Wednesday, March 15, 2006
VERSION 1.1 THE TROOPER ( LONG LIVE IRON MAIDEN! )
Well Grampians Version 1.1 was never going to be easy.
Though not as extreme as the first attempt, it was indeed an adventure.
Apart from riding out from Melbourne, camping and getting back in one piece, not many things went according to plan.
Our first stop 2 hours from Melbourne in Ararat, the one thing I was counting on being really useful & instrumental in the the weekend's oncoming chaos.......Gino!!!
had us on the side of the road across from MacDonald's Bakery, ready to disassemble the front of the bike in order to extract his ignition key out from the innards of his Kawasaki!
Suiting up, Gino goes for a Michael Jordan like shot, deftly flicking his key through a narrow slit in the bike's bodywork, getting nothing but net, silently placing it somewhere in the dark depths that are the engine room of the ZZR .............
A little time later we finally capture the errant culprit using a foot long zip tie, coaxing it form it form its nestling spot on top of the rocker cover and get on our way...........
Riding into the Grampians, it was amazing to see how widespread the fire damage was.
From sheer size of the the area that was burnt.......to the various scenes like the flat bed truck that looked more like a wave pool!......... Such was the intensity or the fire that it had deformed every metal part into something resembling a dead sheep's skeleton on a drought ridden farm.
Even though it had been over a month and the regrowth was starting to come through, you could still smell the burn in the air.
Pretty sobering stuff, but none the less beautful in it's own way.
We arrived at the main town, Halls Gap, and were informed that many tracks and roads were closed due to fire damage. So day walks it would have to be, yeah.
We crossed the mountains along a lovely winding road which was obviously made for motorbikes.
Climbing through some flowing corners we had to dodge a smorgasord of nature's little 'fault codes' like sticks and leaves form the dead trees, on the tar and from above. Rocks and stones to jar your bones. Gravel spots to rock your socks. 'Falling Trees" signs to mess with the mind. Kangaroos bustin' moves. Emus sentry in the gutter. Flocks of birds in fear of splatter. Local boys on bikes two wide, round blind corners they would hide.
We did that pretty much all weekend when we rode.
Not the mention the dirt road parts where I got my bike in a sandy patch........... the little 16 inch front wheel thought it would be a good time to do an impersonation of an echidna trying to find some tasty morsel well below the ground.......
One big bonus was that we found a beaut little pub in the middle of nowhere ( it runs on a generator ), which also doubles as a function, corporate leadership training and elite boxing training facility!
No shit, one of the guys behind the bar was the nicest of blokes, but looked like he'd had his nose busted quite a few times........and recently.
We decided that Troopers Camp was going to be a more favourable location to pitch a tent than Troopers Creek Campground..........the no water, 2 toilets, straddling a bitumen road, all caravans welcome, not much going for it site.
After setting up Gino & I decided that we hadn't come this far not to do a 'short walk' to whet our appetites.
Fortunately the 10 /11km walk I'd picked out was truly worthy of a Moomins adventure.
After climbing up to some cliffs, we scrambled along till we had to gain some more altitude.
That led us onto a sort of plateau. All very beautiful!
It was at this point that we were questioning our collective sanity.
With not a breeze around, a balmy mid 30's temp, sun beating from the west and racing us to the horizon, one 600ml bottle of water, two cans of beer ( most of the water having been drunk ), we did the sensible thing............ we made an attack on the summit!
Glad we did as the 360 degree views were as rewarding as the act of reaching the summit!
Perched atop the mount, we discussed the dehydratory versus the hydratory aspects of beer when used as a substitute for the intake of H2O.
It was warm but it was one of the most satisfying cans of VB I've ever had............
We eventually decided that we should head back and our timing could not have beed better as the moment we got down to our bikes, the sun had just set........... the glowing orange cliffs with a foreground of shadowed forest was something else!
