Mountain Madness 2012: Day 3 - Monday 2nd January

Orbost to Pambula

Orbost

Elevation: 41m (135’)

Weather: Mean max/min temps – 20.4/10.0; Rainfall 736mm

Population: 2452

Origin: Named by a Norman McLeod after Orbost farm in the north west of the Isle of Skye in Scotland

History: Peter Imlay (as in the Imlay Road) established the Snowy River Station in 1842 and gold was discovered in the mid-1850s north of Orbost. The area later became a prosperous farming and timber community but the population has halved since the mid-1980s.

Notable people from Orbost: Molly Meldrum (no description needed), Jennifer Hansen (TV presenter), Sarah Hanson-Young (Senator), Nick Heyne (AFL player), Lindsay Tanner (former Federal Minister) and Michael Voss (AFL footballer/coach)

Orbost morning sojourn . . .

The noise on the veranda outside our room last night was pretty much kept down to a dull roar as everyone seemed to be pretty much worn out . . . which was probably a good thing for all concerned.

Given my sleeping skills hadn’t improved in the last 24 hours and I was up and about looking for something to do in Orbost at 4:45am. Luckily the bakery across the road was just opening up and I enjoyed nice a coffee and a chat with the proprietor before walking the town on both sides of the main street!

An interesting phenomenon was that some kind of temperature inversion had occurred overnight (perhaps precipitated by Loyd’s burning bag?) and the entire Snowy River valley to the west of the town was enveloped in fog. Given the dew point, of course all of our bikes were also quite wet – expect for Danny’s GS which was cleverly protected by a cover!

Foggy Snowy Valley

Soggy bikes . . .

Breakfast at sweethearts . . .

Madmen and madettes trickled out in dribs and drabs to the café cum bakery across the road from the hotel. I really felt for the woman running the place as she struggled with the sudden influx of customers until one of her friends came in to help.

Mind you, I did try to warn her at 5:00am that 17 hung over, hungry and caffeine deprived bikers would be descending on the premises from about 7:30am. A number of us acted as waiters/waitresses when she became overwhelmed – but she kept her sense of humour and everything worked out good in the end.

Breakfast accross the road . . .

Perhaps we would be safer with one of these?

The guy said it owes him $28,000 . . .

The quiet achiever . . . always ready to depart on time

But which fuel . . .

Another discovery was there was no premium unleaded fuel in the town. At one stage there seemed to be bikes running like ants all over town looking for a solution. Richard even went twice entirely around the main roundabout in a moment of indecision!

Some of our lot chose to use ethanol added fuel but most put in enough 91 octane so we could make it to the next town and top up with the fuel of our choice.

Another Day . . .

[Double click for a larger image]

Eventually two distinct groups of mountaineers seemed to form out of the foggy haze for the day’s activities. An interesting distinction emerged – the A Team consisting those willing to ride a very twisty road with estimates ranging between two and 25 km of rough gravel road and the B Team who did not. I never did get to the bottom of the actual ‘distance on dirt’ conundrum – I guess I will never know!

The A Team’s plan was to head north from Orbost and go whichever way to Bombala and then down the hill to Pambula.

Nice morning cruise . . .

Having already established my credentials as the ‘best and fastest’ into Buchan (did I say that before – I am milking it to the max as I will probably never be able to say it again!), I decided to take it pretty easy today with the B Team – consisting of the four bikes of Alf and Narelle, me and Lorraine, Mark and Josie, and Karen.

Thanks to Alf and Narelle’s suggestions, the general plan was to a look at Bemm River on the Sydnenham Inlet about 40km from Orbost and then on to Genoa to see the Water Dragons.

Bemm River and Cann River . . .

The plan nearly worked – the ride to Bemm River through the forest was just lovely, including the suicidal goanna and the small kangaroo. Alf bought some sun block at the store and then we headed back to the main highway.

