Club Xmas Camp: Porepunkah Dec. 26 – Jan. 1

What better way could there be to end a year than a week of awesome roads, good company and superb scenery.

This was the umpteenth club camp at ‘punkah. The caravan park offers a range of accommodation to suit your level of credit card meltdown, is quiet and on hot days you have the choice of the clear, warmish and shallow water of the Buckland or the much colder and deeper Ovens. They join at a swimming hole and you can choose a spot with water temperature to suit your taste.

Just down the road is the entrance to the Buffalo National Park, Victoria’s oldest park. Every evening riders would head up to hone their skills on this clean and predictable run. I did it first thing one morning and Gordon took my $2.70 entrance fee at the control point and provided a useful conditions report – ‘some pushbikes, a few cars and a bit of debris left from last week’s storm’.

This road is just a taster. Radiating north, east and south is a cornucopia of routes to suit any fanging style. This time around rides were shorter due to the heat but included Granya Gap, Mitta Mitta and Dartmouth, Rosewhite and Tawonga Gap, Falls Creek, and Hotham to Omeo and the fabled Anglers Rest.

The last was in good condition, with erosion controlled by regrowth after the ’03 fires and little sand on the road and still good sightlines through the trees. The road leading in from Omeo is a pearl; a series of uphill even radius esses with good width and traction. You can pick your speed and dial on the throttle while leaning in further. Falls Creek on the other hand has had some resurfacing on the tight bends above Bogong Village and the rough surface that replaced the hotmix several years ago now boasts a good coating of bus tyre rubber on a number of bends making this once favorite road a now ‘technical’ one in my view.

Harrietville to Hotham has always been technical as far as I’m concerned. Short straights and tight blind corners, often coated in greasy alpine-mix bitumen, defy any attempt to get a rhythm and responds only to a fast and furious approach. I managed my first powerslide on the grease and the ‘Blade was only a minute faster than my timed run on the TDM several years ago. Once at Hotham though any kind of crazy-fast run to Omeo is possible. With the cooler air and open plains it’s a different world up there.

Rumour has it that the planned sealing of the High Plains road from Falls Creek to Anglers Rest may be completed before next summer. That should allow two circuits in a day and you’ll have to take a ticket for your order at the Blue Duck hotel at Anglers Rest. Amateur drivers will clog the road even more than now and campervan slalom will become a new sport.

The camp ended with a fine feed on New Year’s eve generously done by Jo, Paul, Bron and Dave. As the night wore on the drinks flowed (medicinal rehydration only of course) and there was more BS than a country sale yard. Jo valiantly tried to lift the tone of the conversation with a gambit about new year resolutions. That led to a heated discussion about how less experienced members could learn from older hands.

In summary, there were no offs this year, only some minor muck-ups. One pair of riders disappeared at Eurobin Falls to discuss the meaning of life, reappearing several hours later; the same pair got lost at the Mudgegonga interchange. They must’ve had something on their minds.

Thanks are due to Ian for organising camp bookings and to Ben for leading the rides.

Ern Reeders