Omeo
Elevation: 685m (2,247’)Weather: Mean max/min temps – 18.3/4.8; Rainfall 672mm
Population: 452
Origin: The name is derived from the local indigenous word for 'mountains' or 'hills'
History: Gold was discovered in and around Omeo in 1845 and the gold rush reached its peak in 1860
Notable Event: The "Vegemite Western" Red Hill was filmed in and around the town
Early morning sojourn . . .
I understand that last night’s party moved from the dining
area to the front bar for more drinking and competitive pool and then to the
upstairs balcony for even more drinking and fraternity! Someone mentioned they finished at around
2:00am . . . I am glad they were not on our side of the hotel!
As most of you know one of my core skills isn’t
sleeping. In the words of Leonard Cohen,
the last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping
world. So like most MMs past and present
I was feeling superior as I was again walking around Omeo at about 5:00am
looking at something of the town’s history.
A coffee would have been nice – but it wasn’t to be on New Year’s Day in
this high country town. |
| It was a quiet start to 2012 in Omeo |
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| The Golden Age indeed . . . |
Today's ride . . .
[Double click to see the special performance zone!]
Ready to face the day . . .
Mountaineers started appearing at around 7:00am in the dining area – the $30 per person rate includes a huge cooked breakfast. Once everyone was organised we were all assembled in the ‘town’ having coffee and ready to roll at about 9:00am.
This was always going to be a disjointed day as some of the‘off-roaders’ were going to go well off-road and some were going to follow them as far as they could and then turn around.
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| The best one is at this end! |
[Double click for a decent view]
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| Thanks Mel and I agree . . . flattery will get you published every time! |
Gruelling first sector . . .
The first section of the day involved a long and arduous ride down the back way from Omeo to Swifts Creek to meet up with Alf and Narelle. It was such a tough 23km on a sealed road we all needed more coffee before we could ride another kilometre –we are just so very rugged these days!
Alf arrived with a bag of delightful home grown plums for everyone to share – and he also bought a ‘reject’ violin neck for me to look at and keep. Thanks Alf – I am even keener to see your workshop. And thanks to Danny for carrying it for most of the remainder of the trip.
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| Welcome caffeine at Swifts Creek
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| Thanks Alf - look forward to seeing all your toys! |
On to Bruthen . . .
There were of course two ways to Bruthen and some of us went one way and some the other. The main section of road that follows the Tambo River down the hill is one of our favourite roads anywhere – going downhill or up. The long and easy to see around sweepers are mixed with some tighter and more challenging sections and it is easy to get into a groove and just go with the road. The smooth and predictable surface is also handy.
Harley hoax . . .
This is where most of us ‘met’ Alf and his Harley on the road. I mean, we all thought that a Harley might win a local tractor pull or some such event . . . but against our high powered and agile sports and street machines the only place for it was a receding speck in the mirrors. It was with this mindset that I lead the way out of Swifts Creek and the Harley’s reassuring headlight was tucked in behind. At last, someone else to ride with!
And then it happened . . . the deafening rumble of the 1940’s 1200cc engine signalled Alf’s intenion to pass and that was pretty much all I saw of him all the way to Bruthen! I guess it could have been local knowledge of the road, but I began to suspect this guy can ride – and I was right!!
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| This is what I expected to see all day! |
Top box bottoms out . . .
The main drama on this segment was that Mark E lost his top box carrying his luggage. The holding mechanism seemed to just snap and it went tumbling down the road. We came around the corner just as two very helpful young women who Mark had just passed were carrying the top box and his gear along the side of the road to where he had pulled up.
Phil gaffer taped Mark’s luggage to his bike and we used even more gaffer tape to secure the empty top box back onto Mark’s bike and headed to Bruthen. After some deliberation and many very good ideas and opinions, it was decided that Mark would quietly ride directly to Orbost (only 65km) and try to sort it all out. In any case, he needed to be in Bairnsdale in the afternoon to pick up his partner Josie.
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| Could it have been sabbotage . . . and are these the suspects? |
First by a Buchan long shot!
There is only one thing to say this – I was by far the fastest from Bruthen to Buchan and the first to arrive by a good three minutes!! There can be no disputing this fact – although I will probably mention it a few more times in this blog!
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| Just rounding up yet another GS!! |
We were delighted to bump into a former Mountaineer John B, his wife Kym and their Labrador Bella. John was one of the main stalwarts for quite a few years but decided to get out of motor cycling and take up driving a VERY fast car instead. Mind you, if the lingering lustful looks at all our bikes were anything to go by we might see him again one day – so long as he remembers which fuel the bike uses!
