Mid winter on the Great Ocean Road

Marty & I took our usual circuit ride from Geelong to Colac on backroads, Colac to Gellibrand for a hot drink, Laver's Hill & then back to Geelong via Apollo Bay & Lorne on the Great Ocean Road.
Marty was cosy in his appropriately named Dririder "Arctic".

We were well prepared in full winter gear - it was only 9C when we left and was colder up in the Otways - though nudged up around 13C at one stage! I'm not sure that it's a great idea to be watching the ambient temp guage so much on these winter rides. We were probably pretty lucky to get as much sunshine as we did, though the roads were quite greasy in some places . I'm just about up for a new front tyre and as I cranked into some of the wet hairpins I was thinking that sooner may be better than later!
Dirty bikes in main Street Apollo Bay

The weather looked a bit grim for the run home through the twisties & sure enough it was raining between Apollo Bay & Lorne. Being the first day of the School holidays there were cops in unmarked cars & speed cameras everywhere. We were actually followed part of the way from Lorne to Fairhaven by a marked police SUV.

First winter ride for 2009

Took my first ride for winter. The roads were dry, the traffic moderate (long weekend) and I
was desperate for some "motorcycle therapy".I left early and it was pretty chilly - there was still some frost about inland.

Breakfast here, but no Prickly Moses when I'm riding!

Saw a fly!
Saw way too much of this unfortunately.

One of my favorite places. The Aire River on the Great Ocean Road inland section. First looking North of the bridge.
Then looking South of the bridge.

There were even a few spots of rain on the way home, but I managed to stay warm & dry. The new textile riding pants were excellent.

Stimulus package on Elizabeth St Melbourne

I went to Melbourne this morning to collect my Dainese Galvestone textile pants that I'd had on order from Peter Stevens motorcycles in Elizabeth Street. Thanks for the stimulus package $'s Kevin Rudd! For those not familiar with Melbourne, Elizabeth St in downtown Melbourne has a strip with 105 year history of motorcycle shops.

It was great dealing with a salesman named Bill, who was knowledgeable about their products and had an approach that appealed to a mature rider like myself. I find some of the younger guys seem to think that their customers have to be "kewl" to be worthy of their attention. I've noticed at the big dealerships these young guys are often on traineeships and don't last long anyway.

First textile pants I've ever purchased - should be good now that winter is upon us here in the southern hemisphere.
Gortex whats more!
Maybe I'll get the matching jacket if I get a decent tax return, check out the Gator.

I wandered down to Peter Stevens new store in A'Beckett St. This houses the Hardley Ableson, Triumph & MV Agusta dealerships as well as a "clearance centre". This place is big & kinda like K Mart.

I'd quite like to take this for a run.

Lotsa Triumphs - this is but a few of them.

Weekday ride

We were on strike today so no work for us. It was the perfect opportunity to ride the Otways & Great Ocean Road with very little traffic & reasonable weather before winter sets in.

Marty's ZX9R in front of the Gellibrand store. This was our hot drink stop.

VFR800 & ZX9R
It was so quiet - virtually no traffic at all. Here's the view looking northwards.

Two short rides

On Saturday afternoon Mrs Tarsnakes and I took a quick run down the Great Ocean Road from Geelong to Lorne (Vic). It was her first pillion ride in 19 years and she did great - just like old times!

Sunday morning I headed for the Otways, but some drizzle & black clouds over the ranges had me thinking about whether I really wanted a drenching or not. I saw a heap of motorcycles at Dean's Marsh, (including a Spyder that I had seen in Geelong on Saturday). I didn't stop at Dean's Marsh as I really wanted to head a bit further on. I resolved the weather issue over a delicious breakfast at the Otway Estate vineyard just past Colac. I ended up heading for home and had dry roads all the way. So, a weekend of two short, but enjoyable rides.

Every time that I ride past this "renovators delight" I think that I should stop and take a picture - so today I did. Now that the fire season is over, farmers have been burning off, so unfortunately there was quite a bit of smoke about.


Vines amongst the eucalyptus


Main building - much nicer inside than the exterior would suggest.


The weather wasn't the greatest, but there wasn't much traffic and the roads were dry so it was OK for riding.

Chopper flight over Melbourne

I took a flight over Melbourne Saturday. I got to ride up front & it was an excellent experience, although the atmosphere was a bit murky and there was no sunshine.

We flew from Essendon Airport down towards Flemington racecourse, over Westgate bridge, then over to Port Melbourne, along the beach to St Kilda, then towards the city over Albert park, then the MCG, Telstra Dome,over the city then back to Essendon. The whole trip was at 1,000 feet or less, so good views of everything.

Robinson Helicopter


Port Melbourne

Melbourne city centre

Telstra Dome, now re-badged as Etihad stadium.

Albert Park

The G

Close up of the instruments.

This thing is small!



I took some video from the point & shoot camera which came out really well, see YouTube

Princetown & Turton's Track

Marty & I took a ride today down towards the 12 Apostles. It got quite gusty down there so we turned around at Princetown (literally a 2 store town)then headed back inland along Turton's track. The weather was perfect as was the riding.


Marty's ZX9R