How did it go?
Best fun on two wheels aka best fun with clothes on ;-)
Where did you end up going to?
Cooma-Dalgety. A nice run up over ridges and plunging into plateau. All
bikes on song and paced evenly apart with nothing but the rush of the
wind and the enjoyment of the road. Wildlife, magnificent granite
boulders, twisites, scenery that went on forever. A couple of beers and
relaxed lunch on the verandah at Buckley's Hotel (Dalgety). Across the
Snowy River, and on to Jindabyne. Lots of uphill twisties and forested
scenery. Jindabyne to Thredbo and on to Khancoban, with a stop at Geehi
to take photos of the Swampy Plains River and grin at the fun we'd had
on the run down. You know what that road's like. Magnificent weather,
nothing on the road apart from a few bikes going the other way. Couple
of beers at Khancoban under the huge grapevine, watching the world go by
and the sun begin its descent, looking at the map to work out where
we'll stay that night. On to Corryong, and cheap room at the pub with tv
and bar fridge :-). Unpack, and a good dinner, washed down by a few
scrumptuous reds, then sit outside in the balmy evening with more red
and having a bit of fun with the mob on the next table to keep the
sensor light on. Back to the room with champers, discuss the day's
events and loosely plan the next day.
Next day slept in and woke up to champagne breakfast. Yum. Fuelled up, then off along the Murray Valley Highway, turning off at Bonegilla to get round Lake Hume. Again, magnificent weather, and fast travel around glorious sweepers and magnificent scenery. Cross the bridge and stop for a photo shoot before tackling the stretch to Walwa. Wanted to take the Wymah ferry across the lake, completely forgetting the drought. Ferry was closed, but we stopped and walked down to it anyway, the punt sitting on it's bottom in a narrow passage of water twice its length, and the rails extending out of the water for about 500m up the hill, indicating just how much water wasn't there. Off again, and this time the road slowly climbed and wound up to Mt Alfred, where it clung to the side of the hill and afforded magnificent river and valley views around every turn. Fuel at Walwa, and a delicious pasta lunch and a couple of beers at the pub, then it was off again in the glorious afternoon. We followed the road to Tintaldra, Tooma, (pub stop), Tumbarumba, Batlow, Tumut, Gundagai and then Coolac where we stopped for the night. The road through here as you know is magnificent, and we had it all to ourselves, so everyone went at a respectable pace and enjoyed it. Coolac was sitting outside with a couple of beers as the sun went down, poring over the map and discussing next day's planned ride, and watching the world go by. In this case, there'd been the world record tractor muster attempt at Cootamundra, plus a B&S ball, so there was a constant stream of utes and trailers with tractors on board. A good dinner was washed down by another beer, then we had some good whites and played pool for a while until the publican decided to close. We took another white and yummy red back to the room, and washed an Easter egg down and critiqued the show on Jackie O. ;-)
Slept in a little, but got off to an earlier start than the previous day as the pub didn't have any champers ;-) Turned off to Cootamundra, and were surprised at how smooth and wide the road is, and how many sweepers there were. Did this at fairly fast pace, and it was most enjoyable. Again, magnificent weather, and the road to ourselves. Breakfasted in a nice little coffee shop in Cootamundra, fuelled up and headed off to Wallendbeen-Harden-Boorowa-Crookwell. All nice roads with scenic valley and plains views, and particularly between Boorowa and Crookwell a respectable collection of twisties. There was a fair amount of dirt here, but it was mostly in good condition, with only the first stretch after Rugby a bit on the loose side. Lunch and beer at Crookwell, then Peter went back on the Bathurst road, and Phil and I carried on to Goulburn and home down the back road through Tarago-Bungendore.
Everyone survive?
Yep. Relaxed and happy. Great time had by all.