The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ...

[Cormanus]

Day 6
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[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZbapFkLEoD-NL6gZlOAqNge1ZTMdA5qL&usp=sharing]Link to map

It promised to be hot again and I was full of good intentions about getting on the road early. Like so many good intentions, they didn’t amount to much and it was around 0930 when I got under way.

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Walwa is on the southern bank of the Murray River which divides New South Wales and Victoria. I decided to pop over to Jingelic on the NSW side to check out a campground. I found a good one on the banks of the river next door to the pub.

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Back in Victoria, the CB inspects the Murray River.

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It’s a pretty ride west from Walwa along the banks of the Murray until you come to the man-made Lake Hume. The next couple of photos show it to be a bit short of water.
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Two letterboxes I found at the northern end of the Omeo Valley Highway

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Hiding in the shade at Mitta Mitta. It was getting very hot by then

This abandoned church at Granite Flat just south of Mitta Mitta was built from locally made bricks in 1875. For a time during the Australian Gold Rush, Granite Flat boasted about 500 miners. The last settler left the area in 1919. The last service held in the church was the funeral of one James Walsh in 1936.
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How could a motorcyclist not love a sign like this? What makes it even better is that it’s slightly misleading. It’s around 100 kilometers from Mitta Mitta to Omeo and very little of it is straight.

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Gotta love a good letterbox

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I stopped at Anglers Rest for water and something to eat. It was hot. As I finished lunch, these two bikes arrived. The bloke on the Triumph didn’t want to talk to me; but I had a pleasant enough chat with the other bloke. He had a neat ornament on the front mudguard of the Midnight Special. I think they were on the way to a big Triumph rally.
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It was still hot when I got back on the bike, but I noticed it getting cooler and cooler as I rode the 30 kms to Omeo. So much so that I stopped, put two layers in my jacket and donned heavier gloves. The weather app told me the temperature had dropped at least 15ºC.
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It didn’t rain, but it was cool and occasionally misty. I stopped for this photo which marked 100,000 kms that I had ridden on this bike. When I bought it, with 2,091 kms on the odometer, I had no idea I would spend as much time on it as I have; let alone that I’d ride it for 100,000 kms. It is thanks in no large measure to this forum and accepting an invitation from Pterodactyl that it has happened.
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Above: Misty conditions and some attractive alpine bush for the milestone photo opportunity

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Just west of the Mt Hotham township (largely deserted in summer), is this high point on the road

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Looking east from The Cross

If you follow the link to the full-size version of the following image, you will see the scar of the road I followed on the other (western) side of the valley. It is a reasonable ride to that point as the road follows the ridge to the lest in this photo.
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This photo shows the view from the western side of the valley looking back to where I took the one above.
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Soon after that, having stopped to strip out the thermal layers to deal with the rising temperatures, I set up my tent beside a stream in the Bright Caravan Park.
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To my delight, I walked out the back entrance to the park and discovered the local brewery. The woman behind the bar apologised and said the only food available was pizza or chips (fries to those in the US) as the kitchen staff were having a golf day to thank them for the efforts over the holiday season. The beer was welcome and the pizza surprisingly good.
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Day 7
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[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZbapFkLEoD-NL6gZlOAqNge1ZTMdA5qL&usp=sharing]Link to map

Heading west from Bright, I wanted to ride up the Mt Buffalo Road which comes recommended, but didn’t think I could afford the extra 2 hours it would add to my trip. Next time.

It started out cool, but that didn’t last long and I stopped after about half an hour and returned to tropical riding attire. It was hot, flat and dry to Whitfield where I stopped for coffee and food.
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After Whitfield there’s a pretty climb up the hill ...
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... until you come to top of this enormous power pylon rising above the road. It’s more spectacular when you come upon it riding from the other direction, as you feel you're about to be hurled from a mighty precipice.
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After the pylon, there’s a little more bush and then more relatively flat, straight, riding to Marysville where you get to turn left on to the glorious Reefton Spur. It’s basically too much fun to be bothered taking photos as it winds its way through a lovely eucalypt forest. There are few advisory speed signs so the rider really has to concentrate on the road to get a sense of how to take the upcoming corners. It’s a lovely ride. Thanks, Aussieflyer, for introducing me to it.
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At Reefton, one is into the outer reaches of Melbourne. It was not too far to my destination of Ferntree Gully where I would largely spend days 8 and 9.
Day 9
It was too hot to do as I’d hoped and spend the day admiring the rear end of Aussieflyer’s bike as we rode around some of outer Melbourne’s more interesting roads. Aussieflyer generously gave up his afternoon to drive me to Healsville where we had an excellent lunch and an ale or two at a local brewery. He then took me along a lovely riding road to the St Andrews Hotel, where we took in another refreshing libation and admired the few bikes that were out and about.

Then it was to his home where I got to drool (discretely) over his CB.

Great day, Aussieflyer, I’m sorry we didn’t get a ride, but that was the next best thing for sure.

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I came across a bloke from the Australian Netrider Forum who I'd not met, and I thought this was his bike. It wasn't, but it was worth using up the strorage space for a picture.
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