The night was capped of with some cold bevvies at the pub and a roast lamb dinner. Well we had a choice of roast lamb..... or roast lamb, as the owner put it. Fine by us! It was better than hydrated packet pasta, eh!
Gotta love country hospitality!
Day 2 We thought we'd go alittle easier as similar tempertures were predicted.
We'd set off to a place called Hollow Mountain.
There were some wild eroded caves which you could climb through or up / down.
We ended up poking out the top like a couple of meerkats, looking all amazed at the new sensory input only to be startled to realise more 'meerkats' on a neighbouring mountain looking down at us.
It was a very ancient feel about the place and after a lunch of kabana suasages on the summit we enjoyed a very peaceful siesta on a shaded rock ledge.
It was a truly Moomin moment................ Basking in the warmth of the day, snorting and rollling over to catch a glimpse of the sun drenched valley and accompanying cliffs and mountains........only to snooze again........then catch a light breeze on your feet..........
Could've spent the rest of the day up there.
We attempted to head for nearby Lake Wartook, but alas the road in was closed off.
No afternoon dip in the hot sun to revive this time.
No matter , there was still the pub to attend to.
We didn't bother asking the owner about the 'holidays menu' but instead went for the 'what's on the menu tonight Stuart?' approach.
This was met with a 'I'll just finish with this lot and I'll cook you something up'
Something was a couple of really tasty steak sandwiches and a bowl of nachos, salsa & cream.
Pigs in shit we were!!!
The last night was spent with less sound of generator faithfully ticking over and more rain drops keep falling on my everything action, but this cleared up by the time we actually got off our arses and broke camp.
The breakfast stop in Halls Gap was entertaining enough. We met a fella riding around with his dog ( kids ski goggles n all ) who even invited us to join some of his club rides.
As for the rest of the trip, not a lot happened apart form coming across Shane who services my bike, travelling back from a Mt. Gambier with his race bike in tow on the deadly boring freeway.
Mother nature certainly made her presence felt but not quite as severely as the last time I was there.............
But after the bushfires, she may have been resting.
Till we duel again!!!!
Though not as extreme as the first attempt, it was indeed an adventure.
Apart from riding out from Melbourne, camping and getting back in one piece, not many things went according to plan.
Our first stop 2 hours from Melbourne in Ararat, the one thing I was counting on being really useful & instrumental in the the weekend's oncoming chaos.......Gino!!!
had us on the side of the road across from MacDonald's Bakery, ready to disassemble the front of the bike in order to extract his ignition key out from the innards of his Kawasaki!
Suiting up, Gino goes for a Michael Jordan like shot, deftly flicking his key through a narrow slit in the bike's bodywork, getting nothing but net, silently placing it somewhere in the dark depths that are the engine room of the ZZR .............
A little time later we finally capture the errant culprit using a foot long zip tie, coaxing it form it form its nestling spot on top of the rocker cover and get on our way...........
Riding into the Grampians, it was amazing to see how widespread the fire damage was.
From sheer size of the the area that was burnt.......to the various scenes like the flat bed truck that looked more like a wave pool!......... Such was the intensity or the fire that it had deformed every metal part into something resembling a dead sheep's skeleton on a drought ridden farm.
Even though it had been over a month and the regrowth was starting to come through, you could still smell the burn in the air.
Pretty sobering stuff, but none the less beautful in it's own way.
We arrived at the main town, Halls Gap, and were informed that many tracks and roads were closed due to fire damage. So day walks it would have to be, yeah.
We crossed the mountains along a lovely winding road which was obviously made for motorbikes.
Climbing through some flowing corners we had to dodge a smorgasord of nature's little 'fault codes' like sticks and leaves form the dead trees, on the tar and from above. Rocks and stones to jar your bones. Gravel spots to rock your socks. 'Falling Trees" signs to mess with the mind. Kangaroos bustin' moves. Emus sentry in the gutter. Flocks of birds in fear of splatter. Local boys on bikes two wide, round blind corners they would hide.
