Ride leader: John Birkett. Tail End Charlie: Stephen Gray.
This is my second year of leading this annual event after ‘Rotten’ Ronnie Gray passed the baton last year.
The ride, as always, left from Sorrento wharf, where 12 members met me for the mandatory completion of the ride sheet, bit of chat, a lot of banter (started early this year) before boarding the 9am ferry. Chris, a guest of Neil’s, joined the group over the Queenscliff side.
I decided to change things up again this year and took a different route to previous years. Leaving Queenscliff around 9.50am, we made our way along the coast via Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads, Anglesea to Lorne where the group had a short leg stretch and toilet break.
After Lorne is where the fun level went up a gear.
We headed inland via Deans Marsh, Barwon Downs, Forrest, Skenes Creek stopping at the Apollo Bay Hotel for lunch. Absolutely fantastic roads, lots of twisties and, apart from the odd road works and caravans, the run so far had been great.
After lunch, some chose to fill up and then we were on our way again up through Lavers Hill (another great bit of roadway) and travelled along the Great Ocean Road, arriving mid afternoon at our destination, Port Campbell Caravan Park, on what turned out to be a stunning day for riding – ideal conditions.
After checking in, we headed to the camp kitchen opposite our rooms to continue what is a well-established tradition of whisky, beer and talking a lot of shite. It was during this session that Mark S was presented with a ‘Fishing for Floaters Poop Game’ acknowledging his part-time role as a lifeguard at the Rosebud Swimming Pool where some of the little patrons, from time to time, have little accidents that need to be fished out. I do believe he was honoured to be recognised which will, no doubt, aid him in practising his technique at the pool.
Refreshed, we all headed up the hill to the Port Campbell hotel (another tradition) for a hearty meal, lots of banter and a great night had by all with lots of laughs.
Thursday morning, after some had gone for their walks, we rose to a beautiful sunrise and headed up the hill again to a local café for a welcome coffee and wholesome breakfast, where the banter from the previous night continued. Muzz is well known as the sun god, but I have to be at least the sun god’s apprentice, as we were blessed with two great days of riding.
After breaky, we walked back down the hill, back in the saddles and we headed off around 9am (yes, Ronnie G – the sun was already up … just saying) along the coast. The return trip was all on the Great Ocean Road and the road through Lavers Hill, towards Apollo Bay, was just as good as yesterday.
We stopped for a leg stretch, fuel and toilet break in Apollo Bay but, as we were all full from breaky, no one felt like morning tea. So we moved on towards our next destination, Torquay Pub for lunch (seems to be a theme here). We did encounter what seemed to be an unusually high number of caravans and motor homes, especially mid-week, but these didn’t present any challenges to us – just held us up on occasions.
We said goodbye to Chris, Neil’s guest, at Torquay and headed to Queenscliff to catch the 3pm ferry home. At the terminal, we bode farewells and the banter continued to be hurled around onboard. Total distance 627km.
On a personal note, thanks for the support and attending the ride and a big thank you to Stephen Gray for his TEC duties.