Buxton Pub – 30^th March 2003

Ben Warden (leader), CBR 929 Trevor Harris (rear), YZF1000

Pete Weyermayr, CBR 919

Going out to the garage in the morning provided me with a lovely surprise, one flat rear tyre. Bugger! And it was my bike, although, luckily, Liz was riding it for the day… Out with the repair kit. The nail was easy to find and the hole was plugged with no hassles. That was Liz sorted out for her ladies ride.

I was quite surprised to see only Ron and Ben at Yarra Glen when I arrived. Sure the Supers were on at the Island, but the weather looked perfect for riding. Ron then informed us that he had only come to drop off the first aid kit and wasn’t going to be riding with us. After a bit of a wait we left, with Trevor arriving just as we pulled out. A small turnout, but perhaps the end of daylight saving had caught a few people out.

We headed towards Healesville via Chum Creek road and Toolangi. It looks like some traffic islands are being installed at the top intersection there. We had a short stint down the Melba Highway to Glenburn and then across to Flowerdale and over Junction Hill to Yea. Leaving Yea we took the first turn left out of town onto the Killingworth road. 3 km of bitumen followed by 9 km of gravel. I think we were on Ben’s planned route number 3. “Yes Ben it’s still not sealed” was the stereo chorus from Trevor and me. This surprised him as he thought that 20 years should have been enough time to have it sealed. Obviously not. Nice views of the Goulburn River though.

We stopped at Alexandra for some food and a welcome visor clean. Leaving Alexandra and taking the Fraser National Park turnoff we came across a car stopped in the opposite lane. He was on an angle completely blocking the road, facing the wrong way and having a chat to his mate on the side of the road. I guess they don’t see much traffic out that way.

We carried on up to the ridge road where we turned off onto Taylor Bay road. I haven’t ridden on a road quite like this before. Almost every second corner was a blind crest. Left? Right? Who knows? Not just that, but also with enough gravel on your braking line to spice things up even further. It was a slow road due to the very tight corners but a lot of fun. It also offered what would have been a fantastic view of the lake had the water level not been so low. We had a brisk ride out of there down towards Eildon, staying off the main road to Thornton, across to Taggerty and on to Buxton for lunch.

The Buxton Pub was interesting, complete with an actual motorbike hanging up in a picture frame on the wall (must get one of those for our house – Liz won’t mind). Unfortunately there was no Foxtel at the pub – apparently they only had it for one week. So with no Superbikes on free to air TV we had to make do with the footy, while we tucked into our schnitzels. This was our break up point, although we all ended up travelling back together into Healesville. Thanks Trevor and Ben for the entertaining and pleasant company.

Pete Weyermayr (CBR 929)