Could it get better?
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2010
1
10
37
Trip End
Mar 21, 2010
Bright, Victoria, Australia
Thursday, February 18, 2010
We left Buchan after having our morning coffee at around 9:30. Leaving Buchan we passed the local police truck and found the officer driving was the first person we met two days earlier and had quit a few pints with at the local pub and wife gave us directions on where to ride today.
We headed south to Bruthen before going North on the Alpine Road to the Snowy Mountains, also called the Alps of Australia where we climbed up and up till we reached the peak of Mount Hotham at 1857 meters above sea level. At the top we found they actually had a ski resort and after asking the locals (read bartender in Bright) we were told the peak season was June through August. In Norway this is peak summer. Everything is quite opposite down under. We spent some time at the summit taking in the views as is was crystal clear and we could see the whole mountain chain continuing north.
After a short photo session on the summit we headed down the mountain and that is when the riding really got interesting. For approx 100 km we did not have a leg that was longer than 50 meters without a crazy twist or turn. Most of them was 90+ degrees and made for a very challenging but extremely enjoyable. We will try to upload some helmet cam action from today and you will know what we are talking about when you see it. Going off the road was not an option as you would typically hit a tree the size of a house or drop several hundred meters into more trees and rocks.
At the summit we had a respectable 24 degrees Celsius while at the bottom we reached 32 and we had to stop to take a layer off before continuing. We rolled into Brighton at around 4 and checked in at the local backpacker hostel for the night before hitting the pub for a pint and to touch base with the locals. The hostel was a whoping $25 but included free use of the bbq and breaksast. Unbeatable. The people were super cool and layed back.
Nate got a couple of T-Shirts in town so I finally don't have to listen to him go on about only bringing two anymore. No word on the umbrella today either.
We are close to Melbourne so we ordered ferry tickets over to Tasmania for Friday night. That will bring us to Davenport at 6 am Saturday and we are planning on heading into the mountains for some hiking and possibly some trout fishing before continuing to Hobart. We still have plenty of time so we will stay at least a week in Tas before returning to the main continent.
So far we have covered about 1200 km and today’s 250 km’s was actually in the complete opposite direction of where we are heading. This is the beauty of not planning to much and hitting up the cool places off the main route.
Nate here. Not too much to add other than to agree that the riding was great. I was finally feeling really comfortable on the bikes. Leaning way into the turns and looking through the corners. The bikes handle great. They are so much fun in the twistys. I also figured out my helmet noise thing. With my height the wind screen was sending some wicked air at my helmet. I lowered it and now it is way better. Still wearing the ear plugs but now it is closer to my bike back home that doesn’t have a wind screen than a deafening noise.
And I would have bought shirts earlier but who would have known most places they are $50 a shirt. A little pricey for me.
We just finnished dinner wich we cooked ourself at the bbq at the hostel. It consisted of chicken kabobs and kangaroo meat with mushrooms, salad and wine. Tracy, It was LOVELY! Thanks for the tip. From now all meat on the bbq is gonna be Kangaroo. Yeayyy
Journal stops right here. Eivind outahere.....
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