After a stormy night in the port town of Queenscliff there was a little apprenhension that Thursday morning would be met with the same conditions and therefore the crossing of Port Phillip Bay would be rough, in fact it was almost the complete opposite.
Beautiful sunshine met us as we packed the bikes and rode through the picturesque town to the Sorrento ferry. Around 40 bikes were loaded onboard for the 9am crossing, it was quite a site, especially for the senior citizen group on the same voyage, at first most seemed terrified until they realised what the ride was about and soon became biog fans.The forty minute trip across the bay went without hassle and was actually very calm which should've set the scene for what was to come, it didn't quite go that way.
No sooner had we disembarked the ferry we were stopped by the local constabulary. No laws had been broken yet we still had to stop. Once the motorcycle riding office discovered what we were up to he was quick to talk bikes and advise us of the best roads and how to get to them. We followed his directions and found they were bullplop, we got lost, and me coming from Melbourne couldn't find the right way. We ended up in Frankston, which the guys from Brisbane thought was beautiful, although there were a "hell of a lot of young mothers".
Once we found our way to the Soth Gippsland Highway it was a matter of how soon could we drop Arnold and his sidecar, for the sportsbikes it didn't take long, I wasn't too far behind on the cruiser.
The South Gippsland Highway is regarded as one of the best bike roads in Australia. Granted it's good, but get of your bum and go looking, there's much better roads out there. For me the best thing about the SGH is the town of Alberton.
It's this weird little place just before Yarram, it doesn't have much, in fact I would go so far to say that it has nothing, besides this giant kick arse pup - surrounded by nothing. It's like it was built to take on the big Marino, or the big Bananna ... Alberton, we have the big Pub.
Our last stop was essentially Yarram for a quick stretch before we took on the straighter run of the SGH to Sale, the last stop before many more bikes start joining the ride.
Local business really got behind us in Sale, a BBQ was put on, which raised additional funds, and plans for the next few days were announced. We were told that invitations had been sent to all major political leaders of our country. Julia Gillard, had only just replied 2 days ago to say she would not attend our arrival in Canberra. Tony Abbott is still to reply. Nicola Roxon, the federal minister for health had refused to attend, stating something more urgent. However, Senator Kate Lundy will be meeting us and riding into Canberra with us, she might even come along for the ride to Sydney.
Well, I'm off to bed now, in the hotel that is a throw back to the 1950's ... oh country towns, bless them.
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