Over the weekend I fitted some Oxford heated grips in preparation, checked oil, chain and all the usuals and packed three day's worth of clothes in my new luggage bag. I glued some high-density foam from a sleeping mat to the underside of my lamby for a bit more comfort.
Monday morning, loaded a full thermos and hit the road at 9am. Getting out of town is boring - dull freeways are unavoidable, so I planned a long first stint to Sale. It was foggy and bloody cold on this stretch, but the hot grips were just wonderful. Only a petrol stop at Sale and then on to Lakes Entrance where I planned on a stop for a cuppa. Hit Lakes around lunchtime and it was full of people doing lunch (strangely enough) so I decide to pootle through and find somewhere better to stop. Gassed up again at Nowa Nowa and there found that I'd failed to refill my teabag container last time I'd used it, but managed to buy some more at the store. Bliss, there's nothing better than a decent cuppa on the road.
Stopped again for petrol at some town, but can't remember the name. Push on and the next stop is the border where I decide to stretch my legs for a while. It's getting on now and I decide I better make tracks. Good roads ahead so I make good time. The TRX's overtaking ability never ceases to amaze, just wind on some throttle and you're past. So much easier than the little Pantah. I always think that it's wise to spend as little time on the opposite side of the road as possible, so my overtaking speeds might be, er, just a leetle on the high side.
Was planning a stop at Eden for petrol, but I see I've enough to make Merimbula so pull in there. It's well after 4pm, so I've no time to stop if I'm going to find Paul's farm in daylight. I go through town looking for the exit back to the Princes Hwy, but take the wrong one and end up on the Bega-Tathra Rd instead. Bum. Get to Bega and it's beginning to get dark. Backtrack South back down the hwy to the Candelo turnoff.
At Candelo I dig out my map - a Google printout and find it makes no sense whatsoever. I chat with a couple of locals and they're mystified too! Ignoring the map, they give me instructions and soon I'm heading in the right direction. Dribbling along on dirt roads and soon someone's flashing a light at me from one of the farmhouses. I'm there!
I spend three days working with Paul, writing software and talking about bikes the whole time - he's owned over 100 bikes in his time and only a dodgy back stops him from still riding. I don't get to leave the farm, but do get some nice walks around his 200acre lot. It's really beautiful this time of year. The wind picks up on Thursday but the sunset is none too shabby:
On Friday morning I use his internet to bid on a TRX engine that's going for a good price. I was going to grab it at the Buy It Now price of $400, but some fool's put a bid on at $350, the starting price. I decide to bid anyway, but due to the satellite delay, I'm outbid at the last second or two by $5. Pissed off - it went for $415, still a bargain.
Before packing the bike I turn the rack around so the 15kg sack is inside the wheelbase instead of hanging out past the rear wheel. The bike's not been handling well - understeering is the car expression, dunno what it is for a bike.
This really transformed the bike - back to normal, turning-in as it used to. I get underway at 10am, heading to Wolumla along some excellent back roads. Rejoin the Princes there and aim for my first stop at Eden.
I'm thinking about getting back to Melbourne at the right time, missing Friday peak and arriving about 7pm, so I'm taking it a bit easier. Couple of bikes heading North on the run to the border and thanks to the chap on the K100 who gives me a speed warning a couple of ks before the camera parked on the side of the road. Hope he wasn't there on my way North!
After Lakes Entrance, the wind really starts to pick up, becoming gusty and rather tiring. I've got plenty of time, so stop more often for a cuppa and or rest than I normally would. Still, you can't avoid the school run traffic and Bairnsdale's very busy when I pull in for a (very) late lunch. It starts to get wet and nasty after there and I hit Morwell around 5:30 - just in time for the evening traffic. From there on the conditions get worse and the drivers turn from a reasonably relaxed country style to pain-in-the-arse city style - and I'm in Moe! I stop several times, waiting for the conditions to improve, but there's little change - weather or driving style!
The final run in is dead boring and then there's the interminable crawl from Narre Warren along the never-to-be-completed road works. It's a joy to get on to the Tollway and back to 100kph for the last bit. Some tool in a F100 tries to murder me as he enters from a side ramp and decides to go straight to the center lane without looking and I know I'm back in Melbourne.
All in all a damn good ride, despite the last few hours. The bike never missed a beat, returning excellent economy though it burned a fair bit of oil (about 750ml). $110 spent on the luggage bag and about the same price for the hot grips. Money well spent.
Ride to work eh. Again please.
very nice part of the country 
Oh well I'll just have to be happy with working 4 hours a days & having whole afternoons to myself instead. 
Glad to see/hear that the rack is doing well...I used to use it similarly facing inwards with a milk crate jocky-strapped to it holding my saxophone and music stuff.
