Friday 27th May - Ballarat to Wodonga - 382.2 kms
I left work at 1pm, hoping to find a card in my letterbox telling me that my new riding gear had arrived. Nope, nothing, no cigar. I was pretty ticked off as it only had to come from Sydney and I had ordred it Monday morning. Anyway, I thought I head to the local Post Office to see if they had something for me anyway. Turns out that the package had been delivered by a courier on Wednesday, but I hadn't got the card. All's well that ends well - plus, as an added bonus, the gear fit as well!
The ride out of Ballarat was typical Ballarat winter weather - misty, overcast, cold and generally pretty miserable. Nothing of any note happened on the way up to Wodonga.
Saturday 28th May - Wodonga to Narellan - 674 kms
Relatively early start out of Wodonga today and was greeted with fog and another cool start. The road through to Corryong would've been a ripper, but I couldn't see much other than the truck in front of me. Once in Corryong I stopped for brekky. I thought I'd try a Snowy pie at the local bakery. Probably not the best thing for breakfast as it was a curry pie with an egg and bacon 'top' on it. It was OK, but I won't be racing back for another.
The road from Khancoban through to Thredbo was fantastic. The weather had cleared and I only saw 4 other vehicles. Two were motorbikes and the other two was a pilot vehicle in front of a dirty great lowloader with a digger on it that took up the whole road. I was hard up against the armco barrier with nowhere to go - but he had enough room - just. Glad I wasn't in a 4WD all the same.
Thredbo was pretty chilly which probably explained the snow at the top of the peaks. Up until this point I couldn't get over the number of dead wombats on the road. If I had a dollar for everyone I saw, well, I reckon I'd have $4.50. OK, so not that many, but given it was within 100kms, I thought it was a lot.
I snuck through the ACT - twice. OK, so I got lost, but at least I ticked off the 3rd state/territory on my trip so far. The rest of the day/night was pretty boring.
For some reason the GPS didn't track properly out of Wodonga until Towong - either the fog, or I forgot to start it - so it's only showing 580 kms
Sunday 29th May - Narellan to Inverell - 647 kms
Got rained on - again. Also, it had to happen at the worst point - on the Putty Road which is a well known bike road from Windsor (near Sydney) to Singleton. I can't complain too much as I've done this road about 4 times before - but that just means I know what I was missing due to not pushing that hard in the rain.
Stopped in Singleton for a coffee - close to the worst coffee I've had anywhere - ever. It wasn't looking good when the 'barista' added the shot of espresso to the cup of milk? Anyway, it woke me up - just not in a good way.
About the only other thing that happened was that I got rained on just 20kms out of Inverell.
Monday 30th May - Inverell to Mapleton - 567 kms
I had a sleep in today - despite Gav telling me I needed to get a move on - I didn't think I'd get grief by giving that GPS tracker link out! I called into Vince Strang Motorcycles where I bought my bike from earlier in the year to pick up a rear tyre that he recommended when I bought the bike. Of course, to top off the theme of the past few days, it rained for the first 30 mins of the day. At least I know that my new riding gear keeps me dry.
The run up to Toowoomba was uneventful, but from Hampton to Mapleton was fantastic. Hampdon to Esk was awesome, the Somerset Dam was pretty cool, Cedarton to Maleny was a ripper, as was the final stretch into Mapleton, although by this time it was getting dark so I was taking it easy.
I caught up with Cairnsy and Maria and their kids. Had a few beers, talked about the old days and what we'd been up to. Phil's joint is amazing with the rainforest pretty much being his backyard. It was great to catch up - hopefully it won't be 4 years until the next time.
Tuesday 1st June - Mapleton to Gayndah - 326 kms
Short day today. Phil and his mate Pete (Smurf) gave me some hints on how to get up north. I took most them - one of them being a loop around Mapleton-Kenilworth-Maleny-Mapelton which has some great motorcycle roads. They also suggested to get off the Bruce Hwy just north of Gympie and I'm glad I did. The Bruce is a bloody shocker - 70-80-90-80-90 urgh! So I detoured off and was immediately better off. Rolled into Gayndah just on dusk.
Wednesday 2nd June - Gayndah to Proserpine - 852 kms
Early and cold start to the day - as a lady said to me in Monto - "It must be cold as charity on that thing today". I agreed with her, guessing that charity is very bloody cold? The weather did pick up and by the time I was in Rockhampton it was a beaut 25 degC.
I was back on the brutal Bruce Hwy now for the run up into Mackay. I was going to turn off at Marlborough but missed the turn off (somehow?). It was a suggestion from Pete and Phil, and it looked like it would've been a ripper as it would've gone through the mountains. The only benefit of staying on the Bruce was that I got into Proserpine with only having to do about 30 mins in the dark. The other way would've taken a lot longer. I was pretty shagged by the time I pulled into the first motel I saw.
Thursday 2nd June - Proserpine to Airlie Beach - I dunno, 30 kms?
I didn't bother with the GPS or tracker today - hardly worth it for the 25 min ride. I dropped into Proserpine Motorcycles to see when they can service the bike - tomorrow.
Airlie Beach is pretty cool. Fantastic weather, great views from the apartments I'm staying at and it's all too easy to chill out.
Overall the ride was great - pity I had to rush so much - I'm definitely going to have to come back up this way and do some more exploring. It's a bloody long way though :)
This will be the last update until I hit the road on Sunday.
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