Highlands Challenge 2011 - Richo's Adventure

[Richo]

I think I have mentioned a couple of times in other posts that I was doing this trip, so if anyone is interested, then here is my transcript of what happened. This story is a little long winded but it was hard to keep it any shorter. I will break each day into separate posts.

We started planning this trip last year and had decided to try and hit all the alpine peaks in Victoria and New South Wales in a week of riding. This seemed fairly optimistic until we decided to throw in a ride day at Phillip Island the day before we left, probably not that smart for a bunch of blokes who should know better (some of who are closer to 50 than 40).

Day 1 – Phillip Island Ride Day
Actually for this started a day earlier as I live around 700km from the island and you need to be at the track by 7.30am. So we travelled down in the car with trailer and 3 bikes in tow. Stayed in a local caravan park on the island, just over the bridge from San Remo. Apparently we were told the unit we stayed in was haunted, but found no evidence of this myself. Although one of our group swore he was awoken by noises in the next room (most likely snoring).

Woke up early next morning and headed to the track (about 15 mins away). We had to line up at the gate but this was pretty quick and we were soon in the pits unpacking bikes and gear. We were lucking to grab a pit garage and then organised our bikes etc for scrutineering etc.


In the pit garage

It had been raining overnight and the track was reasonably damp. Fortunately our group was 3rd out and by the time our session came up it was drying quite well. I have never ridden at the island before, despite attending around 10 GP’s there so this was quite exciting for me and my first laps around didn’t disappoint. The first thing you notice is how fast this circuit is and also how it flows so well, absolutely brilliant.

Each session was around 20 mins and we managed to get 6 sessions for the day, so plenty of track time. Our third session was a wet one and only about 7 riders went out for this. It was actually one of the best sessions for the day as I had heaps of track to myself. It is surprising how fast you can go on a wet track. Not a lot slower than normal (which is pretty slow for me ).

Pit lane, you can see the still damp track.

[RatsMC]

Great start. I've never been to a track day where you got to use the garages. That's nice.

[Richo]

Day 2 – Melbourne to Mansfield


Day 2 Route

We stayed in Melbourne after the ride day. The next morning we packed up the bikes, consisting of:
Ducati 1098, Honda CBR600RR, MV Agusta Brutale, Triumph 675, Aprilia Tuono, Yamaha R6 (me)

We went via Healesville for breakfast where we were hassled by the local constabulary. Not sure what for but apparently they were having a blitz on motorcycles. None of us were fined fortunately.

After breakfast we headed to Marysville and witnessed the many burnt out areas from the bushfires 2 years ago. From there we headed to Lake Mountain, our first alpine peak. Great road up here as there was no traffic, lots of very tight bends but a nice consistent road surface.


Road to Lake Mountain

Next, we headed to Eildon and stopped at the Eildon dam

Eildon Dam

Finally we headed off to Mansfield via Bonnie Doon and checked into our accommodation at a local caravan park. We unloaded our gear and then headed up to Mount Buller, another ski resort nearby. Fantastic road again up here, seeing as it is the off season, there is little traffic and we had a spirited ride up as well as back.


Mount Buller

[Richo]

Day 3 – Mansfield to Bright


Day 3 Route

Next day our destination was Bright in the middle of the Victorian snowfields. Breakfast is always one our top priorities as we rarely have lunch, so we stopped at a local coffee shop in Mansfield and ate up big and drank plenty of coffee.

A few nice roads on the way to Bright, especially the first part closer to Mansfield. Always have to watch out for gravel across the road though.
We arrive in Bright and unpack our gear at our accommodation spot (Bright Accommodation Park). We then headed up to Mount Buffalo which was pretty close and another peak on our agenda. This is peak number 3. This is another great road and probably my favourite so far. Very consistent corners, although some road-works going on.


Road up to Mount Buffalo


Mount Buffalo Chalet


Some fantastic views on top of the mountain.

Here is an edited video of parts of the trip on the way up. Filmed from a tank cam on my R6.

[Richo]

Day 4 - Bright to Lakes Entrance


Day 4 Route

Day 4 and we lost one of our guys who had to head home early for work (we are now down to 5) Today saw us heading up to Mount Hotham first (peak number 4). This is a very tight and twisty road on the way up, but is much more open and sweeping on the way down the other side, quite a contrast.


