Trip Report June 6 to 8

  

It was a cold, clear winter’s morning when the crew of 14 met for our 8:30 am departure from the Baxter Shopping Centre. All looking forward to another Queen’s Birthday weekend away at Bill & Rhonda’s Hawkesdale Pub, located 45Km. NNW of Warrnambool in Victoria.

The Crew consisted of, 

1.    Alan Lindley (Trip Leader)   BMW R1100 RT

2.    Peter Baulch                         Honda ST 1300

3.    Chris Dyball                          Honda ST 1300

4.    Gary Disher                   Yamaha FJR 1300A

5.    Aub. Adcock                        BMW R1150 GS

6.    Ron & Geraldine Olsson       Honda ST 1300

7.    Brian Burling                           BMW R1200 R

8.    George Stayner               Honda 650 Dauville

9.    Peter Lees                               BMW F800 ST

10.  Bob Russell                          BMW R1150 RS

11.  John Rodgers                       BMW K 1200 GT

12.  Jack & Malie Froling (TEC)  BMW R1150 GS

 

I have had two other attempts to go on this weekend away in previous years, both failed due to medical reasons, so I thought, third time lucky, and it was, so we headed off via Westernport Hwy., and Monash Fwy., making our first coffee stop at the Macca’s/Mobil Roadhouse on the Western Ring road at Ardeer. I don’t think they were quite expecting the onslaught of people lining up at the McCafé

Counter, as they were not coping at all. 35 minutes later, we were rolling again towards Ballarat. 

Alan hooked off the Freeway at Ballan and took us through some interesting back roads, (the old Hwy-8 actually), to Gordon & Millbrook but the tranquillity was short lived. We were back on the Ballarat Freeway, yes going though Ballarat city, Saturday morning traffic and all! Baulchy told me later, Alan has forgotten how to do left hand turns, scary stuff indeed. 

After a bit of cursing between us and some of the local traffic, Alan eventually led us out on the Glenelg Hwy to Smythesdale, then for an early lunch at the Mobil Roadhouse. After lunch it started to drizzle while heading down to Derrinallum and past the Elephant Bridge Hotel at Darlington, where Peter Baulch, Gary Disher and I spent an ‘interesting’ weekend with other Ulysseans last month (but that’s another story). 

At this stage, we were sticking to main roads and highways, but after refuelling at Mortlake, Alan decided to take the more adventurous back roads, complete with heaps of fresh cow dung, which had our interest, especially mine, because I learnt some new corner marking techniques sitting behind him. He would slow right down to 10 kph, get to the intersection, then dart to the left or right (depending on his mood I guess) and put his indicator on at the same time, or sometimes not at all, to catch you out. I found myself corner marking on the opposite side of the intersection, but still pointing in the same direction. Great new method that I thought (sick of corner marking on the left side of the road all the time anyway!) We could have played that game all day, but we found we had arrived at our destination… damn! 

We packed all the bikes in Bill and Rhonda’s 3 car garage which now sports lock-up roller doors, dived in to claim our rooms/beds, got changed, showered, while some of us went to the bar to relax and watch the Mighty Saints beat North Melbourne on TV.  

Now, some got into a ‘School’ when there was still two and a half hours to go before dinner, and the ‘Pots’ became Red Wine, by the time we sat down, and the jokes, conversations, and laughter filled the dining room, Peter Lees asked me what I thought of the note on his new muffler, so being honest, I told him it was not like a normal twin, but more like a ‘Fart in a Coke can’, (he still speaks to me!). The dining room became quiet again, with most deciding to get some sleep early, some very early, but the rest of us had a nice conversation around the fireplace with port, tea, coffee etc before turning in before midnight. 

Sunday was a rest day to do whatever you wanted. Alan, Ron & Geraldine headed for Warrnambool then Port Fairy for lunch, Jack & Malie went down there to visit some old friends, Chris, Brian & George also headed down that way.

Peter Baulch, Peter Lees, Gary, John Rogers, Bob and I went on a tour of Portland, Cape Bridgewater, where Baulchy told us of some happy nights (or was that endings) spent there during his youth.

Now raining quite heavy, we all decided to head back to the sunshine back towards Portland.

Bob decided to keep going the way we were headed, so John Rodgers took off after him in to turn him around, hopefully before he got to Adelaide. 

A quick stop for photos at one of the wind farms, before heading for lunch in Port Fairy, (a little on the expensive side but very enjoyable). Rain started to ease up on our last dash back to Hawkesdale, so that was all the catalyst some of us needed to blow the cobwebs out…eh John? 

Another pleasant time sitting around chatting with all the usual tall stories flying about before dinner, which consisted of a fixed menu of soup, lovely fish chips and salads, very enjoyable. 

The next morning after brekkie it was time to pack up and head off, with some patches of clear skies to the east, we headed north to the turn off to the right just over the hill, so some of us thought, instead we carried on to Dunkeld into bleak rainy conditions, strange I thought, until I find out from John that our ‘Leader’ missed the turn off some 50k’s back!! (His new name: ‘Tom Tom Lindley’). 

Morning tea was at Lake Bolac, where I saw a pool of oil under the GS, only to find the rear shock unit had blown a seal, and I had a very uncomfortable ride home, but, it’s a BMW. 

So, having gone up so far, ‘Tom Tom’ decided that we have another stint cruising through the traffic in, you guessed it…Ballarat!  By now I was getting the hang of the ‘New’ corner marking system, so when he speared off over the Freeway Bridge, I had the GS parked across the plantation…easy!

 Lunch was on the BP roadhouse along the Freeway, once again, they had 1 person manning 22 fuel pumps, all going at the same time, poor bloke, I thought he was about to have a heart attack. What is it with these multi national companies, surely they are told it’s a long weekend? 

The rest of the trip home was very wet, especially saying our goodbyes at the BP Thompson’s Rd. 

All in all it was a great trip with lots of laughs, good food, wine, and despite the weather, good riding, but most of all, it was the great company. Thank you all for your terrific camaraderie, and especially big thank you to Alan Lindley, (it’s OK, ‘Tom Tom’ knew he was going to cop it!)…I had a ball,  

Cheers,

Aub. Adcock