There was a little bit of everything today: cold, warm,
sunshine, showers, twisties, highways, mountains and beach.
It would have been crazy to travel this far across the
country and not make it to the east coast – a transcontinental! So Merimbula
first stop. From Cooma the road twists its way down the side of the mountain,
according to the GPS dropping 800m in altitude. The road is a bit wider than
what I rode yesterday but just a tight in the corners – a great start to the
day.
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| I leave the mountains behind |
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| And head for the rainbow |
I didn’t bother going all the way into Bega, cutting the
corner instead and travelling through Candelo towards Merimbula. This side road
is where I see the first policeman of the day issuing a ticket to an unhappy
customer. A decent country road it doesn’t take long to get to the beach. Minor sense of achievement!
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| Main Beach - Merimbula |
The plan is to take the Princes Highway into Victoria and
then cut back up to the mountains at Nowa Nowa. ‘Highway’ exaggerates the
nature of the road, single lanes with passing places as it weaves it’s way
along the south east corner of the country. The Ducati guys I met yesterday
warned me that the Victoria police operate a zero tolerance for speeding and
don’t apply any discretion. With this in mind I keep it as legal as I can and
pass two more patrol cars with victims pulled up.
A pleasant enough ride but a bit dull, so I detour off the
highway to get a bit closer to the coast. I take the loop down around Cape
Conran and through Marlo where the Snowy river meets the ocean.
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| Cape Conran |
Back alongside
the river to the highway and cut the corner to get to the Great Alpine Road.
And what a road! It’s about 100km to Omeo and although the scenery is fantastic
as you climb into the mountains again the road demands a lot of attention.
Tight corners and hairpins most of the way to Omeo but the road surface is
better than yesterday (apart from the occasional dead wildlife on the road). A
fantastic ride but I’m knackered when I get to Omeo.
Check in to a motel and take a stroll around the town. A
cute place with some historic buildings but now just servicing tourists. Monday
night is a bad night to be in Omeo – the restaurants are closed so it’s dinner
in The Golden Age Hotel.
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| Omeo |
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| Omeo |
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| The Golden Age Hotel, Omeo |
There’s a bunch of guys at a big table, all looking a bit
dishevelled and grumpy. I have a chat with a couple of them and find out that
they are on a week long holiday riding enduro bikes through the mountain
trails. They’ve ridden for five days down from Bright, over Mt Hotham and into
Omeo and it has rained on them every day! They take it in turns to drive a
flatbed ute they use to transport fuel and their gear (and that guy’s bike).
I’m sure they would be grinning more if they were dry.
Next morning, the road to Bright is Open ....
:-)
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