Part way up Mt Hotham


At the top of Hotham in the ski village



At the south side of Hotham is Omeo, a small historic town built around the discovery of gold in the mid 1800’s. We had lunch here and rested before the next stretch to Lakes Entrance. The road from Omeo to Lakes Entrance was fairly uneventful, although there is a fantastic section of road following the river after you pass through Ensay, a lot of fun.

We arrived at Lakes Entrance and discovered we had some pretty flash accommodation awaiting us. Normally we stay in cabins in caravan parks but we had trouble finding this in Lakes Entrance, with some operators saying they don’t want “bikers” staying in their park... interesting. So we slummed it in a serviced apartment which was very nice. The Lakes Apartments in Church St if anyone is interested. Dinner was at the local bowls club next door, also quite nice.

[Richo]

Day 5 – Lakes Entrance to Cooma


Day 5 Route

Next morning we were up early and had breakfast in Lakes Entrance. We decided to head up the coast road to Merimbula for a bit of sight-seeing. The coast (Princes Hwy) highway is quite picturesque here and still enjoyable with some good bends. Careful here though as the police presence is normally quite high. Lots of burnt out bushland here from recent bushfires as well.

Merimbula for lunch and a look around, then we headed inland towards Cooma.


On the road to Cooma

Some narrower roads here for a while, then we hit the Snowy Mountains Hwy. Great bit of road over Brown Mountain, with rainforest views and tight twisty roads.


Fred Piper Memorial Lookout on Snowy Mountains Hwy over Brown Mountain

We then joined the Monaro Hwy and followed this across the high plans to Cooma, some nice high speed sweeping roads. Finally arrived at Cooma where we stayed at the Snowtels Accommodation Park. Bit of a step down from Lakes Entrance but it was still comfortable. Dinner at the local pub.

[Richo]

Day 6 - Day trip to NSW Snowfields


Day 6 Route

This was a pretty big day and started out good. We headed to Jindabyne for breakfast and had an excellent feed at the Banan Café (very biker friendly). We then headed up to Perisher Valley (peak number 5) ski resort. You enter the Kosciuszko National Park here and have to pay to enter ($6 for bikes).



The road up is fantastic, more sweeping than you would expect. From Perisher we kept going further to Charlottes Pass (peak number 6). Charlottes Pass is at the end of the road, so we headed back to Jindabyne and then up the Alpine Way to Thredbo ski village (peak number 7).


Thredbo

It now starts raining, making the roads a little trickier. We decide to continue on the Alpine way (normally closed during winter I believe) and head towards Khancoban. This is a stretch of about 77km of narrow bitumen road. I think we saw one car on this bit of road. Good fun road on the bike but it was raining on and off which made it pretty tricky. We also came across a massive boulder across the road, blocking most of it. Workers were there trying to clear it and we got held up for a while. Finally made it into Khancoban, pretty wet by this stage (gloves mostly). Lunch here was a nice respite but the rain continued so we had to keep moving. We headed north up the Tooma Rd back to Cooma (about 175km). This is also a great road with lots of tight and twisty bends. Add in the rain and some roadworks and it was quite interesting. We went past the Tumut Pond Reservoir and dam.


Tumut Pond Dam

Lots of alpine roads after here, almost all the way back to Cooma. Great ride but difficult in the rain and cold. Finally made it back to Cooma for a hot shower and feed.

[Richo]

Day 7 - Cooma to Mount Beauty


Day 7 Route

Yesterday was pretty tough in the rain and we woke this morning to find it still raining. We headed into Cooma for breakfast and decided to see if it would clear. The radar was suggesting it would. Finally at around 9.30 it was still raining so we decided to go anyway. I was last to head off and following Dan, my brother in law. About 5 kms down the road he pulls over and says the bikes has stopped (Aprilia Tuono). Oil light is on. We manage to limp back to Cooma and track down some oil. After disassembling the bike to add the oil (it’s Italian after all) we head off again and finally catch the others about 100km up the road. Still raining but seems to be easing up.

We are heading back over the same road we did yesterday and stop for a few photos here and there.





We make it over the alps and then join the Murray Valley Highway and cross the border again into Victoria.


Crossing the Murray River into Victoria

Corryong for lunch and catch up with one of the guys who managed to get lost, despite having a GPS. Also caught up with a Swedish guy travelling around Australia on a beat up old KLR600. He was really loaded up with everything, his suspension just about bottoming out.

