After such a great ride at the end of January, we decided not to leave it too long for the next one. The plan was for four days of riding in the Snowy Mountains and Victorian Alps again. You can not ride these roads too many times. The roads are amongst the best motorcycle roads in Australia and the scenery is beautiful. It won’t be long and some of these roads will be covered with snow and closed for the winter season.
We planned to meet at Mount Beauty on Friday afternoon. Rod was leaving from Jan Juc in Victoria, I was leaving from Sydney in New South Wales and meeting Dave in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, then riding together to Mount Beauty.
My ride started at 4.00am on Friday morning for a 250k ride to Canberra. It was a freezing cold ride and when arriving at the meet point, Dave said the forecast was for afternoon snow in the area we had to ride through. Thankfully we didn’t encounter any snow, but it was very cold.
We stopped at Cooma for a quick hot drink and at Adaminiby for the obligatory picture of the big trout.
A little bit of fog and low clouds.
Stopped at the emergency shelter hut at Sawyers Hill. There are huts like this scattered throughout the high country in Australia. They were originally built by our cattlemen and farmers in the days before good roads and access. Now they are used for emergency accommodation by hikers, campers and rescue teams.
Turned onto the road that winds through the Snowy Mountains through Cabramurra and on to Corryong. this is a narrow and twisty road that is a lot of fun, but you have to be careful of vehicles over the centre line on corners and those pesky kangaroos. Dave had a very close call with a little roo that scurried across in front of him. Missed it by millimetres. Their weight is mostly down low and even a small one will easily bring you down.
We stopped at Obrien’s Hut to have a look.
The view from the back yard.
Stopped at Corryong for a well deserved coffee and look around.
While taking a break, a Pike’s Peak Multi Strada rolled in. As he walked into the cafe, he had a grin from ear to ear and looked like the cat that had just swallowed a canary. He obviously loved his bike. One thing I always enjoy is chatting with other people during these breaks. Some have great stories and experiences to share.
Not a clear picture of the Multi Strada, but it is there, behind Dave's R1100S.
Corryong is where Jack Riley, the Man From Snowy River was born. A great horseman who inspired the poem written about the search for an escaped horse by Banjo Patterson. It was put to music/song and also became a drama film starring Kirk Douglas and Tom Burlinson.
Corryong is also a timber town.
From Corryong we took a road that neither Dave or myself had been on before that started on the first part of the Omeo Highway and turned onto Lockharts Gap Road and then onto Gundowring Road to Mount Beauty. Lockharts Gap Road was a nice surprise, with its combination of tight corners and sweeping bends. Well worth the change from the way we normally go.
I’ve said it before, but the R1100S is a whole lot of fun to ride. My thoughts often turn towards getting a new GS, but I can’t see how the smiles could get much bigger than when riding this bike.
We met Rod at Mount Beauty for an overnight stop.