DB Revisited

Short Way Round

Unlike Ewan McGregor I could only take a few days to tour around Victoria but was mostly pleased with the route I chose. Sigrun tells me I should have slowed down more but I always find it hard to relax to that extent. Found a great place to take the family though once we have the family size tent and a bit more gear and looking forward to that. Kids do slow you down and often that's not a bad thing. The tent I can recommend as it was great and kept me dry overnight when we had showers. Only weighs about 3kg so would also be not bad to hike with. It is a Salewa Denali II and these guys did me a great price. Having a billy and the lightweight gas burner and butane tin was also a good idea. Nothing like sitting in your tent and making a cuppa withoutn having to go to the camp kitchen.

The Australian Motorcycle Atlas was a great guide and I heartily agree with the Colac to Lavers Hill run being one of the top 100 rides in Oz. That was the most serious riding I have done on the bike since buying it and glad to be hear to type the tale !

Have put in an album for the pics I did take but as I said did not stop a lot and did not have helmet cam so can't share those wonderful corners....

Guess Who Has Come to Melbourne

Old Town Kopitiam now have a franchise here as we discovered wandering about the city on Sunday. It was a nice surprise as we were looking for a place to eat a late lunch in Chinatown. The menu looks a lot like it did in PJ or anywhere else and the food was great. I had bak kut teh and Sigrun went for the nasi lemak with beef rendang and sambal sotong. Very yummy !

 

   

Next Road Trip

I am getting quite excited about taking a few days and going off on the bike again. Sigrun has been great about pushing me to take a sabbatical after all the hassle at work and I must say last weekend gave me a real taste for it. Burto had just done a similar thing and he put me on to a great bike touring atlas which lists some of the best rides in Oz. Sadly with the fires my movements will be a bit more restricted so have decided to do the Colac to Lavers Hill, run and then east and west on the Great Ocean Road.

Got my gear sorted just waiting on a e-bay result for a good tent then I will have some more practice at packing the bike and strapping on the gear. I didn't have a tent for the last trip so that will be an add on. I have ordered some extra bits from Andy Strapz after researching his website a bit more though which will simplify this nicely. Must say the expedition panniers did not move a bit over 300km each way and on the way back I did give it some serious throttle.

Just realising I have been to involved with work and not much else the last six years so treally is time to get my life back.

Redback Rally

I went to country Victoria over the weekend for a bike rally with some mates. The rally is to raise funds and usually gets quite a turn out. My first time and unfortunately the hottest day ever in Melbourne so we literally cooked getting there and spent most of Saturday hiding in the local pub as it was just too bloody hot to do anything else. The cool change came through late so we did get to enjoy the live band and watch the crazier blokes do giant burn outs and fill the area with burning rubber.

It was a much more pleasant ride home and I enjoyed the twistier bits with the new tyre I had put on. The country roads were quiet, the air was cool and I gave the throttle a bloody good twist a couple of times. The RS certainly gets up and goes when you give it some.

The beer tent 

Burto and his K

  Darby and his R90 My RS with the new soft panniers from Andy Strapz which performed brilliantly.

  a lot quieter than last night, music went to 5am and bikes started leaving at 6 with all the noise I might have slept half an hour.

Redback Rally

I went to country Victoria over the weekend for a bike rally with some mates. The rally is to raise funds and usually gets quite a turn out. My first time and unfortunately the hottest day ever in Melbourne so we literally cooked getting there and spent most of Saturday hiding in the local pub as it was just too bloody hot to do anything else. The cool change came through late so we did get to enjoy the live band and watch the crazier blokes do giant burn outs and fill the area with burning rubber.

It was a much more pleasant ride home and I enjoyed the twistier bits with the new tyre I had put on. The country roads were quiet, the air was cool and I gave the throttle a bloody good twist a couple of times. The RS certainly gets up and goes when you give it some.

The beer tent 

Burto and his K

  Darby and his R90 My RS with the new soft panniers from Andy Strapz which performed brilliantly.

  a lot quieter than last night, music went to 5am and bikes started leaving at 6 with all the noise I might have slept half an hour.