Back in 2004 Andy devised a weekend route that was suitable for some old, old motorcycles. It came to be named the Oomoo Run, after a new release red wine that we (over) imbibed in with dinner that night. The Oomoo run was repeated again in 2005 & 2006.
Today I rode the first part of that route as we had yet another magnificent winter's day. I procrastinated (which is quite acceptable for a 'West Coast Procrastinators' old boy) whether to go a little further inland, which I then commenced to do - only to bail out after riding a section of around 5 kms of gravel road works with no end in sight. You will see from some of the pics that Spring is just around the corner here.
Firstly I headed from Geelong to Ballarat - a pretty boring road. Then skirted around Ballarat and headed through some tiny townships like Ross Creek, Snake Valley and Cargnham. From the mullock heaps it's obvious that these were once thriving gold mining towns back in the late 1800's, now there's virtually nothing there.
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| Didn't see any! |
The shot below is a redux of a pic taken in the same spot 7 years ago, then featuring my CBR600
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| 2004 pic |
There were some places that I wanted to stop and take some pics, like the dead fox hanging from a road sign and the tiny, sad war memorial in Snake Valley, however, I wasn't game enough to pull off the asphalt as the the roadsides were very soft and boggy due to all the recent heavy rain.
Beaufort is a small town on the Western Highway that most folk drive through on the way to Adelaide, the
Grampians, or the vineyards further on down the road, however, it really is an attractive, well maintained little place.
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| Shot of the day! |
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| Beaufort War Memorial |
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| Beaufort Vic |
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| Beeac war memorial |
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| Just a part of the route |
I headed down Colac way as well, then home to Geelong. All up, 396 kms for the day and home by 3 pm.
Glad you getting out mate, after this weeks cold snap we ate having a great weekend of fine weather, about to take my son for a day ride.
ReplyDeleteI loved the two photos years apart very cool....
Great photos Jules, especially Shot of the Day - that really is a ripper.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you in spirit too given that the run was named after a good wine. I over-imbibed on good Aussie Hanging Rock Shiraz last night and am feeling a little delicate :-(.
Roger, hope you enjoyed your ride. I managed to find the 2004 pic and posted that as well. I wasn't even confident that I owned a digit camera back then. It must have been taken on my first 2 megapixel Nikon (which cost around $500 back then!)
ReplyDeleteGeoff, alas these days I rarely drink a red due to the migraines they trigger. Believe me, I really feel hard done by - nothing nicer than the diversity and complexities of red wine.
You've given me a good idea for a forthcoming ride destination - Hanging Rock. Only a couple of hours from here and I will keep my eyes peeled for the vineyard. There are lots of spectacular old gardens in that area as well which are often open for inspection as part of the "Open gardens" scheme - biker image wise, I'd best save that excursion for when I have Mrs Tarsnakes with me.
PS - a female colleague of mine says that there are very few problems in life that can't be fixed with "... a glass of good red wine and two Tim Tams".
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