we made it! we're back

Even if not quite all in one piece.

Had a ripper of a two week blat through the country side. Was very good
to catch up with some of the aus.moto crew on Thursday night and on
Saturday (and now and then along the road).

Thanks to Smee for organising Thursday night, and to GS and Jodie for
the BBQ on Saturday evening. Sorry, Pisshead - we were just leaving as
you arrived. Didn't think you were going to make it, at one stage. Had a
lovely night at the apartment - thanks for arranging for that.

We left here on the Monday and made it to Taree - bloody hot day, but
geez the country was nice and green down that way. Tuesday saw us
working our way through Sydney in what turned out to be the hottest
October day on record, apparently. The heat was physical - could feel it
in waves. Stayed at Nowra on Tuesday night - and a pleasant night it was
too. Wednesday got cooler, as we wound down through Bega and along the
bottom of Victoria. God the country looked beautiful down there. Just
started to drizzle a bit when we got into Bairnsdale.

Turned up at the showgrounds on Thursday for the Barry Sheen Memorial
ride. I don't know what the official count was, but there had to be
close to a thousand bikes there. The run through was good, with the
coppers blocking intersections all along the way for a trouble free and
stop-free ride. Stopped for lunch at Morwell - I think most of the fuel
stations were simply swamped with the number of bikes. We ended up by
stopped near Andrews and refueling there, before leaving the ride and
heading up to Melbourne. I would've like to do the circuit of the track
at PI, but didn't fancy the idea of picking my way into Glen Waverley as
night was descending - and with all the traffic heading home.

Made it to Glen Waverly ok, and before Clem or Pisshead turned up
(mainly coz Pisshead NEVER turned up). Ended up by spotting this fully
loaded BMW R1100 GS as we walked over to the Village Green. Rude bugger
just sat there and gave us the forks. God! Melburnian's can be soooooo
rude.

I'll let someone else do the run down on the dinner.

Headed down to the Island on Friday and basically set up camp and did a
bit of the touristy thing. Saw the penguins on Friday night. Rode around
the island on Saturday. Ate plenty of food. Took in the sites and smells
of Cowes. Turned up to the BBQ on Saturday night (thought it wiser to
forego the CSC, as I was still going to have to ride back to the caravan
park) and enjoyed a lovely day of racing on Sunday. Next time, I'll try
and get around to Siberia where the rest of the crowd were.

We left PI on Monday morn, along with a gazillion other bikes, 'twould
seem. Ran into The Happy Drunk along the way - and on the Ferry over to
Queenscliffe. We had a very leisurely ride along the GOR - did the usual
sight-seeing stuff, and ended up at Port Campbell for the night

Tuesday we made some good time. Headed over the Grampians and stopped at
Hall's Gap for lunch. Some very nice roads and scenery - even if all
three States were a succession of Road Works.

Coming down the Grampians, towards Horsham, we came unstuck. Very tight
right-hander - big ripples of bitumen right through it - and I (and the
suspension) just couldn't handle it. The bike started to step out, and
then I rolled my hand off the throttle. I know I shouldn't have, but I
did - and the whole bike (assisted by a nice push from the trailer)
started to slide out. I kinda caught a glimpse of a guide-post closing
in on us. I managed to stand the bike up - this of course pointed it
into the scrub - and started breaking. I actually thought I was going to
make it, but then the tyres came off the bitumen and onto the gravel.

Still under brakes, and still on a lean, we finally lowsided. Luckily,
by then, we were probably down to 10 kph. It's still amazing how much
damage can be done at that speed. The lower right hand fairing was just
ripped away (assisted by the crash bars that peeled off their rubber
mountings and tore through the fairing). I'm certain that those things
are only meant to save fairing damage if it falls off the stand - any
forward movement translates to demolition.

Carol ended up with a bit of gravel rash through the jeans, and a lot of
bruising on the calf, knee and bits and pieces of her right hand side. I
faired a bit better, with the leather pants. No grazing, no visible
bruising, but ached for days afterwards.