We then headed down the Murray Valley Hwy again and went past the Lake Hume before heading south again and down the Mount Beauty. This town is named well as it is a beautiful spot. We checked into a caravan park right on the Kiewa River. Very nice.


Kiewa River

[Richo]

Day 8 - Mount Beauty to Melbourne


Day 8 Route

Day 8 and we are getting pretty tired, will be good to get back home. At least the weather is now good again. We pack up and head for our last peak of the tour, Falls Creek. I road up this road last year and it was lots of fun so was looking forward to doing it again.


Dan crossing East Kiewa River on road to Falls Creek.


Made it to the top of the last peak on our trip, Falls Creek.


Falls Creek Village

Took a few photos at the top and we head back down the mountain. Off to Myrtleford for breakfast via a great road (C534) that goes from the Kiewa Valley highway to Ovens, just before Myrtleford.

Couple of the guys were a bit over it by this stage and they decided to head back to Melbourne via the freeway. They turned off to head towards Glenrowan but 3 of us decided to keep in the hills and headed for Mansfield via Whitfield. Some more great roads here which we had done previously. Heaps of bikes in Mansfield (it was Friday), all heading out for weekend, we were the only ones heading back to Melbourne.

Finally we made it to Healesville and then to our mates place in Cranbourne to crash for the night.

[Richo]

Summary

Well this was a pretty epic 8 days (10 if you count the trips to and from Melbourne from Mildura)

We experienced some of the best roads in Australia during this time and nobody had any incidents which was great. We also experienced riding around one of the greatest race tracks in the world at Phillip Island.

Probably the only downside to all this was that it was probably a day too long, maybe we shouldn’t have done the track day first, hard to say. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to do some of these rides, to do so as they are well worth it.

[RatsMC]

Man, I am still on the video. I'll get caught up. That video was great, the roads looked nice and aside from the dirty bits, looked to me in good shape.

However, every time you came across an oncoming car I very nearly peed myself BECAUSE YOU ARE RIDING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD. I grove in England a little and adjusted after a while but any time I got away from traffic for a while I'd freak out whenever I came across the random car because they were driving where my brain thought I should be.

Anyway, now I really want to get out and ride. The rain is supposed to break tomorrow but I have to help someone move. Actually, I just realized that the ride back from his house goes right past one of my favorite roads

Still reading, great write up.

[Richo]

However, every time you came across an oncoming car I very nearly peed myself BECAUSE YOU ARE RIDING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD.

Ha ha Rats, guess you guys would think it a little weird watching someone ride on the other side of the road. You should try it for real with a car coming the other way and see how you react.

[Richo]

Just edited Day 4 to add another video. This time an edited version of the ride from Hotham to Omeo.

[OZintheDesert]

Hey Richo, great write up. I did a similar trip in December and have been meaning to write it up. Life has been catching yo with me way too much.

Those roads are awesome and it looks like you got far better weather than we did. We had snow at Thredbo when we got there. We had to abandon Hotham due to it.

If you are considering another let me know as I would be up for it.

[Richo]

We will definately be doing another ride, but maybe next year and dont know where yet. We were actually thinking of doing a retro tour as some of us have old bikes (I have a '78 Z650). Am open to suggestions for a new route too.

[Oscar]

Great write-up and piccies and the video is terrific - that tank-bag mount is the smoothest I have seen for ages for an amateur vid., and your screen is a whizzer. Nice smooth suspension also, and listening to the way you row it through the 'box makes me realise how lazy I've become with using the torque of the viffer, I would do one change to your three, if that. Kinda reminds me of the old CB400/4 in twisties...

Brought back a whole lot of nice memories - as a skier I used to do the Cooma - Perisher run very frequently, (mostly in an Alfa GTV, which was great on the run back from Jindabyne to Cooma) and before that, spent some years gliding at Cooma - it's a great town. Spent 10 years intermittently restoring an old 15-metre trawler in Paynesville (near Lakes Entrance, for the non-Oz readers) and the second-last time I left Lakes heading east, it was through the bar and turn left in Bass Strait and head for Sydney via Eden. That bar looks pretty simple but it's ring-puckering when you are going out over it, looking down at the side of a really narrow trough in the sand and trying to NOT hit the damn stuff - and a hole a metre-deep appears on the water in front of you.

