Melbourne / Merimbula / Adaminaby / Melbourne

[davamb]

Had posted this before, but think I only "previewed" and didn't "submit".
Anyways, were we go - 3 days, 1600ks and about 1.5 litres of oil!
Didn't take a lot of pics, but have bunged them together to make this short low-def movie.
I had a lot more of the rear-facing cam, but it fogged-up just soon after the bit I've shown ended.
Silly f%$ker, I put my damp visor-wipe rag on top of the camera in the bag!

[Rod.s]

Great roads you have down there, I just love the Monaro Hwy and the Alpine way and during the summer there just empty. So who dropped the Suzuki, whats the story there? How many went? You have got to give a short story or at least some BS

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

Well done..A picture says a thousand words..Should see Molly Meldrum maybe a gig doing band filmclips in for you

[davamb]

Cheers Cobba, I enjoyed making the video almost as much as I enjoyed the ride. Nah. That's not true, but it does help me relive it!

Ok Rod, I'll give you a bit of the story. I also hang around the Aussie Two Wheels Forum (TWF). Every December we get together for a bit of ride and beer-and-bs session. This year the meeting place was Merimbula. From there we rode up onto the high plain to Adaminaby by the roads shown. The gang returned to Merimbula for one more day, I had to get back to Melb to work on the Monday.

So... day one was Melbourne to Merimbula. Pretty boring up to Lakes Entrance, but not too shabby after that. Traveled all the way with another TWF member (Caspar) and met another chappy (Tag) at Omeo. Tag over-cooked a corner at one stage but was fortunate in only losing an indicator and mowing a bit of lawn as a result.

Stayed overnight at Merimbula and then off up to Bermagui with the gang. Then the climb up to Cobargo, then on to a cuppa at Nimmitable. Bit of a backtrack via Ando to Dalgety by a road that will remain nameless, but was probably the best piece of tarmac on the planet. I must go back. Dalgety to Berridale and then on to Adaminaby. Changing plans all the way as the weather threatened to overtake us.

Chrissy dinner at Adaminaby was perfect. Great spot, a "snow" town only, so very quiet at this time of year, but very pleasant.

Day 3 was home day, so went with the gang to Khancoban where they headed back to Merimbula and Caspar and I headed for Wodonga. Nice to see the Hume full again - it's been a while!. The run down the Hume South was just torture. The temperature was right up, the wind high and the road utterly boring. Add the locust plague and it's a pretty fair description of hell on two wheels. We bail at Euroa for lunch and aim for Merton by a road worth exploring again. Merton to Yea and on to Yarra Glenn. Getting tired now and lots of Sunday traffic. Come in the back of Warrandyte, wave Caspar off at the tollway and I'm home.

Just shy of 1600 ks in 3 days. The bike burned a bit oil and it'll take a fair bit of effort to get the locust crap out of the radiator, but hey - what a ride. Great roads, great mates. What more could you ask for?

[BigAl-TC]

Good stuff Dave You've fired me up to get my arse back over there. Brings back memorys of my trip around there in 2008 Moto GP this year I hope

[Rod.s]

We should do an QLD, NSW, SA, VIC meet...... great story and i have never ridden through a Locust plague, but could only imagine the mess.

[bobtrx]

You have done a nice job with the camera work dave . Thanks

[davamb]

Thanks all. There are some really great roads over this way, ones I never knew existed. Will be going back to explore some more!

Locusts. Yeah, you've no idea. Some of them were so big, they actually hurt when they hit you. Mind you, speed may have been a factor. At one point I had the visor cracked open about half a cm and copped one on the top lip of the helmet chin piece, had a yellow-green mustache when I stopped. Disgusting.

Just occurred to me, we had 3 Suzukis fall over, Tag's bandit, a gs500 (also in the video) and we lost a 14. Both the gs and 14 took a wrong turn onto a wet clay road and went down in synchronism. No damage to the gs and the 14 looked ok until it was discovered an engine mount had clipped a rock and ripped the crankcase open. From a 5kph lie-down it's a total write-off!