It had rained over night in Swan Hill and looked like it could continue raining through the next day, thankfully it had stopped and to my amazement I found that my brakes were now working, if only just ... it was better than nothing.
At 9am all riders heading for Alice Springs formed at the reception area for the caravan park and after a few words about rider safety we said goodbye to them as they headed off to the next stop at Ouyen. It was a little sad to see them on their way, good friends had been made, people like Alan who amazingly only has one arm having lost his right one to an accident yet this doesn't stop him as he has a bike with all left hand controls.
They headed off and we packed our bikes ready for return ride home. A quick refuel and up here the prices are getting high, $1.60 per litre for 98. Then on to McDonald's for breakfast. After a fill of bacon and egg McMuffin's we rode out of town.
Almost immediately we were stuck behind a convoy of grey-nomads from South Australia, all doing 80 kilometres per hour. Apparantly they travel at these speeds to conserve fuel. For Christ's sake, if you are so tight as to want to save a dollar per journey then stay at home and stop clogging the roads.
We rode past Lake Boga, which has water in it again, I don't think I can remember a time when there was water in it, it does seem to reguvenating the area, the caravan park had people in it and the local boat dealing seemed to be doing business.
A little further down the road is the Swan Hill Observatory. If you are ever in the area, especially in summer, you should visit this place. It's run by a colourful husband and wife and if you have an interest in space, or are jsut keen to see some amazing sites then they are more than willing to show you. It is one of the best places of its type that I have been to.
From here it was the 60 kilometre ride back to Kerang where we had stopped the previous day however, this time we wouldn't be stopping, we'd continue on down the Loddon Valley Highway to Bendigo. By now the weather had turned and it was starting to become bitterly cold.
We pushed on and as I was leading the pack I was the first to come up across a two trailered cattle truck doing almost the same speed we were doing. As I got closer I realised that fluid was spraying on me. Oh my god I thought, was this cattle waste? It certainly looked like it as my jeans started to turn a funny yellish brown colour. I was being sprayed in water down poo. I cranked it open and flew past at about 160kph, I could wait to get past that truck.
A little further down the road I cam across a horsefloat and the same thing started to happen, this time instead of coming from the horse it was actually starting to rain and come down quite fast. I quickly decided that Serpentine would be the next stop, a place that has crossroads and a service station and roadhouse on either side, as far as I could tell this was the entire town.
We stopped here and refuelled, both the bikes and then ourselves. The dim sims were bloody good, and apparantly so was the hot chocolate.
From here it was just 47 kilometres to Bendigo but as the weather was still very cold it might be a trying ride so we headed there. Once in Bendigo it was just a quick stop to put on the wet weather gear and then off on the down the Calder Freeway to home. Amazingly 100 k's from home the sun came out and was actually quite nice, a pity it hadn't been like this the whole way.
If you feel that you might be suffering from a mental illness it is nothing to be ashamed of. Contact the Black Dog Institute; Lifeline or Beyond Blue for more information or help.
If you would like more information on the Black Dog Ride check out the website.
No comments:
Post a Comment