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| John B somewhere near Corryong in 2005 |
Did I say that I was the first into Buchan? In fact we were so far ahead of everyone that we had time to visit caves before the others arrived for lunch! Well – Lorraine and I decided that we had already demonstrated our ‘fastest on the day’ status so we headed for the caves while the other two groups headed north.
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| Lorraine down under. . . |
The unintentionally ‘off-road’ people went as far as Seldom Seen and returned to Buchan where we met them for lunch.
Loyd catches on fire . . .
No, I am not making this up!
We headed off ‘together’ from Buchan (where I still hold the fastest arrival time!) but that didn’t last long – I don’t envy Richard’s task of trying to herd this lot! Anyway, the road between Buchan and Orbost is a little travelled but surprisingly good sector – lots of twisties and enough straights to rest the wrists.
It was along this bit that we noticed that Loyd’s bag was hanging off his bike at a rather precarious angle. He seemed oblivious to me flashing my headlight (apparently my light looks like it is flashing all the time?) so I waited for a safe spot to pull up alongside and indicate that he should stop.
Once the bag was re-secured we carried on to Orbost – and it wasn’t until he started unpacking his bag in the car park that the full extent of the damage was revealed. The muffler had burnt through the back and the ensuing ‘fire’ was on its way to destroying most of his clothes and had melted his right hand rear indicator!
And we thought these things only happened in Loydland!
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| It could only happen to him! |
The other mob . . .
Judging by the photos received, the off-roaders (including the Harley!!) had a wonderful time playing in the dirt and the water . . .
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| Following our leader |
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Roger and Mark about to ride over a very steep precipice!
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| Tony struggling to stay straight again? |
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| That's amazing . . . an off-road Harley! |
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| Three wise men . . . or something! |
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| Supervised hydro-therapy! |
Settling in . . .
Most of us were delighted to be somewhere to have a shower and put on some cool clothes . . . but our leader Richard and Mel were keen to see the ‘off-roaders’ were OK and they headed north on their planned inbound track to meet them. Everything worked out well ‘off-road’, it was later revealed that the Harley’s suspension had bottomed out too many times and Alf and Narelle’s backs were a little worse for wear.
More food and pain killer . . .
Dinner was at ‘the other’ pub – the Club Hotel. Everything seemed to go well and the stories
became bigger, better and faster as the night went on.
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| Roger needed to carry one in each hand for balance . . . |
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| Narelle was heard saying this is just like being at work! |
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| This is what it is like on the Honda . . . |
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| The captain's table . . . by invitation only! |
Strange things indeed . . .
Unfortunately no amount of alcohol could mask some of the pain and groans that Roger et al were feeling . . . although they started to come good sitting on the Commonwealth’s balcony accompanied by an inflatable Santa, snow man and reindeer! Or perhaps they were smoking something? You could write a book about some of the things that happen on these trips.
We also shared a lot of stories with a young bloke from Canberra who was also on the balcony. Young Gene fitted in well and seemed to have a finely honed bulldust detector . . . he was at least one step ahead when the yarns became one story too tall!
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| Pambula panorama . . . |
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| Lucky these old guys have an aged care nurse travelling with them! |
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| Did any one else just see Santa, a snowman and a reindeer? |
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| More specially prescribed medicine . . . |
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| Just ask Phil . . . he can recount all the statistics! |
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| Quick - get me out of here! |
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| Lookout Roger - that thing behind you looks dangerous! |
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| You are kidding yourself Loyd - it is only THIS big! |
Commonwealth Hotel .
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Lorraine and I had the pick of the rooms at the Commonwealth – our window faced the on-going party on the balcony! Luckily I was still tired from my record breaking run to Buchan – have I already said that?
Thanks for the recommendation for the Commonwealth
Phil P . . . I presume it has been about 40 years since you were last there as
we could not see where it had been cleaned since! Still . . . it was a bed and after a lot of
beer and wine we hardly noticed anything anymore! As usual, the Halses sensibly chose to stay
at a luxury motel down the road.
Numbers . . .
For the record, my ‘statistics’ for the day were”:
Fuel Consumption
– 6.4 litres/100 kmDistance – 215 km
Time on Bike – 2 hours 54 minutes
Average Speed – 74kph
First into Buchan – by a long shot!
Factorised Terminal Velocity – 2*3*23
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