The temperature was rising much faster than the traffic was moving and it became pretty uncomfortable by the time we arrived at Cann River. After some deliberation and speed shopping we changed our plan so that we would head north and up as quickly as possible. This decision was also supported by the fact that we had seen a plethora of police to the west of and in Cann River.

Beautiful Bemm River - thanks Alf

The way out of Cann River . . .

Power shopping . . .

That Narelle knows how to shop – we didn’t even see her go to the Op Shop but she emerged with some super tread thongs and a stunning evening top for a total of $9.00!! I think everyone can learn something from her. She had Josie with her for support and Lorraine had just made her way to another shop by the time we were ready to go.

So after refreshments, shopping and some ‘servo rage’ (where I managed to upset someone by squeezing in between two cars which were filling up!!) we blasted north as a convoy.

Showing young Gene the way . . .

From all reports young Gene fitted into the 'off-road' lot very well - and he had a couple of flat tyres (actually the same one) along the way . . .

Roger offering expert advice . . .

No Loyd - the buzzing is coming from inside your head!

This section was SO tough . . . or so they keep saying!

Monaro Highway to Bombala . . .

Despite our cunning plan to avoid the local constabulary we came across yet another a few kilometres out of town . . . but luckily he was busy booking someone else!

It was along this section of road that I realised that indicators are not necessary on a Harley. There is no escaping the significantly louder exhaust sound when the rider is ready to pass someone . . . although some rather unkindly sort said it might be a case of ‘constant power/variable noise’!

Serendipity is a wonderful thing . . . both the A and B Teams arrived in Bombala within 5 minutes of each other. It turns out that the A Team was held up a bit because young Gene had a couple of punctures on some of the rough stuff but our guys helped sort him out. Biking is like that.

We managed to clean one joint out of food . . . or at least by the time that Lorraine went in to buy something sensible all that was left was a pretty sad looking sausage roll. I mean – didn’t these people know we were coming as we arrive en masse at about the same time every year! Still, we all survived and started to recuperate from the heat – except Josie as she could not cool down.

Josie's head expoding in the heat!

Lookout Gene - she has a bit of of a history up this way - check with Dan!

Are we ready to go yet?

Mostly downhill from here . . .

The re-merged mountaineers left from Bombala together down the Mt Darragh Road through Cathcart and Wyndham – it was lovely to be together again and to be able to see the ‘strings of pearl’ headlights in the mirrors as we all came out of a corner and headed along a straight. We all stopped in some enticing shade for yet another photo opportunity!

What is the collective noun for motorcycles?

Mel about to go up an impossibly steep hill!

The best one is on the right . . .

Waiting in Wyndham . . .

Poolside at Pambula . . .

After the brief stop at Wyndham to collect our thoughts we headed into the Colonial Inn Motel in Pambula. In various states of collapse and exhaustion we had showers, a swim and plenty of beers by the pool kindly provided by Loyd and Alf . . . thanks guys, we owe you big time!!

It is a tough life on the road . . .

Nice way to finish the day . . .

Legal fraternity getting hung out to dry . . .

Welcome to Loydland . . .

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?

Lewis Carroll

What more can I say . . . Loyd at the pool was pure Loyd! You are certainly ‘one out of the box’ mate and we love all versions of you!! And we were especially pleased that Narelle had you sussed within a few minutes . . . like letting you know the pool gate was child proof. Appropriately Loyd retorted but not idiot proof!

That's a nice smile . . .

Very nice darling!

His one person party . . .

Right then - what's next?

Settling in for the evening . . .

Phil, Mel and Tony had a dinner commitment with Phil’s sister who lives nearby . . . and Roger and Julie also went off to stay with their friends. So that left Loyd and the rest of us to battle with the local pub for dinner . . . it all turned out lovely even though I caused Loyd’s dinner to be late. It is too hard to explain!

Afterwards we adopted the now traditional and very comfortable repose of dragging some chairs out into the car park while we ‘shot the breeze’ with copious amounts of alcohol!