Hi all, back home again from the BMW Motorrad Rally held at Bright in Victoria last weekend and I feel confident in saying that I believe I have done enough wet weather riding practise for this year. This trip of just over 2,000km had two wonderful weather riding days followed by three very wet days, which I guess added to the adventure much like our recent trip to Smithy's place on the northern tablelands.
I left home just before 6:00am on Thursday morning to rendezvous with my friend Mike who lives at the northern end of the Putty Road. Mike's selection from his stable for this trip was a very tidy 1981 R100RS. Down the famous Putty Road and into Richmond to meet up with Chuck, the next member of the riding group, who was also on his 1981 R100RS. We tracked south in good riding conditions to Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains where we stayed at the Banjo Patterson pub overnight and met up with our fourth member, Graham, who was on his R1200ST so my K1100 was surrounded by 'R' friends. All up a nice 650km day and a good evening socialising with friends. Dick, another mate of my riding companions arrived for the overnight stay just to catch up and enjoy the evening but had to return home on Friday morning.
The bikes in Cooma on the way south.
The view from our room at Jindabyne.
Friday morning saw us head up the mountains past Thredbo and down the southern side of the mountains via Tom Groggin with a stop at Khancoban for a cuppa.
A brief stop at Tom Groggin.
When we left Khancoban I was on the tail end and as I changed from 4th to 5th my clutch cable snapped however I didn't want to pull up just there to fit my spare cable so continued on for about 100kms polishing up my clutch-less gear shifts until the boys ahead stopped near Tallangatta at a pleasant roadside rest area. It was a bit of a challenge getting through town at Corryong.
Once the repair was completed we were off on the final leg of the day into our destination at Bright.
My K amongst the R's at our motel (there was a 1984 K100RS in there to balance the equation a bit).
A good social evening at one of the local pubs ensued on Friday evening and we awoke on Saturday to the predicted rainy weather. Our little group decided that we didn't need to ride today after 1,000km over the last two days when there was a whole host of cafes and pubs to visit right there in Bright. So we started with a leisurely breakfast and moved through a number of establishments during the day to prime us up for the rally dinner that evening. During the evening it was decided that we would head south on Sunday morning over Mt Hotham, 1681 metres, down to the south coast of Victoria to a little village of Marlo located at the mouth of the famous Snowy River.
As predicted, Sunday morning revealed lots more rain so I donned some additional warm layers for the ride over the summit of Mt Hotham. Soon after we started the climb the fog reduced visibility to about 20 metres and the rain was lashing us. It was a challenge to keep the rider in front in view and as we reached the altitude where the snow poles are positioned on the road side the wind ramped up big time, however the challenge was not over, as we approached the summit the rain turned into that lovely white fluffy stuff known as snow. Two of the guys pulled into a shelter just over the summit to feverishly search through their panniers for warm layers to quell the shivering and we joined them just to get out of the wind. Once the shivering of my companions subsided we all headed off down the southern side towards Omeo. It's marvellous how much the weather improves when you drop 1,000 metres in altitude.
A nice little spot for a break by the riverside south of Omeo.
The weather from here on to Marlo was only intermittent rain which seemed pretty nice relative to the mountain crossing.
The outlook from the pub at Marlo where the Snowy River is on one side and the ocean on the other.
The pub is basic but cheap and the owners are keen to have motorcyclists as guests. Food was good and a pleasant evening had by all. Monday morning was, you guessed it, raining and we set off for breakfast at the cafe at Cann River. Over breakfast it was decided that we would push for home since it looked like rain on and off all day. Graham bid his goodbyes and followed the coast road home and the other three of us turned north towards Bombala.
We fuelled up at Cooma and Marulan and I rolled into home at 7:00pm after 12 hours and 830km on the road.
Here's a link to a map of the trip.Cheers
Upcoming BMW Rallies in OZ Sun Jun 26, 2016 4:39 am
but if the last one was anything to go by it will be a great time. Think sit down some BMW factory support, some organised events/rides, an organised dinner and clean clothes instead of camping chairs and eating around a fire.