I love travelling in the high country - the air is so clean and clear, it's HD compared to everywhere else. Vic. has some of the best back-roads ever and lots of really nice little towns and villages - that whole area centred roughly on Omeo down the the coast has gourmet and arts trails that are great. Gippsland Blue cheese - magnifique.

Thanks for sharing! Oh, and for your next trip - any route through Ballarat, Bendigo and thereabouts is worth it, just for the eats and wines...

[Richo]

Thnks for the feedback Oscar. Yeah riding a 600 sportsbike is a little different to a V4, plenty more gear changes, although sometimes I think I get a bit carried away and change when I probably shouldn't.

The camera I used for the video isn't mounted in a tank bag, it is a Starrider tank mount. Very simple, but it works well.



The country we went through was pretty amazing and I reckon we will do it again some day, probably sooner rather than later.

[Richo]

Great start. I've never been to a track day where you got to use the garages. That's nice.

At Phillip Island it is first come first served for the garages. We were about 10th in line and another mate was actually second in line so he saved us a good spot. If you have tyre warmers you need to get a garage so you have power. Mind you they slug you $10 each to have your bike in one. I parked my bike out front as I don't have the luxury of tyre warmers, so didn't have to pay. Other guys in our group did have them though.

[RatsMC]

Last day ride I went on I had an FZ400 behind me. Listening to him kept alternately confusing me and making me smile. Through most of the hills I was occasionally shifting up one or down one meanwhile FZ was going through gears like a flip-book.

Finally finished reading. Sounds like a great ride and the roads looked great. It has made me itchy to get on the road again. I'm still really split on riding solo and riding with a group. The group is fun and makes the stops a lot more fun but there is always at least one guy who isn't enjoying some part of the ride. Also fuel stops are a lot more often because someone always has an 200km range or less.

I guess that the good thing about being a rider is that you can do both group rides and solo rides.

I'm equally divided on whether the the ride or the destination is the best part. I guess about half distance, the ride is the important part but as you can feel the destination approaching, getting there feels like an accomplishment and humans are completionists. Some more than others.

[Oscar]

Thnks for the feedback Oscar. Yeah riding a 600 sportsbike is a little different to a V4, plenty more gear changes, although sometimes I think I get a bit carried away and change when I probably shouldn't.

The camera I used for the video isn't mounted in a tank bag, it is a Starrider tank mount. Very simple, but it works well.

Thanks for the great write-up, Richo! I'm sure I'm a bit more lazy than I should be on gear changes - 'twasn't meant to be a rap for V4's, more a realisation that I've developed some bad habits! (though this guy changes about as much as I normally do - though he's a bit more mobile at times than I think I am: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGGq-yHRjRg and so far I haven't had the sheep mid-corner.. using the range mostly around 3.5 - 6.5 or so, there's just a couple of times it comes really on-cam and makes the viffer howl-from-growl transition. )

That's a totally neat mount - I assume that it must be weighed rather cleverly to damp out vibration (or that R6 is super-smooth - the viffer has a V-anything vibration at low revs). I've been thinking of taking some vid for my own enjoyment, we have a couple of fun roads nearby (Macquarie Pass and Mt. Camberwarra that would look great if I could get anything like that sort of quality. Food for thought..

[Richo]

I have put bit of velcro on the arm of the mount under the camera and this helps smooth it out a bit. Surprising how smooth it comes out though and the footage is always nice to look back on later.

[phil]

Great write up Richo!

[motomania]

Great write up Richo, thanks! I must say that I truly enjoyed going along for the ride. It's now been just over 5 years since the last ride I'll take and I almost felt like I was right there with you (fullscreen with headphones). I sure do like the new HD cams available. Is that a GoPro or another brand? Those roads remind me of the forest service roads that sit directly below Lake Tahoe here in northern Calfornia. Fun & twisty without much traffic.

[Richo]

Not a GoPro MM just a little Canon Legria FS21. Not even HD. See my post above for the pic of the actual camera and mount I used. Does a pretty good job I think.

[Brad]

Day 7 - Cooma to Mount Beauty

We are heading back over the same road we did yesterday and stop for a few photos here and there.

Thought I recognised that shack! Here's my pic from Oct last year:



Looks like you had great trip Richo. You certainly covered some great roads, which I can happily attest to.

Thanks for doing the enjoyable write-up.

~ Brad