Mt Baw Baw

Gary Hipwell's long awaited weekend ride to Baw Baw had arrived. But not before the original list of riders began to shrink quite quickly as members had to cancel through ill-health or some other drama. As late as Saturday morning, yet another had to quit because his bike battery had called it quits. However, on second thoughts he later installed a new battery and rode up to join us all later in the afternoon.

In all 13 of us left Baxter on time. Being led by John Rodgers we went through Tooradin, Koo Wee Rup, Pakenham, and Gembrook and onto Yarra Junction for Morning Tea. The weather was great, mid twenties, fine, clear and dry roads. After our break, it was off again through Powelltown and on to Neerim for the "Cruisers" to refuel, then on to Noojee for a well earned lunch break and stock up on refreshments for the night ahead.

This is where the ride really started in earnest as we began the challenging climb up the mountain to our ultimate destination at the ski resort village at the summit of Mt. Baw Baw.

On arrival we soon unpacked all our food and drinks, got our bunks set up and then went on a 90 minute walk up the ski fields to the true summit. On return it was time for some refreshments as our chefs set about preparing a great meal from the food selection purchased by Chris Barton just hours before she and 10 others headed off for 3 weeks riding in Vietnam.

Alf Just (with the flat battery) joined us and not long after Kim Radenic came along, having ridden up after he closed his business from morning trade.

Peter Baulch, Mark Bedford and Dawn Marshall got things moving in the kitchen, while the rest of us got into the nibbles and drinks, and wasn't too long before we were presented with a great meal consisting of grilled chicken fillets, roast potato, and copious amounts of lovely fresh crisp salad. At this point, many graduated from pre-dinner beers to some excellent red wine. Later sweets were served and we all then settled into a long session of fun games, laughing and story telling. There is no doubting the camaraderie amongst Two Bays members, especially on weekends away. An attempted card game of 500's proved entertaining to say the least, but apart from Peter Baulch and John Rodgers, seems there a few members who need to brush up on some of the finer points of the game...... particularly calling and playing "misere". It was about this time that some liquor appeared, which was the motivation for Kim Radenic to unleash his Croatian Rocket Fuel on to any unsuspecting daredevils. Baulchy tested its potency by setting fire to it...!!!! It burned well. Seems Kim was a bit over enthusiastic about his Home brewed Rocket Fuel, if his mood the next morning was anything to go by. Talk about a bear with a sore head....!@!@!!

Sunday morning dawned sunny and windy which ensured we had great visibility from our mountain vantage point. Again the trusty chef's set about cooking up a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and mushrooms all served on heaps of crisp hot toast prepared by Dawn. This was all washed down with lots of orange juice, tea and coffee.

Then the task of packing and cleaning up everyone chipped in and soon we were all ready for the journey home, again in fine, warm and dry weather...........just perfect for the ride down the mountain.

We reassembled at Noojee and then onto Drouin for a break, refuelling and lunch. The last leg was the home run to Baxter......arriving mid afternoon so everyone could get home in time for the F1 Grand Prix.

All agreed that it had been a lot of fun and that Gary should book the same weekend again next year. It was also great to see some faces not often seen on a weekend ride in past months, Alf Just, Geoff Massey, Rick Marr, Jeff Taylor and John Christie.
Dawn deserves a special mention for being brave enough to tough it out with 13 guys.......... All part of the Ulysses family.

Thanks to Gary Hipwell for again organising a fantastic weekend away; to John Christie for providing the vehicle transport for our food and drinks, John Rodgers for ride leading, Mark Bedford for Tail end Charlie, and everyone else for making a real "FUN" weekend.

Peter Baulch

This site was last updated 04/11/10