The weather forecast for the June long weekend was for cool and crisp days with plenty of sunshine. Leaving Bungendore it was 2 degrees below zero and by Queanbeyan I was wondering why I hadn’t worn more warm clothes (lack of practice riding in winter).
We met other chilled riders at
Hume and stood in the weak sun trying to store some warmth before leaving
promptly at 9.30 after listening to the pre-ride brief. This included a warning
about lurking police at the bottom of the Brown received from Chas, Jen, Alan
and Lyn who had ridden down the day before and a reminder that it was the usual
double demerits time again.
Before we crossed the border the fog had settled in and we
joined the snow traffic slowly travelling south till the Polo Flat turnoff at
Cooma. Miraculously upon meeting the Monaro Highway the fog lifted and the sun
came out.
We stopped at Nimmitabel with most of us crowding into the bakery
hoping to get some feeling back into our extremities. Warmed by coffee, pies
and sausage rolls we set off to the top of the Brown passing through
countryside still under snow with warnings of ice on the road. We all got to
the bottom of the mountain safely with one of us stopping to have a quiet
roadside chat with the lurking policeman.
Pambula Pub was a welcome sight and we stopped here for
lunch. The sun was high in the sky and we were slowly warming up then off again
down the highway to arrive at Mallacoota around 3.30.
After checking in, and
cranking up the A/C to warm the room we met in Daryl and Caroline’s room for
some pre-dinner drinks. The Yarra Ranges representatives rode in around 5.30
after a long day in the saddle. We all enjoyed dinner in the pub bistro
catching up with each other before retiring to bed - I was asleep before my
head hit the pillow.
Sunday morning saw us taking a quick walk before a hot
breakfast enjoyed back at the bistro with some members. Afterwards some of us
rode to Eden for a combined club ride to enjoy lunch at the wharf, while others
remained behind to take in the delights of Mallacoota. One of us lost his bike seat
on the twisty road between Mallacoota and the highway with following riders
seeing a strange thing lying in the middle of the road that they assumed was a
(dead) wombat – so nobody stopped to collect it. This rider didn’t realise his
problem till we had arrived at Eden. Michael contacted Chris back at Mallacoota
who kindly offered to look for the “wombat” before another fellow Ulyssian George
Fearon rode in carrying it.
After a yummy lunch we all made our way back to Mallacoota.
Dinner that night had been arranged at the Golf Club with a courtesy bus to
take us there and back - another early night to prepare for the trip home on
Monday.
After farewelling the (almost) dawn travellers back to their
homes in Victoria.
Sunday saw us split into two groups – some came home via
Cann River while another group took the Imlay Road to Bombala. Both groups
crossed paths during the day but joining the snow crowd at Cooma heading north
saw us split up into smaller groups spread out along the highway. Bredbo was a
crawl with a breathalyser in action – was anyone stopped?
To plagiarise Kevin from the Yarra Ranges - It was a great
weekend of riding, sightseeing, dining and enjoying good company with the Yarra
Ranges branch – we’ll do it again!
Tracey Winters
Riders-
- Michael and Tracey Winters
- Derek and Margaret Titheradge
- Rob McNeilly
- Mick & Kyla Harvey
- Kim Moorey
- Mike and Sharon Kelly
- Ron Tito
- Alan and Lyn Munday
- Chas and Jen Towie
- Daryl and Caroline Palin
- Chris and Miriam Dietzel
- Gary McDonald
