Alpine Ride after the WSBK's

First topic message reminder :

I thought I'd separate this from the main WSBK thread so the 2 don't get lost within each other.

A few of us are planning  a ride through the Alps after the WSBK meet in February, leaving the Island Monday morning and I'm planning on being back in Melbourne by Thursday afternoon.

Chatting with madmax last night we think we'll just wing it re: accommodation so there's no pressure to be in a certain location each night.

I'm pretty sure Tag said he'll catch us up on the Tuesday and if IIRC there was myself, madmax, Ewok, Hammy (+mate?) leaving on the Monday, were you up for it as well Barry?

Ewok had suggested a route on the 1st page of the WSBK thread which looks like it'd take in some awesome country side and roads

Ewok1958 wrote:Sunday: watch the races and stay overnight.
Monday: Philip Island - Reefton Spur - Mansfield - Bright (overnight Bright - it has a great pub, local brewery and some excellent accommodation)
Tuesday: Bright - Mt Beauty - Falls Creek - Omeo - Bruthen - Traralgon (overnight Traralgon).  You simply will not believe the riding on this day until you experience it - it involves crossing the Vic Alps.
Wednesday: Traralgon - Open Cut Mine (for pics) - Licola (for lunch) - Walhalla - Traralgon (overnight Traralgon).  Not quite a rest day but some great riding.  There are extra options!

Ewok, your Day 1 suggestion, is Google maps way out with it's estimate, although it's only 532KM it's suggesting it's a near on 10 hour ride?

+1

That road is at the end of Dave's Day 2 map above.

Went up this road (C536) on my trek back from Parkes, very nice road but you have to watch out for bicycle riders, I think this part of Victoria is pedal mecca.

Hammy wrote:A Victorian on another site has suggested that we must do the "Tawonga Gap"  .  He recons it is better than the Jamieson Rd.   JTIOT

Of course silly!

Hammy wrote:A Victorian on another site has suggested that we must do the "Tawonga Gap"  .  He recons it is better than the Jamieson Rd.   JTIOT

Not even close - Tawonga is great fun but only about 10-15 kms of fun linking Falls Creek and Mt Hotham - Jamieson Rd is a marathon in comparison.


And you have to watch out for slippery plasticky patches where 2WA ground half of his Gopro case into the surface of The Gap

2WA - Roll film!!

Ewok1958 wrote:

Hammy wrote:A Victorian on another site has suggested that we must do the "Tawonga Gap"  .  He recons it is better than the Jamieson Rd.   JTIOT

Of course silly!

   I'm taking my ball and going home.

Hammy wrote:

Ewok1958 wrote:

Hammy wrote:A Victorian on another site has suggested that we must do the "Tawonga Gap"  .  He recons it is better than the Jamieson Rd.   JTIOT

Of course silly!

   I'm taking my ball and going home.

I was going to ask ...............only one ball Hammy ? but that would be inappropriate so I won't  do that 

#Tag wrote:

Hammy wrote:A Victorian on another site has suggested that we must do the "Tawonga Gap"  .  He recons it is better than the Jamieson Rd.   JTIOT

Not even close - Tawonga is great fun but only about 10-15 kms of fun linking Falls Creek and Mt Hotham - Jamieson Rd is a marathon in comparison.


And you have to watch out for slippery plasticky patches where 2WA ground half of his Gopro case into the surface of The Gap

2WA - Roll film!!

Its still a ripper road  And the genuine GoPro suction mount still held on

Looks like a top road 2WA with lots of nice sweepers & a good surface .

Cool.   Hey Dave !  Did we do that piece of road ?   There was that many I can't remember.

Hammy wrote:Cool.   Hey Dave !  Did we do that piece of road ?   There was that many I can't remember.

Buggered if I can remember!  If we stayed in Bright then we probably did Tawonga Gap.  If not, then we probably didn't! 

Ewok1958 wrote:

Hammy wrote:Cool.   Hey Dave !  Did we do that piece of road ?   There was that many I can't remember.

Buggered if I can remember!  If we stayed in Bright then we probably did Tawonga Gap.  If not, then we probably didn't! 

No, we didn't stay in Bright. We stayed at that pub on the side of the river. I don't think we did the Tawonga Gap.

Ok, then you will have an additional couple of treats next year: Tawonga Gap and a Vic Alps crossing (Hotham or Falls Creek - both are good).

Ewok1958 wrote:Ok, then you will have an additional couple of treats next year: Tawonga Gap and a Vic Alps crossing (Hotham or Falls Creek - both are good).

I'm really looking forward to seeing that area.

I've been up there twice, once as a 9 or 10yo with my parents, the other as a 14 or 15yo  with a group of scouts ( I was the youngest in a group of about 15-20) to hike the Bogong High Plains, we'd been in Sydney after hiking in the Blue Mountains, caught the train down.

I can't remember where we got off the train but I can remember getting on a mini bus from Bright and being dropped off near the Tawonga Post Office where we started our hike to the top of Bogong. Not long past the snow line we got fogged in, it pissed down with rain and there was no visibility past your own out stretched arm, after listening for the whistle of the next snow pole for a couple of hours we set up camp where we were.

The next morning the older 17-21 year olds continued, the rest of us hiked back down to Tawonga Caravan Park to dry out. A day or so later we met up with the main group further along the high plains and finished what was left of the 7 day trek.

