Editors Choice For Chilling Out At ChillOut
by Bollywood Brettski
This ride report was originally published in the April 2011 issue of the Motorcycle Tourers club magazine, ‘Chain Lube’.
Our ChainLube editor Brett led this year’s MMT ride to ChillOut, which this year had the theme ‘Bollywood in the Bush’
It was a lovely fresh morning. A somewhat fresher morning due to the fact that our departure from South Yarra was some one and a half hours earlier than our normal take off. Latte’s and short blacks concluded, it was time to make tracks to pick up the second group as we headed out the Western Highway.
Somewhere, somehow there was some confusion with where the second pickup was to be. My understanding as promoted in the MMT Newsletter of “BP Service Centre/McDonald’s, Western Hwy” would be for participants to pull in to the BP Service Centre/McDonald’s… but still a call came through asking where we were as there were a few members pulled in at the Mobil Service Centre earlier on? Anyway, we still left in plenty of time, and with no U-Turns as in the previous year, arrived with even 10 minutes to spare.
This obviously took the ChillOut organisers by surprise, as they seemed to be expecting another late arrival, and stalled the parade for about half an hour!
One thing I learnt was things were definitely done differently in the bush. We were instructed that there would be 3 laps around the main street before heading off to park the bikes. Then, just as we were entering the circuit, I was instructed to head out after 2 laps. So, although I was up for a demonstration of civil disobedience in Melbourne’s Pride March, I was quite happy to tow the country line. Then, the strangest thing happened. I rode off, and parked the motorbike, following the instructions to the T, grabbed my camera off Marcus, who took some awesome photos of us I might mention, and headed down to watch the rest of the parade and get some snap shots of the sexy country lads…. I mean, the other participants! Suddenly, before me came the Tourers again on their bikes… “What The…?” Oh well, I was able to get a few more snaps of our members as they passed around the circuit another 2 times.
I figured that we were either a real crowd pleaser, and the organisers wanted to keep the momentum high by letting our group arouse the crowds some more, or they simply can’t count. For the sake of the argument, I will go with us being a crowd pleaser who got the crowds revved up!
After the parade officially concluded, the members who wanted to head down for the afternoon to the Carnival started to make their way off, and John, Gary, Max and Myself set off on the after-ride that I had planned.
We made our way out of Daylesford heading through some beautiful little hamlets such as Glenlyon and Spring Hill before we arrived at the picturesque crossing of the Upper Coliban and Lauriston Reservoirs. A quick photo shoot of the bikes coming across the old brick arch bridge with the reservoir in the background was an awesome sight, if only I was able to get it from a bit higher vantage point to get above the railing.
We pressed on and made our way along the narrow roadways to our lunch stop at the Kyneton Bakery. This was where both Gary and John were going to end their fun, and head back home, so Max and I also agreed to save the fun of the rest of the route for another occasion. As we made our way back to the bikes, it was apparent there was a storm heading our way, so without delay, we said our goodbyes and hit the freeway.
As fate would have it, within minutes of us pulling the motorbikes into the drive way and under cover, the heavens laterally opened up. It was revealed when we logged onto the BoM web site, that the storm with literally on our tails the whole way home. Talk about lucky!
Reports from members who decided to head along to Carnival at ChillOut said it bucketed down during the afternoon. It was such a contrast to how beautiful the weather was all morning, and during the parade itself, but this is Victoria, and we had been experiencing some very average weather this summer period.
My planned ride from Daylesford over the top ending in Whittlesea will defiantly be a must for another time, as I had so much fun when I plotted the path the weekend before ChillOut with some lovely sweeping bends, and hilly back roads with some beautiful scenery of changing landscapes… am I painting a wonderful picture?
Ride Photos:
