Lavers Hill Sky Walk                     Sunday 18th July, 2004

 

Honda  CBR954                      Pete Weyermayr (leader)                      Honda  CBR929          Paul Southwell

Suzuki Bandit 1200                  Ron Johnston                                        Kawasaki ZX10           Danny Hawker

Honda  CBR1100XX               Martin Hastie (rear rider)                      Suzuki  GSXR1000      Danny Kosinski

Suzuki GSXR750                     Andrew Symes and                              Suzuki GSXR1000       Clifford Peters                                                                                                  Deborah Clausen                                  8 bikes, 9 people

                                                                                                           

I awoke to the sound of a hot air balloon just clearing my roof top. I thought “still air”. Maybe today would be a good day for a ride. After pottering around the house getting ready I checked the ride card and noticed it was a 9.30 am start. Cripes. I pulled out the digit and headed off for the Shell servo at Westgate.

 

While overseas I bought a hand held global positioning system (GPS) device. Throughout the day I recorded the latitude and longitude coordinates where we stopped, and the distance travelled. Obviously the distance travelled by road is equal or greater than that recorded by the GPS which measures the straight line path between two points, as the crow flies, as they say.

 

I left Pentridge at 8.50am with coordinates: south 37o 44’ 235”, east 144o 58’ 301”.

 

I arrived at the servo after a Freeway trip with little traffic at 9.20am. Ben arrived a little later just to get the details of who was there. He had a bad cold and wasn’t coming on the ride.

 

According to the GPS the distance travelled from home was 18 km. According to my bike trip meter it was 26.5 km. The altitude above sea level was showing an overly high 23 metres, but there is a problem with the altimeter as the height above sea level varies, even when I am stationery. The coordinates were, S 37o 49’ 864” and E 144o 55’ 107”. (Degrees, minutes and seconds if you can remember your geography.)

 

We saddled up, after a brief discussion on the route and conditions, and left the servo around 9.40am.We travelled across The Bridge watching for speed cameras, then 40 km down the Freeway to the Little River turn off. I was watching Cliff and as we passed a bus full of young women with their faces pressed against the windows. He gave them a wave, which seamed to excite them even more.

 

There was a strong smell at Little River, reminding me of some smells I had experienced in Florence last month. On to Lara where the roads became wetter. A Renault car was losing petrol at a great rate, making some of the corners a bit slippery. Riding down the hills into Lorne the rain was now a medium shower. We arrived at 11.46 am and my GPS showed 114 km and my odometer indicated 162 km.

 

Riding out of Lorne, the conditions were wet and slippery, so it was a slow ride following Paul around the Great Ocean Road. As the surface became dryer the pace quickened. I was getting into a rhythm when we came across Andrew and Deborah on the side of the road. Deborah was feeling sick and had asked Andrew to stop. We waited until Deborah felt a little better, then off to Apollo Bay, arriving at 12.36 pm.

 

The rest of the riders had stopped just outside Apollo Bay to re-group and ride into town for some lunch. As we took off I noticed a pair of gloves on the road. Cliff had left his gloves on his exhausts to dry out, then ridden away without them. At Apollo Bay the odometer showed 208 ride km from the West Gate Shell servo and only 149.9 km on the GPS. It was 35.9 km from Lorne to Apollo Bay, according to the GPS. S 38o 45’ 346” E 143o 40’ 173”

 

I pointed out to the assembled throng that from Apollo Bay to Venice is 15,989.7 km, as the crow flies. Ron tried to work out how long it would take riding at 200 km/h to get there!  Just under 80 hours.

 

Andrew and Deborah stayed at Apollo Bay because she was still feeling sick. They wanted to go home a more direct, straighter, slower-pace route. There was no enthusiasm to continue on to Lavers Hill and the Sky Walk, so it was decided to head home. Cliff and Danny Hawker continued west while the rest of us geared up for a dry but cold ride home.

 

In the hills out of Apollo Bay we came across a 4 wheel drive parked at the side of the road with a young lady bringing up her lunch over the foliage. It made you have sympathy for how Deborah was feeling.

 

Near Deans Marsh I recognised a highland cow. Having just returned from Scotland where they are plentiful I was pleasantly surprised to see one in Australia. With the combination of rolling hills, cows and the smells, I almost thought I was back overseas (maybe it was just wish full thinking).

 

We arrived at Moriac at 3.38pm for a loo stop only to find that the toilet block was closed and the hole in the ground has been concreted up. The odometer showed 356.7 total ride km and only

62.1 km from Apollo Bay (31 km on the GPS). The coordinates were, S 38o 1’ 382” E 144o 23’ 795”

 

Pete and Danny started their roadside repairs by adjusting their chains while others looked on, eating ice creams. Then we continued on to Sixways for fuel and the break up, but we rode in convoy up the Freeway till the Ring road. I arrived at home 4.50 pm travelling a total of 448.8 km ride, 430.7 km the official ride distance. The coordinates were, S 37o 44’ 235” and E 144o 58’ 301”.

 

Thanks Pete for leading the ride. We had a good day only getting a little wet and cold.

 

 

Martin Hastie (Honda CBR1100XX)