MSTCV Porepunkah Christmas Camp

26th December 2001 to 1st January 2002

 

Wednesday 26th Ray, Katrina, Jye and Riley, Ben and Julie, Craig Morley, Dave Nimmo, Ian Payne, Wayne and Verity, Ron and Julie, Rob and Kirsten all arrived on this day. Lynn and Eddy had arrived the previous day but having bought their dogs along decided to camp separately. A quick run up Buffalo at dusk saw thick cloud and damp roads greet the riders.

 

Thursday 27th Jon Riddett, Derek and Kathy arrived today and we had a visit from Neville Maggs who was staying up at Dinner Plain.  Most of the group headed for a 350 km ride to Dartmouth Dam but as I had my married daughter and family along (Melanie, David, Christopher and Caitlyn) we did some sightseeing around the area. The usual run up Buffalo at dusk didn’t go as planned with Dave crashing his week old GSXR1000. Fortunately he was OK and the retrieval of the bike (upside-down-off-the-road-against-a-tree) went quite smoothly!

 

Friday 28th A family day today with most heading to Beechworth or down to the trout farm to catch the evening meal! Once back at camp, Craig was demonstrating “how to mono” (on Ray’s bike) for Jon who was recording the action on his video camera, complete with “helmet cam”.

 

Saturday 29th Today’s ride was to be a 440 km epic to Bruthen. Up Hotham and Dinner Plain to pick up Neville then down to Omeo and Bruthen. Passed plenty of bikes on the run and also spied Mr.Plod “doing” his job. (A couple of camera cars on the outskirts of town, one facing each way.) Bruce Saville arrived and found accommodation at a Pub in Bright. Lynn and Eddy departed after being notified about a death in Eddy’s family! But not before unloading a trailer load of wood that would last the rest of the week at our evening camp fire. Much appreciated.

 

Sunday 30th Another family outing today with most heading to the Maze in Wandilagong. Checked the para-gliders doing there stuff. Weather quite hot so quite a few headed for the rivers for a swim. Ben and Julie drifted down the river on truck tubes surfacing two km out of town on the Myrtleford Road. They walked back to Porepunkah and drifted down the river back to camp, a 3 hour round trip.

 

Monday 31st Another BIG ride today with the boys covering 640 kays that encompassed Bright, Tawonga Gap, Gundowring, Kiewa, Tallangatta, Granya Gap, Walwa, Tumbarumba and Cabramurra (lunch, highest town in Australia) then home via Corryong and back around the lake, across Granya Gap and back much the same way we had come except picking up the Dederang Gap and Ovens. Phew! We only got as far as Tallangatta before disaster struck when the Clifford’s ZZR1100 (Ron’s brother-in-law) started to lose coolant. He returned to camp to find a crack in the overflow bottle! No run up Buffalo tonight, instead a “nudie ride through Bright”. Yes New Year’s Eve madness struck a couple of the guys so they “streaked” down the main street much to the delight of the multitude of tourists!

 

Liz and Peter arrived having just returned to Melbourne from New Zealand where they were married. Congratulations! They did Buffalo, then we had tea and settled in for the New Year’s Eve party. One worrying aspect was Derek who hadn’t returned from his solo ride. No-one had seen him since 9 am that morning. We could do nothing but wait! Fortunately he returned an hour or so into the New Year.

 

Around the caravan park some fireworks were used to help celebrate the New Year but when a skyrocket was let off by some other campers the park manager came immediately to us! Not guilty I declared, but he still took some convincing.

 

Tuesday 1st Most in bed by 3 am. A rather late start for most next morning. As Liz and Peter hadn’t seen the area a short run over Tawonga Gap and up Falls Creek was planned. We scrapped Falls Creek due to low cloud and just did the two gaps. By mid afternoon most of the group had left. Ron and Julie and Derek and Kathy had planned to stay another day.

 

Who Went: 

Ben and Julie Warden – Car, trailer and CBR929RR.              

Ron and Julie Johnston – Car, trailer and GSX1200 Bandit.

Clifford and ?- ZZR1100 (Ron’s in-laws)

Ray, Katrina, Jye and Riley Walker – Car, trailer and GSXR1000, CBR929RR and GSXR1000.

Craig Morley and David Nimmo – Car.

Wayne Grant and Verity – Nissan 4WD, trailer and ZX9                                 

Ian Payne – Van and CBR919RR.

Melanie, David, Christopher and Caitlyn Whitehead – Car (Ian’s daughter and family)  

Rob Langer and Kirsten – Suzuki 4WD, trailer and R1150GS.

Jon Riddett – 4WD, trailer and Suzuki Across 250.      

Lynn and Eddy – 4WD, trailer and GSXR1000 and R6 (plus the dogs).

Bruce Saville – VFR800

Derek and Kathy – Car, FZR1000 and CBR600

Dianne Welsford – CBR600

Liz and Peter Weyermayr – CBR919RR and CBR929RR.

 

Scuttlebutt: 

·        Dave’s “Brand New” GSXR1000 had less than 2000 kilometers before its demise. He is still waiting on the insurance assessment to see if it is to be written off!

·        Craig’s rear tyre looked worn out on the second day and with a mountain of good ones at ‘home’ he had no choice but to keep Dave company down at the pub!

·        Ron also had tyre wear problems but after asking all and sundry as to what brand/model he should use, he purchased the wrong one – a Dunlop 207 road compound. As predicted they wear fast and the last third of the tread is dangerously slippery. But I still think it has a lot to do with the nut that holds the throttle!

·        The weather was a bit of a contrast to previous years with the very hot days failing to materialize. In fact a hailstorm greeted Lynn and Eddie on their first night and Neville had snow falling up at Dinner Plain! Saturday, Sunday and Monday were the hotter days, the majority heading for the hills and the cool. It didn’t rain on any day except the last where a few drops were encountered. The weather was mild to warm throughout with cool nights. Whereas Melbourne had a number of days of rain.

·        Ben and Julie supplied light to the communal BBQ table from their powered site via a long extension lead each night. This facilitated late cooking and the playing of board games (Wayne, Verity, Julie, Ben, Ray, Katrina). Ray impressed everyone with his excellent general knowledge and quick wits.

·        Bruce only stayed the two nights after deciding there would be more “talent” down at Rosebud.

·        It was agreed that alternate days would be designated family days to provide some balance to the week. This arrangement was well received. Nevertheless, Ben still managed 2000 hard km after leading the three day rides and riding up the mountain five times, destroying a near new rear 208.

 

Ian Payne