Easter 2006

15th April

Good Friday, a day of rest.

Took a pleasant ride down to Tidal River on Wilson's Promontory.

Being the sort of guy that's optimistic, I took a punt on the weather. By the time I left the park, around Yanakie, I realised that the only way to head was home, as everything to the west was black! I didn't have my wet weather gear on and that proved to be challenging around meeniyan when the blackness turned into rain. By the time I had reached Dumbalk I had outrun the rain and headed for the only blue patch of sky remaining, thankfully in the direction of home.

On arriving at Churchill I found the the liquor department of the IGA store was closed, because of Good Friday. This meant a trip to Traralgon for a bottle of wine. The blackness approached and intersected at the Commercial Road/Monash way roundabout, very heavy rain and strong cross winds made the trip home all the more challenging. I arrived home safe and sound, but damp if you know what I mean.

A slight divergence here. I've reported a section of road to VicRoads on at least three occasions to fix the shiny spots on the road a short distance from the Hazelwood Power Station turnoff. On each occasion there has been an attempt to rectify the surface, but none has succeeded in removing ALL of the shiny sections. I had slowed down as I know this section of the road is NOT UP TO STANDARD. This didn't prevent the back tyre from slipping on one of those shiny patches. What does it take to get to job done completely? I will take up the question with VicRoads on Tuesday.

16th April

Decided that the worst of the rain had past and decided that I'd make a quick trip to Canberra.

I woke up at 9:00 and I could hear the rain and wind against the bedroom window. I turned over and went back to sleep. Surfaced around 10:30 and was greeted by blue skies. Had breakfast and checked the weather radar via the Internet, doesn't look too bad.

Rang up the City Gateway Motel in Canberra and confirmed a bed for the the night for both me and the bike.

As I was leaving a storm was making its presence felt. I out ran the storm a few kilometres down the road. Stopped at Traralgon to put on a Tattslotto for tonight. In the time it took to do that, the storm had arrived and another dash to beat it.

Stopped at Bairnsdale for petrol.

About 30 kilometres from Cann River I caught up with a storm and the rain was heavy. I opted to not stop at Cann River and keep going as the sky was bluer in that direction. Ten or so kilometres or so later I had cleared the storm. The only real problem was that I had water in my boots and that would linger for a day or to until they dried out.

Stopped at Bombala for petrol.

Arrived at Canberra around 6:00 pm

My first stop was McDonalds. Yes, I know, I could have done better, but it was there and warm. I must have looked like a person with Parkinsons disease trying to eat my burger as I was shaking so much from the cold.

Next stop was the Motel. After registering the first stop was the laundry. Took off my boots and socks. Rang the water out of my socks and ironed them dry. Walked up the the room in bare feet and spent the next period of time trying to get the water out of my boots. Lots of tissue paper and towels. Not completely successful, but better than it was.

Spent the evening at the National Folk Festival. At $45 for Saturday was that a bargain or not? Caught up with a few musos and had a chin wag. Checked out all the retail stalls and as much music as I could find. As 10:30 came around I decided I needed to get to bed, so back to the motel I went.

I settled on the 'backpakers' section of the the motel as it saved me $30 a night. The patrons across the corridor were having a whale of time, especially one female patron who kept laughing and laughing at every higher frequencies. The room contained four bunk type beds, the upper being for one person and the lower for two. The lower section was uncomfortable as a bracing bar was a few millimetres from my back. Any small move and I'd connect with it. I had considered the upper bunk but there was no way to reach the ladders as they were flush against the wall. Not a great night.

17th April

Up at 6:30, paid the bills at left for home. What a beautiful sight: Not a cloud in the sky, the Sun still too low to be seen and a full Moon hanging in the sky. A 'Kodak moment' I believe.

With the temperature at TWO degrees the conditions were a little challenging. Filled up with petrol and struggled to Cooma for breakfast and thawing out. I really needed the muffs as the tips of my fingers were going numb from the cold. Another layer of clothing would have helped too!

As I left Cooma, the temperature had risen by a few degrees so I didn't have much to complain about.

Stopped at Cann River for petrol.

Stopped at Bairnsdale for another joust with McDonalds.

Filled up with petrol at Traralgon before the final trip home.

Arrived home around 2:30.

Notes: The bike is running like a dog. There is something seriously amiss. Something has changed about four thousand kilometres ago and its getting worse. The basic symptoms are that the engine is running rough with an increase in vibration. Both rear indicators shells have fatigued from the excess vibration. I think I will need to take the bike to a 'real' BMW shop, maybe Moto One so they can sort out the issues. Finding a place to have your bike seriously looked after is just so hard when the shop needs to be able to connect to the onboard computer to check and set things. Not every bike shop has those facilities.

More Notes: I rang Moto One and found that I'll have to wait two weeks before than can fit in a service for me. A little disappointing, two weeks is along time on a bike that's not running well.