From: gmathers@trl.oz.au (Geoff Mathers)
Subject: Great Ocean Road
Reply-To: gmathers@trl.oz.au
Organization: Telecom Research Laboratories
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 23:41:00 GMT


Last weekend I took my trusty stead out for a long ride along the
Great Ocean Road from melbourne to Port Fairy and back again. Because
of the outstanding weather weve been having down here, this is the
first time I've been on the bike for months, and saturday was certainly
not the day to be lounging around the house.

After a night on the piss, the last thing I felt like when getting up
on saturday morning was going for a ride, but after a bit of breaky and
heaps of water to de-dehidrate those brain cells I was begining to feel OK.
The plan was to head down to geelong, then along the Great Ocean Road to
Warrnabull (sp?), then visit a friend in Hamilton. Should'nt take more than
5 or 6 hours I thought. I hadnt been able to get in contact with me mate
in Hamilton, so I thought I'd ring him on the way.

The trip from melb to geelong was pretty boring, just cruising along the 
freeway. From geelong to torquay the road was getting better (windier),
but there was still heaps of cages around. When I got to torquay, I was coming
over this slight rise, when I saw this funny looking black cloud just above the
road ahead. "whats that?" I thought. Then all of a sudden. zot zot zot zot zot!
F**K, bees!, I'd riden through a swarm of bloody bees. I quickly pulled over and
wiped all the splattered half dead honey collectors off me. It's a miracle I wasnt
stung. I am now a big fan of full-face helmets!

From Torquay to Appolo bay is a good road!, lots of tight corners and spectacular
views. From Appolo Bay to Port Campbell, the road heads inland across the Otway
ranges. Now this is a truly spectacular piece of road, lots of high speed corners
and since the road looks realtively new, its very smooth. (A good quality in roads
for long trips) And whats more, it has hardly any traffic on it. 

Once though the Otways, the road goes back to the coast, with various turn-offs to
see the twelve apposiles(sp?). With the old bike wound out to DoD minimal speed, and
the hot breeze blowin' in your hair, it dont come much better than this.

By the time I had got to Port Fairy it was getting dark, and I still hadnt been
able to contact me mate in hamilton, so I decided to crash the night there. After
7+ hours in the saddle, I was pretty keen on a comforatble bed, so I checked into 
a motel (extravigance!). There were a few other bikers there that had passed me
along the way that were heading west.

The next day was shithouse, scattered showers and that sort of thing. I decided
to take the inland route back to melbourne, and got back in about four hours.

The bike didnt skip a beat for the whole trip, but did loose a couple of bolts.
One that holds part of the fairing on ( not a problem), and one that holds the
back brake in place and stops it spining with the wheel ( could have been a serious
problem!)

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     __/__/__/__/  __/       __/  __/        __/     
    __/           __/__/    __/  __/__/  __/__/      Geoff
   __/   __/__/  __/  __/  __/  __/   __/  __/      Mathers 
  __/      __/  __/    __/__/  __/        __/     DoD  #0685
 __/__/__/__/  __/       __/  __/        __/   g.mathers@trl.oz.au