International Motorcyclists Tour Club

Dennis & Anne go to 'OZ' 

by Dennis & Anne Greenwood

When the chance of taking bikes to Australia was announced at the 2000 AGM, it was ruled out for us as the bikes were going to be away for six months in total. However, at the October weekend, Margaret Audin of Pleasley Motorcycles asked if we were interested in going to Australia as their bike would still be out there for a month after they had finished their holiday. Once we got home and thought a bit more about it, we decided that the trip was on and started organising flights etc. to meet up with Dave and Margaret.

After a 20 hour flight, we arrived in Melbourne on the 24 March and headed for Frankston, about 25 miles south of Melbourne, where we were to meet Dave and Margaret, and near to where the shipping agent was based. Getting up late the next day, we went for a walk into Frankston in the sunshine. It may have been March, but this was Autumn in Australia and the temperature was about 28 degrees. We had set off from home two days earlier in a snowstorm. This was the Sunday and we were not meeting Dave and Margaret until the Wednesday evening, so we hired a car and our first trip was to find where we had to return the bike when we had finished our holiday. Whilst we were there we saw Ken Edwards and his wife collecting their Gold Wing. After that we took a trip down the Mornington Peninsula where we again saw Ken heading for the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff. After that we went to Phillip Island and several other interesting places which looked out over Port Phillip Bay.

Come Wednesday lunchtime and we returned the rental car, returned to the Motel to sort out some packing and wait for Dave and Margaret to arrive. Dave's friend, Stuart, had gone out with them and that night we ate at the Motel while the others had a Chinese takeaway. We followed that with wine and stubbies and listened to stories of their holiday.

Next morning we loaded Bruce (as Margaret had christened the bike), a BMW R80RT, and while Dave and Margaret went to the airport, we headed down the peninsula again and caught the ferry across the bay to Queenscliff to get onto the Great Ocean Road. This is one of the great sights of Victoria, stretching some 250 kilometres from Torquay to Warrnambool. In some places the cliffs were 250 feet high with some gently sloping beaches, but the most dramatic were the giant towers of limestone near Port Campbell called The Twelve Apostles. We wandered along this road all the second day, stopping off at viewing points jutting out over huge vistas of sand and sea. Eventually we stopped overnight at Mount Gambier.

The Twelve Apostles,
Great Ocean Road,
Victoria

Now, we cut inland a little and went to Murray Bridge and the start of the Barossa Valley (famous for its vineyards). Next day we took a little detour to a place called Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. This town, founded by German settlers, still had a lot of the original character, such as cafes selling cafe and küchen etc. There was oompah music playing everywhere along the main street. There were also cafes selling Devonshire Cream Teas.

Back on our route, we went north to visit the National Motor Museum at Birdwood. We were just parking up when who should be coming out of the car park but Mick Wadsworth (I would know that bike anywhere) and Pete May. After exchanging greetings and having a chat, we waved cheerio. They were going east to Wagga Wagga and we were heading north towards the outback. After an overnight stop in Clare, we headed north through Mount Remarkable National Park, over the Horrocks Pass and down to the Spencer Gulf, stopping for two nights at Port Augusta. We checked into a Motel with swimming pool. restaurant and air conditioning. All this for £23, plus a little for breakfast. The system in all the motels was that you completed a form detailing what you wanted for breakfast and handed that into reception by 7.30 pm at night and your breakfast was delivered to your room the morning after. The rooms had toasters and kettles provided plus mashing tackle. It was possible to have a cooked breakfast delivered in this way. Some of the motels had a small hatch through which your breakfast was delivered in the morning.

We would have liked to have stayed with a family on a Station (farm), but these were usually many miles from the towns and our route, so we abandoned that idea.

Whilst in Port Augusta we went to visit the School of the Air. All the teachers were, of course, in radio studios with one being glass fronted so that we could see in. The sound of the lesson was relayed into the Visitor Centre. When I asked what sort of an area was covered, I was told that two of the children in that particular class were 1250 kilometres away on a Station the size of Wales. At the end of the lesson, the children were given 10 minutes air time to chatter instead of a playtime. We then went to the Wadlata Outback Centre, which traces the Aboriginal and European history of the area. After that, we went back to the Motel, checked over the bike and had a swim.

Next day we moved on to Hawker, Peterborough and Broken Hill. By now the green fields had long gone, being replaced by scrubland as far as the eye could see. It was on this stretch that we had our first unsealed section of road. Quite wide, it was baked hard with the sun. This was OK, but after a while we came across a grader levelling a rough section of road and behind it the road was very soft. After a couple of miles we got past the grader and the water tanker in front of it and eventually got back onto tarmac. We pressed on and at regular intervals we saw dead kangaroos at the roadside; the result of road strikes.

