Leading on from here: http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4579
Well, that was good and bad.
The route:
So, I left home a bit later than I'd hoped for on Friday night, but was happy to be on the road, until I hit the Monash outbound. :bang: Mental note to me: Must work out a way to get from home to Pakenham somewhere with using any of the major arterials. Lanesplitting with big wide KLR bars is certainly a different kettle of fish to lanesplitting on the Zed..
Pulled up at the servo at Longwarry to wait for Roger, who arrived about 2 minutes after I did. Paid for fuel, and went inside to grab a bite to eat out of the heat. 25 minutes later, found that they'd lost my order, so waited another 10 minutes to eat. Up to Neerim, Noojee, then onto South Face road as it got dark. GPS started playing funny buggers again, so wasn't sure where my planned campsite was. Kept going (dodging deer on the road!) until we turned off down a side track and rolled out the swags on a nice flat area.
At this point, I found that the camera was flat.
The phone wasn't far behind it. 
The GoPro also only managed to record 3 seconds of video before it went flat too.. :bang: So, on that note, there's only 2 pictures for this entire trip.. Mental note 2: Charge things before going away, or take 12v chargers with me!
So, waking up this morning, we found we were right next to the Caringal Scout Camp. Easy peasy. Out to the main road, up to Erica, across to Rawson, down to the Cowwarr Road. Scooted along the Cowwarr Road to Cowwarr. Just a word of warning - the Cowwarr Road has potholes that would swallow my 4x4, so make sure you detour around them on the bike. Also, out the east end there's a ditch across the road, however it is marked with pink tape.
Checked out the Cowwarr weir, then off to Maffra. Checked out the Blackbird (looked good, but had a few scratches from what looked like a stationary drop). Decided it was too bloody hot to do a big ride home, so started heading back towards Seaton to drop in at the site of what was my Aunt & Uncles house before the fires went through.
On the way to Seaton, we detoured via the Glenmaggie Weir for a looksee. I took off from the gates first, and got to the end of the road where I was waiting quite a while for Roger to catch up. At the point of starting to get really worried, Roger appeared over the hill shaking his fist. Somehow he'd stalled on takeoff, and the BMW had a bit of a sleep in the middle of the road with Roger under it. No major damage - scuffed up hand sheild, scrapes on the crash bars, and a couple of marks on the panniers. (oh, and a bruised ego ).
Continued on up to Seaton, where we found that after the fire and the dozer's, the track into my Uncles place was essentially a big long bulldust pit. It billlowed around all over the place, was soft as something really soft, and generally hard to ride it. Arse up on top of the swag to get my weight back, and more throttle, and I got in without falling off..
Decided that we didn't really want to deal with that sort of road all the way up McEvoy's Trk to Binns Road to head down into Walhalla, so we went back out towards Heyfield, then around to Tyers via Toongabbie.
Went for a looksee at Peterson's lookout. Unless you've gotta walk a fair bit further from where the carpark is, it's a pretty shit lookout! Continued up to Rawson to find some lunch. At the general store, Roger said "Let's go to the pub", so I took off around to the Stockyard. Roger pulled up beside me and said "Not this pub - the Erica pub!"
So, off to Erica. The problem here was that there was a CFA Car Boot Sale at Erica, so the pub was packed, and they weren't doing meals at the pub until 1pm. Smashed in a sausage sizzle fundraising sausage, the headed back north to get back onto South Face Road.
South Face Road is in good nick, if a little too loose in places. Decided as we were close enough to there that we'd shoot up to Mt Baw Baw. What a relief that was! 15 deg cooler than down at lower altitudes! Unfortunately, we both had to get home, so rode on down hill, and came home via Icy Creek, Noojee, Neerim, Longwarry etc etc. ~550 km's round trip.
Next time I'll get more pics - Promise.
Well, that was good and bad.
The route:
So, I left home a bit later than I'd hoped for on Friday night, but was happy to be on the road, until I hit the Monash outbound. :bang: Mental note to me: Must work out a way to get from home to Pakenham somewhere with using any of the major arterials. Lanesplitting with big wide KLR bars is certainly a different kettle of fish to lanesplitting on the Zed..
Pulled up at the servo at Longwarry to wait for Roger, who arrived about 2 minutes after I did. Paid for fuel, and went inside to grab a bite to eat out of the heat. 25 minutes later, found that they'd lost my order, so waited another 10 minutes to eat. Up to Neerim, Noojee, then onto South Face road as it got dark. GPS started playing funny buggers again, so wasn't sure where my planned campsite was. Kept going (dodging deer on the road!) until we turned off down a side track and rolled out the swags on a nice flat area.
At this point, I found that the camera was flat.
The phone wasn't far behind it. The GoPro also only managed to record 3 seconds of video before it went flat too.. :bang: So, on that note, there's only 2 pictures for this entire trip.. Mental note 2: Charge things before going away, or take 12v chargers with me!So, waking up this morning, we found we were right next to the Caringal Scout Camp. Easy peasy. Out to the main road, up to Erica, across to Rawson, down to the Cowwarr Road. Scooted along the Cowwarr Road to Cowwarr. Just a word of warning - the Cowwarr Road has potholes that would swallow my 4x4, so make sure you detour around them on the bike. Also, out the east end there's a ditch across the road, however it is marked with pink tape.
Checked out the Cowwarr weir, then off to Maffra. Checked out the Blackbird (looked good, but had a few scratches from what looked like a stationary drop). Decided it was too bloody hot to do a big ride home, so started heading back towards Seaton to drop in at the site of what was my Aunt & Uncles house before the fires went through.
On the way to Seaton, we detoured via the Glenmaggie Weir for a looksee. I took off from the gates first, and got to the end of the road where I was waiting quite a while for Roger to catch up. At the point of starting to get really worried, Roger appeared over the hill shaking his fist. Somehow he'd stalled on takeoff, and the BMW had a bit of a sleep in the middle of the road with Roger under it.
No major damage - scuffed up hand sheild, scrapes on the crash bars, and a couple of marks on the panniers. (oh, and a bruised ego ).Continued on up to Seaton, where we found that after the fire and the dozer's, the track into my Uncles place was essentially a big long bulldust pit. It billlowed around all over the place, was soft as something really soft, and generally hard to ride it. Arse up on top of the swag to get my weight back, and more throttle, and I got in without falling off..
Decided that we didn't really want to deal with that sort of road all the way up McEvoy's Trk to Binns Road to head down into Walhalla, so we went back out towards Heyfield, then around to Tyers via Toongabbie.
Went for a looksee at Peterson's lookout. Unless you've gotta walk a fair bit further from where the carpark is, it's a pretty shit lookout! Continued up to Rawson to find some lunch. At the general store, Roger said "Let's go to the pub", so I took off around to the Stockyard. Roger pulled up beside me and said "Not this pub - the Erica pub!"
So, off to Erica. The problem here was that there was a CFA Car Boot Sale at Erica, so the pub was packed, and they weren't doing meals at the pub until 1pm. Smashed in a sausage sizzle fundraising sausage, the headed back north to get back onto South Face Road.South Face Road is in good nick, if a little too loose in places. Decided as we were close enough to there that we'd shoot up to Mt Baw Baw. What a relief that was! 15 deg cooler than down at lower altitudes! Unfortunately, we both had to get home, so rode on down hill, and came home via Icy Creek, Noojee, Neerim, Longwarry etc etc. ~550 km's round trip.
Next time I'll get more pics - Promise.
