H’s Romantic Ride to Phillip Island
or…
H’s Romantic Ride (without romance) to Phillip Island (well we almost got to Phillip Island)
by H
This ride report was originally published in the March 2010 issue of the Motorcycle Tourers club magazine, ‘Chain Lube’.
What a great ride we all enjoyed!!! We weren’t romantic, we didn’t get to Phillip Island but at least it was a ride and some of us managed to have lunch. As I explained at the January Club meeting David, our illustrious leader, decided I was going to lead this ride. To help me out he decided where we would end up, how we’d get there and where the second pick up would be. After such organisation I struck a deal with David, I’d sort out the route and lunch stop all he had to sort out was the weather. Well, I got my part right!!!!
I knew the day would be interesting when I had my first peak out the bedroom window at 7.30. All I could see was black clouds, a wet patio and a light fog. Things didn’t look good!!! A quick check of the weather channel and Tim was convinced his new Kawasaki would be staying in the garage for this ride. Just a bit of romance and I was off to the South Yarra pick up.
Arriving at South Yarra there were quite a few tourers looking forward to a “romantic” ride. Not exactly sure what they were all after but I was making no promises about anything other than a ride. At this stage I wasn’t even promising Phillip Island was our destination. A couple of welcome surprises at South Yarra were Linda, our newest member, on her first ride with the club and a very warm welcome back to the lovely Paul, who has traded his VFR-with-multi-storey-apartment-storage on a shiny new Ducati Monster 1100.
We all set off at the scheduled 9.30 start time for Lilydale, the second pick up. We were joined here by a few more riders bringing the total romantics to 13 riders and 2 pillions. From Lilydale it was off down the Warburton Highway to Yarra Junction, turning south towards Noojee via Powelltown. As we were getting ready to leave Lilydale the skies didn’t look all that promising. The roads had been a little wet so many of us jumped into waterproofs just in case. It turned out to be the wrong choice!!!! As we left Lilydale the skies cleared, the sun came out and we have fantastic dry roads all the way to Powelltown. I’m pretty sure by the grin on everyone’s faces we all had a great time getting to the Neerim turn off.
At the regroup of course it was off with the wet weather gear as we headed south for Neerim and Warragul. At our fuel/morning tea stop at the Warragul servo David was looking very confident in his organisation. The weather was fantastic, just perfect for a ride down to the coast.
Heading straight through Warragul we joined the Korumburra/Warragul road to take us through the Strzeleki Ranges. The views, the bends, the scenery, the fresh air made for another fantastic piece of touring road. If you haven’t ridden through this area before, have a go as it is well worth it. Crossing the Gippsland Highway at Korumburra things were looking a little bit different!!!!!
We were only 28 kms from our lunch stop at Inverloch and the dark clouds were building towards the east. Off we went as I was sure we would make it to lunch without the rain catching us. The race was on!!!! Again a fantastic riders road, but this time with a few damp (or is that moist???) patch on some bends to keep you alert. On this stretch we were running across a number of ridges and each time we were exposed to the building winds, and were the building!!! The closer we got to Inverloch, the stronger the winds became and the closer the clouds and the storms we could now see were getting to us. The race was on indeed. I upped the pace on the MV, certain I could make the last 6 kms without getting wet, but the wind blast between the clumps of trees at fairly high speed was slamming into the side of the trusty MV. It certainly didn’t worry the MV too much, but it was taking it’s toll on the rider!!! Backing off just a little, the end in sight the plan all went pear shaped about 3 kms from Inverloch. It didn’t seem to start to rain, I’d just ridden into a car wash!!!!
David had failed to sort out the weather timing correctly!!!! He tells me the morning tea stop was 5 minutes longer than he had calculated so it was really my fault we got caught.
I’d booked our lunch at the Esplanade Hotel in Inverloch, however I’d failed to tell them we all wanted to have something to each for lunch. Other than Byron and Michael who headed off to the park for a romantic picnic, we all ordered our lunch. Half the table were served within 30 minutes but the others missed out. After numerous visits we were told we should have ordered together (we did), steaks take longer to cook (no one ordered them), there was another big group (they came in after we ordered), the place was very busy (when it was half empty there was still no meals). After an hour of waiting, starvation took hold so demands for a refund were issued and a quick trip to the take away opposite saw everyone eventually fed and ready to go.
After this visit to Inverloch I think the next reservoir needs to be built in this area as it was raining before, during and after lunch. Once we had got past Wonthaggi the skies cleared and the heat rapidly rose steaming everyone in their wet weather gear. The Bass Highway took us to the Phillip Island turnoff, but as it was around 3.30 we decided to head straight back to Melbourne as the extra 1 or 2 hours on the island would have had us back home around 7.00 pm. Byron and Michael decided to leave us and do some shopping at Cowes and the rest of us headed home, with a final farewell at Cranbourne.
To sum up the Romantic Ride to Phillip Island. We didn’t get to Phillip Island, but we saw the sign. There wasn’t any romance, I left Tim at home (actually he went to Barbie Club!!!) and the rain drowned Byron and Michael’s romantic picnic at Inverloch. I got the ride well sorted but failed on the lunch and David didn’t get his part, the weather, right, although he did manage to get every climate and condition covered. Overall a fantastic MMT day out. Bring on the next one.
Ride Photos:
