It's been a while since I've done a report so let's hope I remember how to do it.
Day oneI set off after work last thursday hoping to get myself a couple of hours closer to Mansfield, thus giving me a couple more hours to socialize when I got there. This is me riding through the Heysen Tunnels. The camera on the Forcite Helmet is in the jaw area and a tad low for the Goldwing, but for this leg was the weapon of choice.
The initial plan was to stay at Pinnaroo but the cheapest accommodation I could find at the motel there was $177 so yeah. nah. The Lameroo Hotel was $95 so that was a done deal. After checking in I went to the pub for a cheeky pint. They have Guinness and I hope we can return there for an RTE and a meal one day. Then it was time to crash into bed. Day one done and dusted (I may have learned this phrase from Shiney's videos).
Day twoI woke up at my usual bizarre hour of the morning and after a cup of coffee loaded up the wing for the ride to Mansfield.
After refuelling at Pinnaroo, crossing the border under the cover of darkness and a comfort stop at Walpeup I refuelled again at Ouyen, where it began to lighten up. It's the first time I've spotted the big mallee root that's listed on the Australia's big things wikipedia page.
I used to think this was it.
I took new roads through Mittyack and Chinkapook to Swan Hill, hence the refuel at Ouyen. This was at Mittyack. I posted a Chinkapook photo in the Goldwing thread, and the Swan Hill murray cod photo in the big things thread.
There's nothing special about this tractor in Nyah West, but it was the first time I have seen the town. I'd previously only passed through its borders on the Murray Valley Highway. There were quite a few interesting old buildings there. I'll have to go back on the Versys when I have more manoeuvrability for a better look.
Stops from here on were rare as I traversed a lot of it on various trips in the past. I'd passed though Euroa on the Halls Gap via Queensland trip of 2017 but never saw the big magpie back then.
I stayed at the Mansfield Lakeside park (special thanks to Rusty for finding it for me after I had given up finding anything in town) although this was the only time I parked outside my cabin. The gravel was loose, the ground uneven (left to right) and on a slant (front to back), not to mention most nights I returned in the dark so opted to park next to their office from here on in.
After unloading and a couple of other things (recharging electricals etc.) I headed off to the meet and greet.
Day two done and dusted.
Day threeFirst task of the day was to pop the drone up over the lake. Whilst where I was a ground level was still in the shadows the sun was poking itself out over the mountains.
Later that morning I joined a group of about ten for a ride to Mount Buller. That was my planned ride of the day anyway, so it was an easy decision to join them.
On the way up I spotted a few things I wanted to look at and take some photos of so after brunch opted to break away from the group and do my own thing and my own pace coming down. I turned into Mount Stirling but the road turned to gravel after the bridge, promptly u-turned and came back.
I somehow managed to miss the other things I spotted going up and the only stop was at Merrijig.
After returning to base relaxed in my cabin for a couple of hours before returning to town for the group photo. I wanted to pop the drone up for that so I could get everybody in the one shot. Sadly whilst I remembered the drone I forgot the phone that operates it so had to settle for terrestrial photos instead.
Then I rode into town, parked the bike up and went for a walk around before moseying on back the venue for the NR dinner. This is a random norpos that went through the roundabout on my walk.
This was either the second or third pint of Guinness. I took too many photos at dinner to post them all here.
Day three done and dusted.
Day fourSunday morning I rode out the Kevington before returning to Jamieson and doing the loop on one of the maps in our rally pack. Thanks for those Williamson. It beat making mud maps to accidently leave at home. I'm good at that. Jamieson was an interesting place and like Nyah West would have spent more time looking at had I been on a bike with more manoeuvrability.
The trips selfie comes from the Jamieson to Eildon Road. Google maps suggest this part of it straddles Kevington's borders. It was a nice twisty ride but with very few places to stop. As I said to Diesel at pizza night, the bomber jacket is an old workplace one I sew Ozstoc badges over the logos so it's now an Ozstoc bomber jacket.
I had lunch at Eildon by the lake before putting the drone up for its second flight of the trip. Flying to Eildon dam was easier than riding there.
How's the serentity? I went to check out the house at Bonnie Doon made famous by The Castle. It's now a BNB although I don't know what the rates are.
Then it was back to base to cool down before going to pizza night and parking next to Shiney's goldwing. Day four done and dusted.
Day fiveNo real plans for day five except to ride home as I had to work the next day. I knew the wing's odometer would clock 60'000km near Seymour. It did that at Trawool. I did take photos of it but sadly none of the day's photos were written to the memory card for some reason. I got home to find they weren't there. My only photos stops on the day were here at Trawool, Bendigo, Newbridge and the Logan pub, Logan but none of them appear on the camera's card. The Trawool ones annoyed me the most. The others I can do again.
