Tarra Bulga National Park Sunday 22^nd June, 2008

Paul Southwell (leader)	Honda CBR1000RR	Cameron Stevens	Yamaha FZ6
Ken Geoderee	Honda CBR1000RR	Ron Johnston rear	Honda CB400F
Randal Leacock	Kawasaki ZX9	Cliff Peters	Suzuki GSXR 1000
Richard Marek	Honda Blackbird		7 bikes, 7 people

I had been looking forward to this ride, because it’s been a long time since I ridden to Tarra Bulga National Park. If my memory serves me correctly, Ben got three punctures between Yarram and Tarra Bulga National Park on the dirt road. How lucky can you get? Anyway, I left home a bit earlier today so I had a bit of time up my sleeve for when I arrived at Berwick, unlike last time. Two members of the club were already at Berwick; in total there were seven of us. Paul gathered the troops around and gave the usual spiel and noted that due to the unsettled weather we would avoid going on certain roads due to dampness and being in the shade and that we would hit The Bypass.

I volunteered for rear rider and the write up which I think took Paul by surprise. It’s usually hard work to convince someone to do the write up! The Magnificent Seven take to the road. Bypass till Nar Nar Goon, back roads till Longwarry, cross the Freeway, Labertouche road, Jacksons Track to Neerim South - this is a beaut bit of road.

On through Crossover picking up the Old Sale road. About half way down we encountered rain for a couple of minutes; after that nothing. Arrived in Moe and parked outside Subway. The bakery is a hit for some while others went elsewhere. A bit of talk-the-talk; usual stuff.

From Moe we headed back the way we came, then through Westbury taking Purvis Road and the back way into Yallourn North, another great road. On to Glengarry, Tyers and Traralgon. This place has gone ahead with lots of new houses everywhere. There was this horrible smell. If shit doesn’t stink I don’t know what does; it was terrible.

Once through Traralgon we got on to the Traralgon/Balook road that took us to the Tarra Bulga National Park. The road is in better condition than I last remembered. The road surface was a bit wet in a couple of places. One corner had a large sheet of pine needles with tyre tracks cut into it on both sides. The poor old 400 had its work cut out, going up and down through the gearbox to maintain speed.

Just before you get to top of the Grand Ridge Road, there is a U turn. The whole corner was covered in green stuff and it was wet. On seeing it I sort of shit myself, hoping like hell the bike wasn’t going to go from under me. It didn’t. That was a relief. The rest of the boys were waiting at the T-junction. Visor clean, photos, water the vegetation.

Off we go again. The road is narrow, a bit over a car wide, wet, leaf litter, not everybody’s favourite riding conditions. We come to the Tea Rooms and we go straight ahead. Everyone has gone, so I take it easy and enjoy. I can’t remember going on this road, but when Ben did the ride years ago we came out on the other road on the left of the Tea Rooms. A lyrebird ran across the road in front of me. We stopped at some waterfalls, photos were taken and then we continued on.

The road through the Tarra Valley is spectacular; it’s nice following the river on the valley floor. There were a couple of Bed and Breakfast places, and a couple of caravan parks. It could be worth staying here for a weekend in the summer.

On to Yarram for a meal break and fuel. We parked over and down the road from the Bakery. Since I was last here, they have paved over the road where the cars used to park, and put tables and chairs there instead of on the footpath.

After lunch we got fuel. Boy, that place is always busy. Then we rode up the South Gippsland Highway out of town a few kilometres and onto the Hyland Highway, through Won Wron, Gormandale and back to Traralgon where Paul took a wrong turn and we had to meander our way around the place till Paul found his bearings and we were on our way again. On to Tyers and Yallourn North. I came across Ken squatting beside his bike and hit the skids to see what was wrong. All he was doing was taking some photos of the power station. He took a photo of me on the 400 with the power station in the background.

Back on the road again, we continued on to Purvis Road and Old Sale Road to Neerim South. It started to rain through here. More twisty bits to Longwarry. It stopped raining for a short time. The ride finished here and we had done 375 kilometres with no incidents, some rain, but otherwise not a bad day.

Thanks to Paul for leading and me for going tail end Charlie. Cliff and I stopped off at Berwick to see Jason and Heidi and their little girl, Victoria Lea. We had a cup of tea with them for a little while. Feeling rested, we left for home. It didn’t stop raining while we were at Berwick and certainly continued raining all the way home.

Ron Johnston