We did that pretty much all weekend when we rode.
Not the mention the dirt road parts where I got my bike in a sandy patch........... the little 16 inch front wheel thought it would be a good time to do an impersonation of an echidna trying to find some tasty morsel well below the ground.......
One big bonus was that we found a beaut little pub in the middle of nowhere ( it runs on a generator ), which also doubles as a function, corporate leadership training and elite boxing training facility!
No shit, one of the guys behind the bar was the nicest of blokes, but looked like he'd had his nose busted quite a few times........and recently.
We decided that Troopers Camp was going to be a more favourable location to pitch a tent than Troopers Creek Campground..........the no water, 2 toilets, straddling a bitumen road, all caravans welcome, not much going for it site.
After setting up Gino & I decided that we hadn't come this far not to do a 'short walk' to whet our appetites.
Fortunately the 10 /11km walk I'd picked out was truly worthy of a Moomins adventure.
After climbing up to some cliffs, we scrambled along till we had to gain some more altitude.
That led us onto a sort of plateau. All very beautiful!
It was at this point that we were questioning our collective sanity.
With not a breeze around, a balmy mid 30's temp, sun beating from the west and racing us to the horizon, one 600ml bottle of water, two cans of beer ( most of the water having been drunk ), we did the sensible thing............ we made an attack on the summit!
Glad we did as the 360 degree views were as rewarding as the act of reaching the summit!
Perched atop the mount, we discussed the dehydratory versus the hydratory aspects of beer when used as a substitute for the intake of H2O.
It was warm but it was one of the most satisfying cans of VB I've ever had............
We eventually decided that we should head back and our timing could not have beed better as the moment we got down to our bikes, the sun had just set........... the glowing orange cliffs with a foreground of shadowed forest was something else!
The night was capped of with some cold bevvies at the pub and a roast lamb dinner. Well we had a choice of roast lamb..... or roast lamb, as the owner put it. Fine by us! It was better than hydrated packet pasta, eh!
Gotta love country hospitality!
Day 2 We thought we'd go alittle easier as similar tempertures were predicted.
We'd set off to a place called Hollow Mountain.
There were some wild eroded caves which you could climb through or up / down.
We ended up poking out the top like a couple of meerkats, looking all amazed at the new sensory input only to be startled to realise more 'meerkats' on a neighbouring mountain looking down at us.
It was a very ancient feel about the place and after a lunch of kabana suasages on the summit we enjoyed a very peaceful siesta on a shaded rock ledge.
It was a truly Moomin moment................ Basking in the warmth of the day, snorting and rollling over to catch a glimpse of the sun drenched valley and accompanying cliffs and mountains........only to snooze again........then catch a light breeze on your feet..........
Could've spent the rest of the day up there.
We attempted to head for nearby Lake Wartook, but alas the road in was closed off.
No afternoon dip in the hot sun to revive this time.
No matter , there was still the pub to attend to.
We didn't bother asking the owner about the 'holidays menu' but instead went for the 'what's on the menu tonight Stuart?' approach.
This was met with a 'I'll just finish with this lot and I'll cook you something up'
Something was a couple of really tasty steak sandwiches and a bowl of nachos, salsa & cream.
Pigs in shit we were!!!
The last night was spent with less sound of generator faithfully ticking over and more rain drops keep falling on my everything action, but this cleared up by the time we actually got off our arses and broke camp.
The breakfast stop in Halls Gap was entertaining enough. We met a fella riding around with his dog ( kids ski goggles n all ) who even invited us to join some of his club rides.
As for the rest of the trip, not a lot happened apart form coming across Shane who services my bike, travelling back from a Mt. Gambier with his race bike in tow on the deadly boring freeway.
Mother nature certainly made her presence felt but not quite as severely as the last time I was there.............
But after the bushfires, she may have been resting.
Till we duel again!!!!
