Three Wisemen 2012 Christmas Tour

stewy

Still young and stupid
bugger you guys left on boxing day.... looks like it was a nice 3 day ride though
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
bugger you guys left on boxing day.... looks like it was a nice 3 day ride though

Sure was a good 'un !!

It looks like I missed a good one!
Thanks for sharing.

Mate...you did :bang:
Some outstanding little roads and tracks, with some good tucker and excellent brew knitting it all together :chug:

Yep. Looks like an outstanding route.:glu
Perhaps we should book it in for next year. :)

On the market....to the highest bidder :bs
Definitely not for roadies, though...that Mt. Samaria track and the way out from there was a bit...ahem....interesting.
More photos and stuff coming, just uploading at the moment.
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Uh oh! :eek: Starts looking for somewhere to hide...:doh:


W-) :thumbs:



Things couldn’t have started much better...perfect weather, a small band of 4 and a whole 3 days ahead of us.

True to what was written here, it was off to lots of zigging and zagging between the higher hills on the left and the dreaded Princess Hwy on the right, not touching either one but finding ways in between to keep us pointing eastward.
Bunyip State Park, Labertouche, the small and windy stuff in the general direction of Tyers...

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I’d always wondered if the road to Moondarra Dam would actually go through...

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...and it does. The tar on the western side not only offers outstanding views across the Latrobe Valley, but ends in a fantastic BBQ area above the dam wall, which is well looked after, clean and sprouts some majestic tall gums.:so
And not a single soul in sight...


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The other side’s a goat-track... but eventually finishes up on the Walhalla-Tyers Rd. I wouldn't trust myself to find the track from that side.

All signage has disappeared from the western end of Cowwarr-Walhalla Rd. and the slip-in is a little hard to find. It’s easy enough to get lost in the plantations up there, tracks everywhere.

And POTHOLES!!:wot::wot:

Potholes the size to hide a VeeDub Beetle in....and thousands of ‘em.
Have a lucky streak and dodge a dozen of them in a row...think you’re winning?


CRASH goes the frontend, the eyes shut, you knew it HAD to happen, hands in a vice-grip around the bars and there’s 200+kg of Strom slamming up the clacker at a rapid rate of knots as the rear hits the edge of the “crater” like a cannonball, boots threatening to come off the pegs, knees still trying to steer and re-balance and cope with a bike out of control.

Fun galore at 30kmh...

The mental eye expects the fork-caps to pop and forkoil to shoot out of the stanchions, the whole frontend turning into a soda-fountain. :doh:

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Above the Heyfield Plains


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More backroads, alternating between tar and marbley gravel, get us around the bottom end of Lake Glenmaggie, still avoiding all main roads and every township along the way. Steve has to turn back after the break in Briagolong, thankfully the shop’s open, so fuel isn’t a problem.


Following Peter’s (Doonap’s) recent footsteps, it’s for the backways to the Dargo Road, then skimming east above the Mitchell River Flats, finishing up on a main road (GAR/ B500) for the first time today, but thankfully already on the eastern side of Bairnsdale.... bypassing the whole Xmas-Crazies crap of the main drag enroute to Bruthen.
The Bullant Brewery being the final destination.


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Then this...


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Turning into this...:chug:



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winding up to that... :whistle:


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Doors slam shut, shutters come down, kids and animals are dragged off the street...
the rampaging hordes of Austourers put their stamp on Bruthen...


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...until the moon watches the final act.:icon-maffick-:

By the way...who the hell took those pics and who’s camera did I come home with? :bees:

Disclaimer: No animals were hurt taking those shots.


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tbc
 

twowheeler

two wheels are best
W-)

then skimming east above the Mitchell River Flats, finishing up on a main road (GAR/ B500) for the first time today, but thankfully already on the eastern side of Bairnsdale.... bypassing the whole Xmas-Crazies crap of the main drag enroute to Bruthen.

I'll need to try that next time. It took me 15mins to get through Bairnsdale the other week, with a long crawling tailback from the bridge & roundabout on the east end of town.


Bugger the scenery photos - this one is a bloody cracker :bs
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Looks like a good one coming up....

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There’s less early morning fog on the Tambo River than in my head...damnit, that Bullant-plonk isn’t just “beer with bite”, but it bites on the arse, too.:whistle:


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Seems, I’m not the only one...just the first one past the pain barrier.
Which results in a far slower start than planned and we might as well re-route a bit. :devil:

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Some good tar seal instead then...and for once I get to ride the lower Omeo Hwy twisties on some great, clean asphalt, rather than the usual “loose gravel everywhere and bombed out by the timber-trucks”...and...”slippery when hot”, with the bitumen bleeding badly through the aggregate, leaving the bends a shiny-wet black mess to tiptoe around in.

Sadly the Swifts Creek Bakery in the little side-street has ceased to exist and while there are still some remnants around, a look through the window tells all.
No more monstrous egg+bacon rolls then:bang:....but Creekers Café on the Main Road DOES have good tucker and coffee :thumbs:

Off the hwy, off the back roads and up the hill... sweet views across the Omeo Basin.


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No time is wasted in Omeo, the place is chockers...and after quickly dispatching a couple of monstrous rigs of holidaying Bananabenders, the twisties are OURS, and ours alone.:drool:


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And up the Bogong High Plains


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