Porepunkah
BMW Motorcycle Club weekend away
A long weekend coming up, the club is having a weekend away according to the latest monthly magazine, the weather is going to be great: let's go for it. I have musician friends there as well so I took my guitar.
Putting in a leave form to take Friday off was the only organisational job I did, the rest will just have to happen.
Friday 10/03/2006
Left around 11:30 and made a few stops in Traralgon.
The trip is around 350 km. I left without filling up as I still had enough fuel to get me to Sale. Options, options, I was trying not to make too many stops and still have fuel in the tank when I arrived at Porepunkah.
I managed to reach Sale and put seventeen point eight litres into the nominal seventeen point five litre fuel tank.
Stopped at Omeo for fuel.
Arrived at Bright around 5:00 and had a bit of trouble finding accomodation. I finally found some at the Bogong View Motor Inn. Seems long weekends are busy periods.
Phoned up my banjo playing friend, Laurie Grundy, and was told to come right over. Had a most pleasant evening with Laurie and his wife Anne chatting about music, bands and the U.S.A. experience. We had dinner at the Porepunkah Pub that was featuring $12 meals. I ordered a rump steak and was amazed at the size and quality of the steak. It nearly covered the plated, was thick and didn't have much fat or gristle. To top it all off, I won the nightly raffle, a meat tray. I handed it over to Laurie as I'm not that much into meat and traveling in the heat with a meat tray is just not the done thing.
I wanted to catch up with a friend of Laurie, Lindsay, but he was unavailable as he was helping a friend with computer related issues. I offered a little bit of help. Both Laurie and Lindsay and plans Saturday, so I'm left with the task of tracking down the BMW Motorcycle Club tomorrow.
Arrived back at the motel around 1:00 am.
Not happy with the air conditioner.
Saturday 11/03/2006
Up around 9:00 and a cup of tea and two of the complimentary biscuits that the motel provides for breakfast.
The first job is to locate the BMW Motorcycle club members.
Rode to Porepunkah and realised that there are quite a few places they could be staying at. Since I hadn't taken the magazine with me, I didn't know where to start looking. The smart thing to do would be to have a look on the clubs website. Rode back to Bright and went to the Backpackers place at the top of the main street and used their Internet facilities. I quickly found the website and more quickly found out the real truth: The weekend has been cancelled. Great! Well that's just a little bit sad, time for some Plan B behaviour.
The BMW Motorcycle Club Events page for March
(Clearly more up to date than the magazine)
I decided to have a look around Mt Buffalo. I'd been there once before but hadn't spent a great deal of time looking around. The last time I was here I had to turn around where the sealed road becomes dirt by virtue of a chained gate. This time the gate was open and I made it all the way to 'The Horn' carpark. Fantastic views with perfect weather. The road had the tightest hairpin turns I've ever negotiated.
I decided to take the 1.5 km walk to the lookout. The weather was warm in the Ovens Valley (Pun? No.), but because of the altitude, almost cool at the top. I took all of my gear with me which slowed me up a little. I have this aversion to leaving helmets, etc on the bike while I go sight seeing. As usual the climb up took longer than the walk down. The track was very neatly laid out with sections of rock cut out to form stairs and the final ascent having wooden stairs and a handrail that would do any garden proud. At one point I had to take off the guitar as the rock overhang didn't give much vertical room. I guess I should have whipped out the guitar once I reached the summit and played a song to the heavens, but I fought the temptation. As I was walking back, several of the walkers coming up suggested the same idea.
Looking back from the 'The Horn' lookout towards
the chalet.
Check out the road at the bottom left of the picture, some really tight curves
here.
The only thing I forgot to take was water, so I was a little thirsty by the time I reached the chalet. Taking pictures of oneself is a trifle difficult, so I was most happy when a fellow tourist offered to take mine.
Looking over to the main lookout.
The arrows point to the viewing platforms.
Is it any wonder the site is popular with gliders and abseiling, look at that
drop!
Me at one of the chalet lookouts
Hanging on just in case - It's a long way down
The Ovens Valley is in the background.
Back to the Motel for a spot of lunch: Avocado, peaches with a Jim Beam and Cola chaser.
Took the guitar out and played for about an hour investigating possibilities for new songs.
Around 4:00 I took a short two hour ride going from Bright to Mount Beauty via Tawonga Gap then to Ovens via the Keiwa Highway and the Happy Valley Rd and then back to Bright, about 100 km. This is the only point where I could have come unstuck. As I was negotiating a left hand turn through some hills, there in my path is a big black cow directly in my path. I brake and am rather relieved that the cow just stays were it is, as I hadn't quite stopped by the time I reached the cow. I passed it on the right, in the other lane. Very fortunate there was no on coming traffic. The cow continued munching quite oblivious to it's possible fate.
Walked from the Motel into the Bright CBD and had dinner at a pizza shop. My eyes were way too large for my stomach and ended up not finishing the meal. Walked back to the Motel and had a very refreshing swim in the pool. A group of about a dozen motorcycle riders were also staying at the motel and had taken over the pool in the afternoon. This evening they seemed to be playing some sort of a racing video game in the restaurant area. You could hear the engine of the vehicle screaming away to the yells of encouragement from the other members of the group.
Had a shower (Ah!) and consumed a bottle of Annie's Lane Riesling to provide some inspiration as I tried to play quietly in my room and not upset the adjacent occupants.
Put on the T.V. and watched the fun and games as the participants in the seasons first Grand Prix fought for starting positions. I was sort of watching, half dozing, etc until around 2:30 when I finally extinguished the monster.
My only gripe with the motel was as usual the air conditioner. I woke up around 3:00 am feeling rather warm. A quick check of the air conditioner revealed it to be frozen solid and not cooling anything. Not happy. I managed to thaw it out and went back to sleep. The next morning the ice was back again. Grrr!
Not a great nights sleep, just what I don't need for a long ride.
Sunday 12/03/2006
More tea and biscuits for breakfast. Before leaving, I explained about the air conditioner and not being happy with its behaviour to the person at the front desk. "I'll have that looked at" I'm assured.
Left around 10:00 and headed for home. Twenty degrees at the top of Mt Hotham. The weather forecast was predicting forty degree temperatures.
Stopped at Omeo for fuel.
Stopped at Bairnsdale for lunch at Subway. My eyes are still too big! I think six inches is more my size now.
As I approached Sale my mind was beginning to wander, so I stopped by Lake Gutheridge and attempted a power nap. I found a tree with a lot of shade and lay on the grass and shut my eyes. Ah, peace an quiet. A few minutes later the roar of a RAAF jet roused me, followed by another a few minutes later. Ah peace and quiet again. What's that? Splash, splash, splash. A young man and woman on one of those paddle wheel novelty boats making their way past me. He was laughing his head off at something. Didn't seem so funny to me! Ah, peace and quiet again. What's that? Duff, duff, etc. A young guy with a 'Duff machine' going past me in his car. I think I got a little nap, just not really sure.
Headed off again and stopped at Yarragon and attended the first 'Jam session' at the Yarragon Pub. My attendance did not go unnoticed and I was cajoled into performing about eight songs. My payment was a free drink of your choice. More JB!
Arrived home around 8:00 and really took it easy, as I was bushed.
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