A view from the Alpine Highway, 
Mt. Khancoban,
New South Wales

Broken Hill, where we stayed for two nights, is a very affluent town with a still working silver mine. This was evident by the quality of the buildings in the well laid out town centre. Broken Hill is also one of the bases for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Although everything looked very modern and efficient, we were told they received no funding from Central Government and always bought second-hand aircraft. They had to rely on donations and what they could made from tours around the bases and the sale of souvenirs. We also had a ride out into the bush to a place called Silver-ton where the mining had finished long ago and the town was now almost a Ghost Town

Heading south on the Silver City Highway with very little traffic, we had a close encounter with an Emu when it decided to run across the road in front of us. By way of Balranald and Hay, we made our way to Wagga Wagga, a clean, modem town. By now the scenery was changing again with rolling hills and in the d istance, mountains. Going down the Snowy Mountain Highway to Cooma was a bit like Austria in places. Turning onto the Alpine Way, we made our way to Jindabyne, a main alpine ski resort. It was three days before Easter and the ski shops were getting ready for the first snow of the winter, but when that came we would be long gone.

Next day we set off, going past Mount Kosciusko at 2228 meters, the highest point on the continent. Going through Kosciusko National Park was beautiful, with never much traffic. Lovely!! After an overnight stay at Corryong, we headed along the Murray Valley Highway, before heading south to The Alpine National park and the small town of Omeo. By now it was seriously cold and the going was slowed by two unmade sections of road, one where we had quite a wait at some roadworks. The other went over a pass and was 18 miles long, very rough gravel and was almost dark with the forest canopy, although it was early afternoon. It was also very damp. We arrived in Omeo, found a Motel and the lady took pity on us, made us some tea and then put extra heating in our room. We spent two nights at Omeo and on our spare day we had a ride down to Lakes Entrance on the coast. This is a nice place, but very busy, so we didn't stay long.

An unsealed road in
Lake Eildon National Park,
Victoria

The following morning we left Omeo with the bike covered in white frost and although the sun was shining, the first hour or so over Mount Hotham (1368 m) was quite cold. It soon warmed up, however, as we went through Bright and Beechworth and arrived at Wangaratta, where we had booked a room for three nights. Easter is the main holiday in Australia and everywhere gets very busy so we had phoned ahead to book the room.

The weather was hot again and the two days here were very nice. We visited things as diverse as Airworld - a collection of vintage aircraft - a Cheese Factory and Glenrowan, site of Ned Kelly's last stand in 1880. This place was very commercialised and the actual site of Kelly's last battle was disappointing to say the least. We can, however, recommend the hot pikelets and Jam, and they made a good pot of tea!!

Easter Monday and we were on a minor road to Mansfield. Later that day they were having a Rodeo, but for now they were happy giving kids rides on camels down the central reservation of the main street. After a cool drink, we moved on, soon slowed by some more unsealed road. This time the surface was dust - as fine as talcum powder. After about 10 miles, we were back on tarmac and a trouble free ride through Lake Eildon National Park to Marysville. When we booked in at the Motel, the owner was surrounded by King Parrots, Rosellas and Galahs. We thought they belonged to him, but he told us they were wild and they came down because he put food out for them. The King Parrots were bright green and red, the Rosellas were bright red and bright blue and the Galahs were grey and bright pink. We had been told earlier on that the Galahs can cause as many problems on the roads in certain areas as kangaroos, because they eat the wheat, get drunk and then they cannot take off from the road when traffic comes along.

A typical colonial style buiding  in Beechworth, Victoria

Next day we went south through rich farmland. They seemed to be able to grow anything here from melons to apples and always miles of vineyards. We went through Healesville, Warragul and Korumburra to get to Leongatha for what would be the last night before returning to Frankston.

The following morning we set off in the direction of Inverloch and Wonthaggi and then along the coast before turning north inland to Cranbourne and Frankston. We chose a Motel near the shuttle bus pickup point, dumped our gear and then went to Seaford to return YPF 717Y to the shipping agent.

We had a terrific holiday, the weather was very good with temperatures in the upper twenties most of the time. Petrol and food were cheap and the people very laid back and friendly. We would definitely go again, but I think we'll have to wait for a lottery win next time!

Finally, many thanks to Peter Twyman of IMTC and the BSA Owners Club for organising the trip. We know that he put a terrific amount of hard work into the organisation. Thanks also go to Dave and Margaret Audin of Pleasley Motorcycles for the loan of the bike, which never let us down, but Dave could tell you an interesting tale of what happened just before he met up with us.!!