MSTCV Porepunkah Christmas Camp 26^th Dec to 1^st Jan. 2004

Ben & Julie Warden – car, trailer and CBR929RR, powered camp site.

Ron & Julie Johnston – car, trailer and CB400, powered camp site.

Cliff & Barbara Peters - car, trailer and GSXR1000, powered camp site.

Jason ? - ZX12R (Cliff's nephew), shared cliff and Barb’s site.

Ken Wright & Louisa – Commodore SS Ute, powered camp site.

Ian Payne – Van & CBR929R, unpowered camp site.

Melanie, David, Christopher & Caitlyn Whitehead – car (Ian’s daughter & family), powered camp site.

Rob Langer & Kirsten – Suzuki 4WD, trailer, KTM LC8 and XT250.

Jon Riddett – BMW, trailer and DR hybrid, unpowered camp site.

Bruce Saville – VFR800, Alpine Star Hotel, Bright

Kate Stewart & Peter Pondeljak – Ute, CBR600F4 & CBR600F4, unpowered camp site.

Friday 26^th

Ben and Julie, Ken and Louisa, Kate and Peter, Ian Payne, Ron and Julie, Cliff and Barbara and Bruce (at Bright Hotel) all arrived on this day. NEW managers greeted us and also the NEW OWNERS of the park were there deciding how best to upgrade the place. It seems during the previous owners' reign the park lost a star in its quality rating and the new people are keen to get it back!

The nightly run up Mt Buffalo at dusk revealed the devastation of the recent bushfires and how close it had come to the Chalet. Apart from the fires, the area had been drenched with 6 inches (150mm) of rain in the last month and, although not soggy where we camped, some of the trees looked a little lopsided! In fact one behind our tents had quite a lean but after inspection I decided it would be okay but just on the safe side I positioned my tent so that if it fell it would miss me! Guess what? That night it did fall, missing me by about half a metre. Kate & Pete, camping on the next site, thought it amusing until they realized the tree had only missed their tent by about 2 metres!

Saturday 27^th

After the tree incident Kate wanted the tent shifted to the other site. As the group prepared to head to Corryong (to check out accommodation for Aust. Day Weekend) Peter's new CBR600F4 wouldn't allow the ignition key to disengage the steering lock! All attempts to fix the problem failed so the RACV were called. When they failed, a tray truck then took the bike to the nearest Honda dealer in Myrtleford “Buffalo Farm Equipment”. They also could not rectify the problem so Honda Aust. had the bike returned to Melbourne for repair! (A complete new key set was the ultimate fix, 10 days later in Melbourne …Ed.)

Eventually the group headed off, but as I had my married daughter and family along (Melanie, David, Christopher and Caitlyn) we did some sightseeing around the area.

Cliff's nephew, Jason, Rob and Kirsten all arrived today.

Sunday 28^th

Ben, Cliff and Jason rode to Mitta Mitta. Rob, Kate, Bruce and myself had a short ride to Falls Creek. As the forecast was for a hot 37 degrees we cooled off in the icy fast flowing water of the Ovens River that runs through the caravan park! Jon Riddett arrived today.

In the evening it cooled down enough for a campfire. While the group sat around socializing, Kate yelled out "Ian there's a possum going in your tent!" Thinking it was a joke I went to investigate and sure enough there wasn't a possum in my tent but a Bilby! He may have been little but it took a big effort to get him back outside. Later on, when Cliff was telling Barbara about a 'Dilby' in my tent, Barbara said, "What's he doing with a dildo in his tent?”

Monday 29^th

Today Cliff, Ben and I went to Omeo, enroute met Jon and Bruce at Dinner Plain. The return trip was fairly uneventful until halfway down Mount Hotham. The high temperatures and abundance of cars had turned the road surface molten! It was like riding on marshmallow and was so bad we stopped and Ben took photos. Ken, Louisa and Jason all left today.

Tuesday 30^th

As a predicted 40-degree day was expected, most opted for a fairly relaxing day. I went with my family to Ettamogah Pub, Albury, Lake Hume and Yackandandah. While wandering through 'Bunnings' in Albury I heard someone call out "Ian". Thinking it could not be me, I kept walking, but it was Paul Southwell. After exchanging "What are you doing here?" I found out he was staying at Mount Beauty watching the cricket and enjoying a few bottles of red!

