The previous night we had agreed to leave at nine which for me meant up at eight. It always takes at least an hour to eat, change and get the bike ready. Though the accommodation was humble I certainly slept well and the beds were comfortable, the breakfast being thrown in was a bonus. Toast would be in order; I just can’t eat cereal when away. Too much like wet cement, not that I have tried that either but I figure it must be similar and as for porridge, well that’s prison grub. All this was being discussed with Danny and by 8.55 am Ben’s saying we leave in 5 minutes!

The first thing to do at Tallangatta on any ride is get petrol first as some towns can be further apart than first thought so it was off to the servo. The first town for the day was to be Corryong. This is a great 80 kilometre stretch where there were no lights, no intersections and just no stopping. What speed you decided upon was more up to yourself than any restriction the actual road may impose. If long quick sweepers are what turn you on then this road would be highly recommended. At this point Gerry was in serious discomfort and figured it was a nice day to let the body recover. So that was where she left us.

Corryong is where you enter the Great Dividing Range featuring more winding roads with nobody using them. The ride gets pretty well spread out through these parts as different riders prefer to travel at differing speeds so I usually only get to ride with other Club members for a short time before they are pulling away, or just leaving me for dead. One such person was Danny who seemed to be on a bit of a mission. Judging by appearance one could be forgiven for underestimating both rider and bike. Anyway he was at the pointy end with Ben having a ball.

Probably the best road of the weekend is from Cabramurra to Adaminaby, via Kiandra. Up to Kiandra is just a taste of how good this is all going to become, however, from Kiandra the road really is something else. The surface was super clean and looked like it had been put down just for our indulgence. When riding this road it feels like the Australia answer to the Isle of Mann, that good.

We stopped at Adaminaby to regroup, as the long fast roads tend to spread the group. This was a beautiful little spot buried in the mountains. However it does get frightfully cold. We all enjoyed a bite to eat and just a chance to have a drink and get ones breath back. These were the sort of roads you just could not tackle half asleep as the orange poles along the roadside mean the end of the roadside and unless you had wings (there were no angels amongst this lot) going over meant the hospital or the cemetery. So it was good to have a break. This place is distinctive by the huge rainbow trout statue featured in the park.

Rhys thought there were no more mysteries to Danny and his bike however could not help but shake his head when Danny removed this tool kit from under the seat. The tools were being kept in a sock! I kid you not, next time he is about you should ask, it is worth seeing.

The journey continued through to Jindabyne via Berrydale and Dalgety. Jindabyne is nice spot and we needed another little break. Even though the days were not hot they were tiring, I think from concentration as much as anything physical. I must admit at this point I was absolutely buggered and probably could’ve fallen asleep if given the chance. The group were taking about the next stage which is a 40 km ride in and out of the snowfields up to Charlottes Pass. When I was told this road is tolled I just could not believe it. A public road where there is NO alternate route and the authorities feel they need to bang a charge on it, an absolute outrage. Rhys had said the views are worth it so I decided to be part of it. Darryn was feeling fairly tired as well (a dog had been snoring outside his bedroom window, apparently) and decide to head back from Jindabyne.

As my form of protest I rode through the exit gate at speed while Ben was arranging for the 5 passes that were needed. As I went through Ben had to change his request saying he now only needed 4 and that nobody knew who I was; just as well the fine is $150! Is this a printing press for Government coffers or what. This too was a take no prisoner’s road with those orange poles placed one ft away from what is effectively a cliff. I knew the parking people were going to be about so I didn’t park for too long at the top while Ben, Rhys and Tim did the touristy thing. The problem with racing the gate is that only one road leads into the place which means you really have to also race out. So we do what we have to do.

Meeting back at Jindabyne Tim said he did not like associating himself with crims and gave me a couple of silent minutes where he wasn’t talking to me, but then enjoyed letting me know that to avoid tolls there was another gate to be speed through. This was starting to become a lot of work for $3.50 however it was the principle of the thing more than the money. Riding through Thredbo was an interesting experience given the recent events there. Some buildings still seem to be hanging onto vertical cliff faces although I know they have all been checked. The television reports just are not able to show how steep these mountains really are, and it is to the builder’s credit that anything is still there. You would not have had to study rocket science to know that building on such steep mountains involves some degree of risk.

At Thredbo the main road was closed so we were being detoured all through the village. The place looks like a building site at the moment although don’t be surprised if all this new accommodation isn’t filled mid winter.

Gravel was to be the next hurdle and I am one person who hates the stuff and makes no apologies for this. I know if I keep riding a totally inappropriate bike on gravel I will get better at it, however I do not want to become accustomed to a road bike slipping it’s way through gravel. I would also get used to having piles, but I don’t want to. Ben knows my feelings about gravel so made allowances for the extra time it takes, the important thing was we all made it unscathed. Ben had said there was about 12 km of gravel and after three it had turned to bitumen. Ha!, I thought for once he’s got it wrong, however the road turned back to gravel. This is another mystery of mine, why bitumen a section of road in the middle of gravel roads? Maybe they were going to do the lot and the truck ran out of bitumen, who knows.

Previous to the gravel we had passed a heap (and I use that word deliberately) of Harleys. After riding the gravel we took a break and sure enough they rode past us. I guess the gravel wasn’t that bad? Next stop Khancoban where fuel was needed and the Harleys caught up yet again, although Derek was playing rear rider for them. In amongst them was a P plater on a Virago and I couldn’t help but have some sympathy. Her aspirations will be to spend a fortune on some fat, overweight chrome anchor and figure this is motorcycling. People such as that need rescuing.

From here it was all easy stuff with familiar roads from Corryong to Tallangatta. All up a great day with no incidents. Thanks Ben.