OzSTOC
OzSTOC Ride Reports, Pictures & Videos => RIDE REPORTS => Topic started by: StinkyPete on February 19, 2020, 01:28:52 PM
-
It has been quite a while since I have embarked on a long distance ride, despite riding a lap of Oz around this time last year. This situation needed to be addressed and now that the really hot weather has gone, a day was planned. I love the SA South East, so a route was planned, and you can see where I went on the accompanying map.
I left home at 0515hrs, headed for Tailem Bend and then Meningie. There is a wooden carved pelican at Meningie, so I stopped for a photo next to a truck which is just out of the photo frame. The truck driver came sprinting up and demanded to know what he was getting pinched for, but all was well when he found out that I was not the police, but a simple tourist on a day out.
Kingston is a lovely coastal and fishing town and I stopped there for fuel. I didn't need it, but it was a chance to phone a friend who had been staying there in his caravan and perhaps have an early cuppa, but he had left the day before and was back home again.
I rode on to Port Macdonnell, which was my turn around point, and stopped for a coffee and muffin in a busy little seaside cafe. Back on the road again to Mt Gambier, but teh colour of the Famous Blue Lake colour was subdued. It's usually bright blue from late November until March.
After Mt Gambier the rain started, which was a shame, because the South East from The Mount up to Bordertown was where I spent happy years as a child. The Coonawarra was fantastic and the roses lining the vineyards were in bloom. I am told that the roses are planted as they are more susceptible to fungal disease than the vines and therefore serve as an “early warning” for problems with the vines, as well as looking lovely.
There's lots to see and do around Naracoorte, and I stopped for a quick photo at the local museum, and at Frances, just up the road a bit, is a little wheat silo, railway siding town, which is a shadow of what it was when I lived there in the 1960's. In the 60's it was a small but bustling town with a school, pub, servo and mechanic, two stores, two bank branches and four Churches, as well as the police station, oval and local hall. Sadly, since the rail line closed, most have gone except the pub and one store. The road from Frances to Bordertown is a scenic gem, as is the run through the Ngarkat Conservation Park heading north to Pinnaroo.
At Pinnaroo I stopped for an apple and rang home, and then rode the lovely sweepers of the Mallee Highway back to Tailem Bend and then the Freeway back home.
I had a wonderful day out.
-
Thanks for sharing, Pete! ++
How many k's did you end up doing?
Edit* Ignore that, I just saw the distance on the map... :fp
-
Pete, a cloudy day perhaps for Mount Gambier?
The lake is generally blue November to March and was when I was down there last month for work and a look around old haunts.
(http://imghostr.net/images/2020/02/19/8260f675461e54c2535ab2a0dcf9efac.jpg)
-
Excellent RR. Love the photos. I hope you can get them up on the FR forum as well, as they are outstanding. That one of the old lighthouse is quite unique.
OK, now you have the Millicent and Pinnaroo town signs, you must be getting near to being able to spell a word in
http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=5610.0 (http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=5610.0)
Williamson spelled "hinges" back in April last year, but hasn't given us a new word to spell. And I'm still collecting town signs, as Marcus will testify after stopping to see if I was OK in Tassie. :grin
-
Very good Pete
I had read the write up but didn’t see photos till today
Thanks for sharing :like
-
++. A good read and a great ride