We returned back to camp to find Cliff in hospital after hitting a kangaroo on the way down from Falls Creek with Ben and Ron. Fortunately little bike damage but Cliff was left with a broken rib, bruising and gravel rash! The only consolation was he had killed the roo! Luckily Pete and Kate were waiting in Mt Beauty on the one bike providing the extra rider to get Cliff’s bike back to camp. Ben rode Cliff’s bike back over Tawonga Gap, changing gears by hand (lever knob snapped off) while Kate rode Ben’s Blade very slowly, giving the cooling system a thorough test.

Ben and Kate rode Mt Buffalo. Ben rolled 20 km downhill, reliving past Club roll race experience.

Rob, Kirsten and Jon left today.

Wednesday 31^st

Another hot day expected so most went swimming or up to the cool high country. I did the family thing with a trip to Beechworth. (Ben and Bruce headed for Bogong for lunch and then Falls Creek, a truly sensational piece of road with little or no traffic.) To escape the heat we went for a paddle in Horseshoe Falls. Back at camp and into the river to cool off, then prepare to see in the 'New Year' but only just, as most had a fairly hectic day so by about half midnight we were all in bed.

Thursday 1^st

Today was spent rather leisurely with a short trip over Tawonga Gap to Mount Beauty for a hospital visit to see how Cliff was getting on. But he had already been discharged. As I sat eating lunch at a street café in Mt Beauty, deciding what to do next, Ben and Kate arrived, after a loop around the Happy Valley road and back to Mt Beauty, also intent on visiting Cliff!

After some lunch we decided to head back to camp and the cool river. To make it interesting, Ben and I swapped bikes for the return trip. What surprised me was how well set up Ben's suspension was, especially the front end which could change direction so easily! Back at camp we discussed a similar modification to my Honda which in reality meant allowing the forks to protrude through the triple clamps by about 8mm.

That night’s run up Buffalo proved the modification a huge improvement, although I was a bit apprehensive the first time I hit the front brakes hard, half expecting the forks to come completely through! So hopefully, with the bike requiring a lot less effort to steer, my "gummy" elbow will not get so sore on long Club rides.

Friday 2^nd

Ian and Johnston clan head home.

Another hot 41 degrees forecast saw Ben/Kate on 929 and Pete on CBR600 head for Tallangatta via Happy Valley Road, explore Old Tallangatta then across Granya Gap and around to Bethanga and lots of interesting back roads which eventually all turned to dirt. Back for fuel at Bonegilla saw the mighty Blade clock over 100,000 km (except it won’t read higher than 99,999 km). Back to camp and into the river. Then evening a 50 km trip up to Buffalo Chalet and back just on nightfall.

Saturday 3^rd

Around 9am Kate and Ben head up mountain for one last time, making Ben’s ninth trip, Kate learning more and more about her bike with every outing. The final pack-up and then the four hour drive back to Melbourne.

Julie Warden rode her push bike into Bright (6 km) every day, often with Pete (no-bike) Pondeljak for company. They did the French Bakery coffee and cake thing, then headed back to camp for swimming. Lte afternoons included 40 minutes of white water rafting on truck inner tubes and lilos from the upstream swimming hole with Ben, sometimes Pete and Kate, sometimes Rod from a couple of sites away. Excellent fun and very relaxing. Some car shuffling was involved. By the end of the week she was so bruised that white water rafting lost its appeal, but the river didn’t. One day Julie and Pete diverted to the local Boynton’s winery on their pushbikes, making it an 18 km round trip. Julie saw a platypus on one floating trip and Pete had a close encounter with a snake.

Every night was games night (Connect 4, Rummy Tiles, Liverpool Rummy, Backgammon, Scrabble) at the central BBQ gazebo with the horribly hard bench seat. Maybe next year there will be a permanent light, saving Ben the effort of setting up a lead light each night.

Every day the temperature ranged between 34 and 41 degrees. It was hot and very dry. But every night the temperature dropped dramatically making it pleasantly cool to cold, ideal for sleeping. In hindsight, the weather was fantastic and quite a contrast to Melbourne which was immediately cold, wet and windy for Sunday’s Club ride.

Ian Payne (with some additional comments from Ben)