I'm sure it's changed a lot in the last 35 or so years since I was there, one thing I do remember, even in January you need to pack for winter when you're up there.

Chook. Chook.  Can you bring your scout uniform to wear one night.    I love a man in uniform. 

Just be careful what you wish for

Chook, you have reminded me of a backpacking walk I did with a group of mates sometime between 1977 and 1980, climbing Mt Bogong on that same route you took and then looping around over a few other mountains (Mt Nelse was one).  Like you, we didn't make our first night's planned stop as one of my mates was pretty unfit and struggled up the ascent of Mt Bogong (Vitoria's highest mountain).  It was about a 5 night walk and on Day 4 that same guy got really crook, basically from exhaustion, fatigue and the like.  A couple of us had to hike back down to Tawonga, find a ranger and go back up and get him in the ranger's 4WD (which was a Landcruiser, not a Ranger - ok, the jokes in this post are crap!).

But you are right about weather changes in the Vic Alps. In about 2002 we got really heavy snow on the 27th December, which killed off our planned activities for the Day, so we retreated into the Wonnangatta Valley (in our 4WDs) and declared it beer o'clock.

Fingers crossed that we don't encounter any of the white stuff in February.

Hammy wrote:Chook. Chook.  Can you bring your scout uniform to wear one night.    I love a man in uniform. 

 .............dyb dyb .dob dob............... be wary of the jobs for bobs chook 
Hey Hammy I've got a nurses uniform ................does that count   

You're a sexy woman Paul.       

Hammy wrote:You're a sexy woman Paul.       

I also have the stethoscope ................AND a large thermometer    

paul wrote:

Hammy wrote:You're a sexy woman Paul.       

I also have the stethoscope ................AND a large thermometer    

And a Clit board 

2wheelsagain wrote:

paul wrote:

Hammy wrote:You're a sexy woman Paul.       

I also have the stethoscope ................AND a large thermometer    

And a Clit board 

       

2wheelsagain wrote:

paul wrote:

Hammy wrote:You're a sexy woman Paul.       

I also have the stethoscope ................AND a large thermometer    

And a Clit board 

Two weeks in the cooler for that remark.

Hammy wrote:

2wheelsagain wrote:

paul wrote:

Hammy wrote:You're a sexy woman Paul.       

I also have the stethoscope ................AND a large thermometer    

And a Clit board 

Two weeks in the cooler for that remark.

Every good nurse worth their salt should have at least one Clit board 

madmax wrote:
There are lots of options for us, Vic has some great roads. I'm also leaning on the anticlockwise direction, take 2 days or so to get to Bright. then head back down towards Melbourne and set Chook and Barry up for their homeward rides.

I'll work on some other options later

Getting back into Melbourne by a certain time (if at all) is not a problem for me now, so long as I'm home in Adelaide by the Sunday to give me a day clean up etc before going back to work on the Tuesday.

I was planning on picking Kaylah up at Tullamarine AP to ride home with me, a few weeks ago her dance troupe found out they would be performing at the Adelaide Fringe Festival for 3 or 4 nights about a week after I get home, we were hoping that he rehearsals would be during her normal Wed night classes. Last night she found out she has been selected to do a couple Tap pieces as well as Jazz with the main troupe, the Tap rehearsals will be Sundays and the final dress rehearsal for the whole show is the Sunday I'm on my way home.

I'm still thinking I'd like to ride home via the Grampians, maybe have 1 night there so if anyone from Melbourne (or Bazz if you're heading over to the GO Rd) want to join me that would be great, I'd like to get to either Edenhope or Frances (i'm leaning towards giving the Fances Hotel accomadation a try) by Saturday night to make it a relatively easy last day

A 5-6 day ride works for me , I'm not back at work until the Wednesday after.

I think we'll need to make a firm D on what we want to do after the meet, ie Mon 29 Feb on wards, as I was checking accommodation and Bright (which is a popular stopover by many coming out of PI because of its location, good riding roads and distance from PI) is starting to get booked out on the Monday night.

I know #Tag and John (from the beach slum!) are staying for the afterburners track day.

Me: Happy to spend a day or two riding with the group but would want to be back in the Bega Valley (far south coast of NSW) by Tue night. Am thinking this is a good Mon route (for me at least ): https://goo.gl/maps/BmMyTAwjsgt

Then Tues: https://goo.gl/maps/Nh4H8eo8u2G2

If others were happy to do that same Mon, then you might consider something like this for Tue: https://goo.gl/maps/D2A3zNXXSaD2 OR https://goo.gl/maps/5rC5VxS9nYn This 2nd option which would give you two alpine crossings (one over Mt Hotham on Monday and then over Falls Creek on Tue) and nicely set you up to go around the Mansfield-Jamieson-Eildon road on the Wednesday morning.  I have included the Tawonga Gap road in both suggestions as it is a cracker - you might want to just ride over it to Tawonga and then come back over it again.

As Hammy, I and Barry will be departing the group on Tuesday morning, I'll leave it to others to make a final D on their preferred Tue, Wed, Thu, etc route, depending on how much time you want to spend before heading for home.  The two I've listed above are just options of course, you can completely ignore them if they don't suit your plans!