Porepunkah 26^th December 2010 to 2^nd January 2011

When Misho saw me packing a couple of blankets he asked “What for?” He could only remember the hot summer nights of Porepunkah, but had forgotten the nights we shivered until Peter Feistel, who was ‘cooking’ under the doona in his luxury van, offered us his extra blanket. I was determined for this episode not to be repeated, but alas, two blankets were not enough. On the first night I hardly slept. I explained my thermally-challenged predicament to my fellow campers… the ever-reliable Warden’s to the rescue with an extra blanket. Ahhh – cosy, warm sleep becomes me at last.

I remembered, whimsically, how much I enjoyed these alpine roads last Christmas on my R6. But this time around I was filled with trepidation, almost overwhelmed by their technical difficulty. I said to myself “keep focussed” while repeating the mantra ‘No pain. No gain’. The gain I had in sight was the return, to some degree, of the riding confidence I lost as a result of coming off on the Towong long-weekend ride. Misho kept encouraging me to ‘find the joy’. But alas, joy alluded me for some time. It wasn’t till about Day Five that I started to feel close to normal and then the happy drug was administered in drip proportions, such that I hungered for more of a fix. Yep, I’m still addicted.

For those fully addicted, the roads that Ben led us on throughout our camp stay were an absolute thrill. I wish I could show you a video of Cliffy doing Granya Gap – Out of the way everyone… including Ben Warden! Kurn could barely contain his joy of having a whole day dedicated to doing his favourite roads – lucky boy! And Misho… well after seven days, he still wanted MORE. Even after wearing his tyres out! The boy gets so overexcited in this motorcycle heaven that he doesn’t want to go to sleep at all!

One wonders what all the campers thought we were up to – zooming off at 9.00am, returning at 5.00pm, a quick change of tyres for some, a dip in the river perhaps, off again at 6.00pm for the Mt Buffalo run, back again for dinner, animated conversation till early in the morning. Then do it all over again, and again, and again for 7 days.

Despite the tiredness, I felt sad at packing up time on Day 8 – we had had such a wonderful time – brilliant roads, good weather, great company, and many laughs. As we left the campsite I remembered that Sunday is not too far away. Alleluia! Bless the MSR Club and the jolly committee who run it. May the crazy fun continue on in 2011.

Pina Garasi