Thursday, January 05, 2006
Bloody Schizo Victorian Weather!
All the best fer 2006! New year's I decided I needed to do something a bit different, so I took off to the Grampians in the spirit of Moonins M.C. ( always take the path you haven't been on because you don't know what you'll find ).
By the time I got over my hangover, got the bike packed and actually got on the road it was mid afternoon & the temp jumped about 10 degrees in the space of an hour or two. So there I am riding the shortest ( & most boring ) route possible - straight out along the freeway west. Must say 40 odd degrees in leathers & jacket with a hot, gusting head / cross wind was not my idea of fun. Kinda felt like a fish incased in a freshly used footy sock in a tumble dryer. Anyway stopped off at some place called Beaufort, downed 600mls of water and an rasberry split in the time it's taken me to write this sentence, and enjoyed a brief respite in the comfort of the servo's struggling air conditioner, which I imagined must've been the refrigeration equivelant of a en elderly smoker with some well developed respiratory disease, but still better than outside. Finally got to Hall's Gap in the Grampians with bush fires towards the north eastern part ( Stawell area ). Rode to the top of some lovely mountain and was greeted with a fantastic view of more mountains, valleys & no buildings to be seen, grouse! Found a nice little camping spot with only two other camp sites who were quite well behaved really, except for one, which was playing Michael Bolton butchering some lovely classic numbers at a volume just above socially acceptable, but by that stage I didn't care anymore. I'd set up my tent, went down to the creek and had a wash. As I was standing there on top of this mini weir soaking my feet in the running water I spotted my first wild & biggest yabbie I've ever seen. This thing was as big as my foot from head to tail! I rolled a cigarette and watched this critter as it crawled around completely disregarding my presence & cursed the fact that I was in a national park on a total fire ban day! I'd just bought a new camping stove & was dead keen to christen it, mmmm would've been sooooooooo delicious. Feeling like I've just gone through an intense training session with a champion sumo wrestler in a sauna, I never saw midnight.
Anyway, got up the next morning and did a short hike up to this ridge line where I came across more views of mountains & valleys & no buildings. Seems there's heaps of that kinda thing there. Broke camp, went to town to get some info & maps and proceeded to head up the next mountain for a promised "sensational view of mountains, valleys & you can get a good look at the bushfire" action. Half way up the the wet came in and I soon found myself stepping off the bike & going to the viewing platform to see a great big mass of cloud nothing. I stood there watching the mass of nothing making some sort of futile attempt to will the mass away, not bothering to take off my helmet whilst car loads of tourists & families got out of the cars, walked to the viewing platform, oohed & aahed over "how cloudy it is" and promptly ran like only people in shorts who've just got out of their climate controlled, 4 wheeled personal loans can, back to their said financial extensions. So that's all the thanks I get for putting myself through thermal & psychological hell to get there! Figure there was nothing for it but to go back down the mountain, very slowly as all those hot days & traffic had kindly laid a nice layer of oil, grease & diesel on the bitumen, practically turning it into an ice rink. Found the only pub within miles, something I have a natural talent for (bit like vultures looking for carrion) & sat down to a proper counter steak sandwich lunch accompanied by a lovely pot of VB in a nice little glass with a handle and windows on the sides so you always had a fantastic view of your beer.
Well, the rain didn't stop, so I cut my losses and rode back to Melbourne non stop in the pissing rain, not happy Jan! Although the temperature was much cooler, I still had the bloody crosswind to deal with. Still at least the only bits that got wet were my hands & feet, as I was wearing my summer gloves & water proof boots which over the years seemed to have lost some of that quality.
Overall, probably one of the most extreme new year's I'd had, but none the less fun & not boring. I feel it's going to be an interesting year of change & extremes, but time will tell.
Looking forward to the Australia Day 5 dayer trip into the snowy mountains for some more scratching, a climb up to the highest mountain in the country & some crazy national motorcyclist gathering in Canberra. Should be a hoot!
By the time I got over my hangover, got the bike packed and actually got on the road it was mid afternoon & the temp jumped about 10 degrees in the space of an hour or two. So there I am riding the shortest ( & most boring ) route possible - straight out along the freeway west. Must say 40 odd degrees in leathers & jacket with a hot, gusting head / cross wind was not my idea of fun. Kinda felt like a fish incased in a freshly used footy sock in a tumble dryer. Anyway stopped off at some place called Beaufort, downed 600mls of water and an rasberry split in the time it's taken me to write this sentence, and enjoyed a brief respite in the comfort of the servo's struggling air conditioner, which I imagined must've been the refrigeration equivelant of a en elderly smoker with some well developed respiratory disease, but still better than outside. Finally got to Hall's Gap in the Grampians with bush fires towards the north eastern part ( Stawell area ). Rode to the top of some lovely mountain and was greeted with a fantastic view of more mountains, valleys & no buildings to be seen, grouse! Found a nice little camping spot with only two other camp sites who were quite well behaved really, except for one, which was playing Michael Bolton butchering some lovely classic numbers at a volume just above socially acceptable, but by that stage I didn't care anymore. I'd set up my tent, went down to the creek and had a wash. As I was standing there on top of this mini weir soaking my feet in the running water I spotted my first wild & biggest yabbie I've ever seen. This thing was as big as my foot from head to tail! I rolled a cigarette and watched this critter as it crawled around completely disregarding my presence & cursed the fact that I was in a national park on a total fire ban day! I'd just bought a new camping stove & was dead keen to christen it, mmmm would've been sooooooooo delicious. Feeling like I've just gone through an intense training session with a champion sumo wrestler in a sauna, I never saw midnight.
Anyway, got up the next morning and did a short hike up to this ridge line where I came across more views of mountains & valleys & no buildings. Seems there's heaps of that kinda thing there. Broke camp, went to town to get some info & maps and proceeded to head up the next mountain for a promised "sensational view of mountains, valleys & you can get a good look at the bushfire" action. Half way up the the wet came in and I soon found myself stepping off the bike & going to the viewing platform to see a great big mass of cloud nothing. I stood there watching the mass of nothing making some sort of futile attempt to will the mass away, not bothering to take off my helmet whilst car loads of tourists & families got out of the cars, walked to the viewing platform, oohed & aahed over "how cloudy it is" and promptly ran like only people in shorts who've just got out of their climate controlled, 4 wheeled personal loans can, back to their said financial extensions. So that's all the thanks I get for putting myself through thermal & psychological hell to get there! Figure there was nothing for it but to go back down the mountain, very slowly as all those hot days & traffic had kindly laid a nice layer of oil, grease & diesel on the bitumen, practically turning it into an ice rink. Found the only pub within miles, something I have a natural talent for (bit like vultures looking for carrion) & sat down to a proper counter steak sandwich lunch accompanied by a lovely pot of VB in a nice little glass with a handle and windows on the sides so you always had a fantastic view of your beer.
Well, the rain didn't stop, so I cut my losses and rode back to Melbourne non stop in the pissing rain, not happy Jan! Although the temperature was much cooler, I still had the bloody crosswind to deal with. Still at least the only bits that got wet were my hands & feet, as I was wearing my summer gloves & water proof boots which over the years seemed to have lost some of that quality.
Overall, probably one of the most extreme new year's I'd had, but none the less fun & not boring. I feel it's going to be an interesting year of change & extremes, but time will tell.
Looking forward to the Australia Day 5 dayer trip into the snowy mountains for some more scratching, a climb up to the highest mountain in the country & some crazy national motorcyclist gathering in Canberra. Should be a hoot!
