Snowy Mountains Ride Day 1 - Friday October 29^th, 2004

Honda CBR929	Ben Warden (Leader)	Yamaha YZF1000R	Trevor Harris
Honda CBR954	Paul Southwell	Suzuki GSX-R1000	Cliff the Farmer Peters
Honda VFR750	Renzo Cunico	BMW R1100S	Darryl Chivers

What is written below is based on my failing memory, with a little help from a rough hand-drawn map provided by Ben. Any similarity to real people or events is a coincidence…

Bundoora, Friday, 07:45. I’m put the Ventura pack onto the YZF as Paul arrives, the sound of the CBR blending in with the rubbish truck heading up my street. He’s a little early for the 08:00 getaway, and so he chats with my wife Anne as I get into my leathers. A few minutes later I’m suited, booted, ear plugged, gloved and helmeted. Paul makes a few comments about the size of my rabbits (I’ve two that live in the garage and run around the back yard) and we head off. Up Plenty Road with a small amount of traffic, thankfully most of the commuters are heading for the city. Whittlesea comes and goes, and then, with Paul leading, it’s into the first set of good corners for the day. I keep the speed down as I have a set of new Bridgestone 020’s fitted that are not yet scrubbed in.

Kinglake goes past, fairly quickly. That left-hander with the running water is still there after Kinglake, and is a little slippery, as expected. I pay particular attention to the speed limit signs near the general store and notice that the long, long right-hander is actually in the 80 km/h section. I trust that the road is clear of the funny white cars with coloured lights on the roof as I start to enjoy myself. Flowerdale, and the bread truck is unloading at the pub; they must get some customers in there but it is almost always deserted when we go past on Club rides.

Junction Hill comes, and Paul goes. I’m still apprehensive about my new tyres, and so he gets ahead. Down the hill and into the open section and a black bike that I thought was a Kawasaki (faired in rear indicators) went past, with a small bag on the bag. I wondered if it was one of our group also heading for Yarck, but decide that the bag is just too small for a long weekend away. The black bike follows the road into Yea as Paul and I take a right onto the Melbourne Road – this brings you into Yea near where the railway station used to be. Just in front is the black bike, which I recognise as Renzo, on the VFR.

Yarck was chosen as the meeting place as it allows people to come up via Whittlesea and Junction Hill, or via the Melba Highway or Maroondah Highway. We pass the turnoff to Alexandra, and I start to check the names of the localities we pass through, as I think I know which one is Yarck, but I’m not up this way often enough to be really sure. About twenty minutes later we get there, around 09:15, pulling over near a GSX-R1000. Cliff is waiting outside the shop, quietly reading the paper. He had stopped to ask for directions, even questioning a truckie as he came out of the shop. The truckie didn’t know where he was, but the shop owner did. It’s one of those places without a name/sign as you come into it. A t-shirt slogan of “Where the Farck is Yarck?” was proposed to help put this place onto the map. Darryl shows up on the BMW a few minutes later, and then last but not least, Ben rocks in. There is no unleaded available, so Cliff and Paul head to the BP down the road to fill up, as they won’t make it to Whitfield otherwise.

Straight roads; this is known Cop Country. So we behave as we make our way past Bonnie Doon - with water under the bridge – and on through Mansfield. More of the same and we get to Tolmie, where we were about to enjoy the run down to Whitfield. What a difference this is to four or five years ago when the road was still unsealed. Petrol for all, and I pronounce my tyres to by scrubbed in. As does Paul – he started the day with a new rear. Into open country again, so once more we behave on the straight roads to Myrtleford via Oxley, with a short stretch on the Ovens Highway.

This was a short stop, as lunch was to be at Mitta Mitta. There was no sign of the local cop as we headed five k’s out of town and turned left to Dederang. Good roads with an appealing series of corners along here – are there any roads Mr Warden doesn’t know about? Along this road we passed through the township of Rose White. Wasn’t she in the Mary Tyler Moore show? 34km later and it’s onto the Kiewa Valley Highway at Running Creek. I’m unsure if the next leg followed the highway (maybe) or road across the river heading north (probably) – I said my memory was failing. When Ben is leading and all that is required is to follow him, then you don’t always pay that much attention to exactly where you’re going. We definitely went through Sandy Creek, and this back road took us to the Omeo Highway. Having been travelling basically north so far today, we now headed south to Mitta Mitta for petrol and lunch.

