Joined Jun 2013
138 Posts | 0+
Victoria Australia
In the last weekend of April, 5 riders took a tour of the Australian High Country. We enjoyed great weather, comraderie and some of our best mountain roads. 1,920 kms with 22.10 hours in the saddle over 3 days.
Here are a few pictures and captions.
Day 1 and our first stop an hour and half after depature, the mate's '78 Guzzi has died; he and his son head back home on the lad's 650 BMW to get another bike for dad (dad has a couple to choose from). With the Guzzi parked in the yard of the shop in the photo above, the remaining 4 riders push on. The Guzzi induced delay sees us riding some of the more technical sections of the Alpine Way (Kahncoban to Jindabine) in the dark; I think this is best described as a contiguous series of leaps of faith; anyone who has ridden this tight mountain road shrouded in forest will know what I mean. Our mate did even more of the trip in the dark turning up on his1198 as the replacement for the demised Guzzi; his lad (recently licenced) had a minor incident in the drive way at home and decided that without indicators on one side of his BMW he had best stay home.
The 1198 arrived in Jindabine a couple of hours after us, a ride which included refulling in the dark from the "auxiliary" fuel tank. This was required more than once in the days ahead to cover the distances the Hyper and the two Beemers were doing (the Monster needed the occassional sip from the auxiliary tank also). The tank can be seen strapped to the luggage of the 1198.
Day 2 and here we are, three Ducs and two Beemers looking out across the the top of Australia.
The rooftops you can see are of Cabramarra, Australia's highest town.
The Hyper in it's natural habitat.
The 1198 in Touring Mode, now that's commitment.
The last time we rode the Omeo Highway (12 months earlier), about 60 kms was unsealed, but this time it is all tarmac.
Day 3 and we are just about to do the last real techincal bit of road, 70 km of mountain hairpins (I'm the one in the helmet). After the fun of hundreds of mountain kms, we rode a couple of hours of heavily policed main roads with lots of long-weekend holiday traffic to get home just on dark.
Great trip, we all stayed rubber side down, the police stayed in their zone, as did the wild horses, kangaroos, wombats and deer that roam these mountains.
Here are a few pictures and captions.
Day 1 and our first stop an hour and half after depature, the mate's '78 Guzzi has died; he and his son head back home on the lad's 650 BMW to get another bike for dad (dad has a couple to choose from). With the Guzzi parked in the yard of the shop in the photo above, the remaining 4 riders push on. The Guzzi induced delay sees us riding some of the more technical sections of the Alpine Way (Kahncoban to Jindabine) in the dark; I think this is best described as a contiguous series of leaps of faith; anyone who has ridden this tight mountain road shrouded in forest will know what I mean. Our mate did even more of the trip in the dark turning up on his1198 as the replacement for the demised Guzzi; his lad (recently licenced) had a minor incident in the drive way at home and decided that without indicators on one side of his BMW he had best stay home.
The 1198 arrived in Jindabine a couple of hours after us, a ride which included refulling in the dark from the "auxiliary" fuel tank. This was required more than once in the days ahead to cover the distances the Hyper and the two Beemers were doing (the Monster needed the occassional sip from the auxiliary tank also). The tank can be seen strapped to the luggage of the 1198.
Day 2 and here we are, three Ducs and two Beemers looking out across the the top of Australia.
The rooftops you can see are of Cabramarra, Australia's highest town.
The Hyper in it's natural habitat.
The 1198 in Touring Mode, now that's commitment.
The last time we rode the Omeo Highway (12 months earlier), about 60 kms was unsealed, but this time it is all tarmac.
Day 3 and we are just about to do the last real techincal bit of road, 70 km of mountain hairpins (I'm the one in the helmet). After the fun of hundreds of mountain kms, we rode a couple of hours of heavily policed main roads with lots of long-weekend holiday traffic to get home just on dark.
Great trip, we all stayed rubber side down, the police stayed in their zone, as did the wild horses, kangaroos, wombats and deer that roam these mountains.