Thankfully the injuries were minor - and the damage to the bike was only
cosmetic. The right hand mirror snapped back into place, and some
super-glue and araldite got the right rear indicator back on. No
mechanical problems that I've been able to ascertain yet - and we did
another 1500 or so kms to get back home.

Did some running repairs in Horsham - and then headed off to Ouyen for
the night. Settled for an onsite van instead of tenting it. At Ouyen
Carol discovered that her gold wrist chain was AWOL, and her bracelet
rather oblong. We squashed it straight, to take it off. We're guessing
the >$400 wrist chain is either laying in the gravel 20 km north of
Hall's Gap, or somewhere at the Caltex in Horsham.

We stayed in Griffith on Wednesday night, and caught up with relatives
before departing for Gilgandra around midday on Thursday. After the cool
weather of down south, it was a bit of a shocker to feel the heat again
on Thurday. It got even worse on Friday. Several times I stopped between
Moree and Goondiwindi, to take my helmet off and drink water. Stopped at
Inglewood (my old home town) on Friday night and caught up with friends
there.

Got back Saturday arvo, went out to a pre-planned theatre-restaurant,
and slept the sleep of the contented last night.

Surprisingly few aches today. Just a bit of tidying up on the bike,
thinking about what to do with repairs (could be an insurance job, I
think - someone suggested it could be as high as $3000 to get everything
replaced and painted), and gave the girl a much needed oil change.

We're off to Iluka next weekend, and then a new rear tyre is definitely
in order. All up, between PI and a couple of other rallies, the rear has
done about 7000 km - two-up and towing a trailer. Not too shabby, I
think. Another 1000 next weekend, and it'll be time to throw it away.

We've both agreed, on the final legs of the trip yesterday, that we had
a bloody bonza of a time and would do it all again - in fact we will
next October.
---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]
'81 Suzuki GS450-s
'87 BMW K100RT

www.dmcsc.org.au

 

pleasure to meet u again peter
u also have to thank slej for thursday.

 

Faark; sorry to hear about the prang but it sounds like you had a good trip
Peter (and Carol).
Next year I'm gonna' make the kid stay home so I can do the leisurely GOR
tour and other rides.... rushing back for school gives me the shits!
--
Clem
[Snoorer to the stars]
~

(snip)

 

Glad to hear you are both ok, even if the bike is slightly the worse for
wear!


G-S

 

Wot he said

 

Good to hear you made it, pity about the prang. Nice to have met you too
TB

 

EXCUSE ME! - We need our beer wench thankyouverymuch!

Unkie Johno

Beer?

 

Jodie and Molly are doing a pretty good job these days Johno!

 

It's a small world. I even road through a lot of the places, on the same
days, you did on the way back! My only misshap was cleaning up a big rat
tho'.

 

Glad to hear your ok and the bike isn't too badly off.

It was once again a pleasure meeting you

Hope to see you and Carole next year.

Cheers
Cat

 

Really starting to *hate* you mate..... ;p

Johno

Beer?

 

Ahhhh. Knew I'd leave SOMEONE out.

Cheers Andy. Nat dinner is probably on my permanent annual calendar.

---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]
'81 Suzuki GS450-s
'87 BMW K100RT

www.dmcsc.org.au

 

We had a BALL!!! Riding the final 80 km into Toowoomba, and we both
agreed we'd do it all again - NOW!

I still don't leave enough time. I find that I ride through lots and
lots of country, but don't see too much. Ideally, I'd budget on about
300 km per day maximum, with the rest of the time left to sample some of
the local sights.

Actually - really ideally would be to camp at a place for a couple of
nights and do short day rides around the neighbouring areas.

---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]
'81 Suzuki GS450-s
'87 BMW K100RT

www.dmcsc.org.au

 

There's GOLD in them thar hills!


---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]
'81 Suzuki GS450-s
'87 BMW K100RT

www.dmcsc.org.au

 

Thank you.

It's almost guaranteed.

---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]
'81 Suzuki GS450-s
'87 BMW K100RT

www.dmcsc.org.au