Fed and rested we set off for Dartmouth, then on to Dartmouth Dam. As with most water storages at this time, the water level is pretty low; my estimate is about half full. Backtrack a few km and then it was around to the Dartmouth Boat Ramp. Low water level here too, but there was a reasonably large number of people/boats. The boat launching ramp just keeps on going all the way to the water, unlike the ones visible from the bridge at Bonnie Doon that finish in what is currently grass.

Backtrack once more, to Dartmouth and Omeo Highway, heading north again. We crossed the Mitta Mitta River to get onto the road that follows the east bank (the Highway follows the west bank), passing through Bull Head Creek, Fairyknowe and Yabba. (Actually, we were on the Highway, west bank …Ed.) This road meets the Murray Valley Highway about 6 km east of Tallangatta. Another 10 km and it’s left into the Granya Gap. We ride as the conditions dictate (i.e. with enthusiasm) and before you know, we’re at the end of the road and looking at a narrow section of Lake Hume. East we go around the lake.

Another splash of petrol 52 km later at Walwa for the more thirsty of the bikes as 5:00 pm comes around. A local leaves work at the panel beaters on his XR650 as we get going again. Pulling an impressive mono, he heads towards Tintaldra and we follow. More precisely, Ben follows the XR at speeds of up to #60, corners included – which is all the more impressive when you factor in the knobbies the guy was riding on. Without any mirrors he had no idea what was behind him – maybe it’s the time of day that the local cop isn’t on the road?

Tintaldra. The road sign shows that it’s only another 11km to Toowong, where we will be based for the next four nights; definitely getting close to Beer O’clock. Ben takes the scenic route into New South Wales, going via Warbrook and Greg Greg. Only 29 km covered on this final leg, a mere 260% further. But enjoyable all the same.

Across the Murray River at Toowong, up the road and left into what I thought was a large driveway but is actually a road. Not having been here before, I was surprised when we pulled into a double garage/carport in what appeared to be a private residence. Julie was already there, having driven the Magna via the Hume. I learnt that Cliff had dropped his luggage off with Ben on Thursday night; though this didn’t explain why Renzo had so little on the bike.

Dave W, Dave M and Darryn arrive soon after, having come up after their Winton ride day. Ask Darryn how much riding he got in at the track the next time you see him… We organise rooms, with Cliff/Paul/Trevor in the Cooking/Eating/Socialising cabin above the garage; Ben/Julie/Darryl under the house (it’s better than it sounds) and Dave/Dave/Renzo in building three. Darren roughs it in a motel in nearby Corryong.

All that we needed now was a cold beer, but there are no stores or pub! Four of us jump into the Magna and head to Corryong. Two slabs and a couple of soft drink purchases later, it’s back to Toowong to wind down. Dinner is on Paul (with Julie’s help) – a pre-prepared pasta dish, complete with a bottle or two of Red. Screw caps are shown to be a good idea when there are no corkscrews handy – Paul planned it that way. Wise fellow. The following statistics are from my BC800:

Date	Distance	Average Speed	Running Time (hh:mm)	Birds Collected
Friday 29^th Oct	687 (km)	101.4 (km/h)	6:46	2 (Ben)
Saturday 30^th Oct	467	101.7	4:33	0
Sunday 31^st Oct	449	102.5	4:22	1 (Renzo)
Monday 1^st Nov	320	90.34	3:32	0
Tuesday 2^nd Nov	523	96.54	5:25	1 (Ben)

If you weren’t there, you should have been. Great weather, great roads, minimal traffic and a great day. Thanks to Ben for leading, and to the others for sharing the corner marking and rear rider position throughout the day.

Trevor Harris (YZF1000R)