Well worth the little detour. Bruce thought so too as he notice $50s and $20s floating through the air. He stopped to pick them up and was more than a little disappointed when he found Mike’s wallet on the side of the road and realised that the money wasn’t going to be his to keep.

Another tight twisty downhill section to Khancoban, then a fast cruise to the pub at Cudgewa. Dicky was waiting for us at the pub after having ridden up from Melbourne that morning.

Saturday morning Ben left early for Albury to get a new rear tyre, with Bruce to keep him company. While they were busy sorting that out the rest of us tucked into a country style breakfast of bacon, eggs and tomatoes. It was another beautiful but cold morning and I couldn’t think what I would rather be doing.

We headed to Corryong, through Walwa and over Granya Gap back to Corryong. Ben and Bruce met us back at Corryong and from there we headed up to Cabramurra on what is quickly becoming another favourite road of mine. From there we went down Elliots Way which, coming from that direction is a rather challenging, tight, twisty downhill section of road. At the bottom we stopped for a bit of a break, before heading towards Tumbarumba.

Not far out of Tumbarumba Dicky outbreaked himself on a bump in the road and customised the left hand side of his Falco. A little difficult to ride without a knob on the end of his gear lever, and a bruised shoulder he returned to Tumbarumba with Rhys for company. A great sacrifice for Rhys considering that his favourite piece of road was coming up. The rest of us carried on to Tumut for a very late lunch.

After lunch I talked Pete into swapping bikes again as I still wasn’t happy with it’s handling (and I just wanted to ride his bike). I knew the road back to Rosewood was brilliant. I wasn’t disappointed – and enjoyed it even more on Pete’s bike. It was a brisk ride from Tumbarumba back to the pub to beat the darkness. Just made it.

Sunday morning – another beautiful day. How much of this could we take? We left Cudgewa after another round of bacon and eggs. Through Walwa again and over Granya Gap where Mike ran wide on a corner and dropped his VFR. Luckily there wasn’t too much damage and he appeared to be OK apart from a sore shoulder. He decided to ride directly home via the Hume as he was a bit sore.

Rhys headed off towards Omeo and the rest of us went down to Dartmouth Dam, and back to Mitta Mitta for lunch and a bit of a break. From there it was home pretty much the same way we had come, but in reverse. The ride broke up at Yarck and we all went our own ways home. Pete and I were home just after 7pm, with over 2,700kms on the clock. Not a bad effort for 4 days of fairly hard riding.

Once again the company was fantastic and the roads sensational. Ben did a great job of leading and keeping us out of trouble, spending a fair bit of time pouring over maps selecting the best roads in order to avoid main highways and policed roads.

Liz Oliver (CBR919R)