Phillip Island Superbike Races

Click the map to see my route




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Tues 23rd Feb
I left home around 9.00 am to miss most of the peak hour and school traffic, but was also keen to miss the sun in my eyes as I headed east to Tailem Bend. It was an uneventful run to Keith in fine weather. The country heading south of Keith is flat, but quite picturesque, with lots of big red-gums, leading into wine country around Padthaway, which extends right through the famous Coonawarra Region. I stopped at Naracoorte, where I boiled by billy for a cup of tea, and some lunch, and continued on towards Mount Gambier. Once in Mt Gambier I stocked up on some groceries for a couple of days and camped at the Blue Lake Caravan Park. It was great to see the Blue Lake as a brilliant blue colouring, but it fades to grey later in March. It has a well appointed camp kitchen, but the tent sites are not particularly level. I spent the night chatting to some Ulysses folk with a Spyder which was pulling a big camper trailer, and who were heading for Albany for the AGM.


Wed 24th Feb
I just love road trips! I left around 8.30, passing the volcanic cone of Mount Shank a few kilometers south of Mt Gambier and heading for Port MacDonald. This is a major fishing port and one of the closest points on the Aussie coast to the continental shelf, so there’s lots of deep sea fishing based here. The coast road to Nelson was lovely and I’ve not been on it before. My lunch stop was a park at Warnambool, and then onto the Great Ocean Road heading for Peterborough to meet Gerard and Matt from Tasmania who were riding GS1200’s. They had ridden out on GOR after getting of the Ferry from Tasmania early this morning. A coffee stop at Port Campbell, where we also stocked up on some groceries, and we rode together to our camp site at Johanna Beach, which is on the coast near Lavers Hill and situated behind the sandhills. These are free and well maintained grass sites. There are two roads in to the camp. The western road, which we took, turns into a steep winding gravel road, which was a challenge on the big fully loaded Honda ST1300, but the eastern road is all paved. We had tea and watched the sunset from the top of the sandhill while sharing some good red. It as a memorable night.


Thurs 25th Feb
Gerard, Matt and I left Johanna around 7.30 am for the ride along the GOR to Queenscliffe. I’ve ridden this road several times, and it’s always been heavy traffic, but today there were very few cars. It was a real pleasure to ride this stunning road without dodging slow moving tourists. We caught the Queenscliffe to Sorento Ferry across the mouth of Port Phillip Bay. The $35 fare for the 40 minute trip which by-passes Melbourne is worth every cent. From Sorento it’s an easy 140 km to Cowes, the main town on Phillip Island. Our accommodation was a great two bedroom unit. We met up with our other companions for the weekend, Fitzy from Tassie and Gerhard from New Zealand both of whom had flown to Melbourne and caught a bus to Cowes. We bought some groceries from the local supermarket. and wandered down the main street to watch the masses of bikes as folk from all over Oz arriving for the weekend of racing at Phillip Island.


Fri 26th Feb
There was supposed tob e a bus running from Cowes to the track, but it didn’t turn up. We rang the company and they informed us that it wasn’t running on Friday. We caught a cab, which turned out to be cheaper than the very expensive bus. Friday was a day of practice and qualifying for various classes of bikes, including Aus Superstock 600, Aus Supersport, Historic, Aus Superbikes and World Superbikes. It was the first time that I’ve seen bike racing on a big track and they are so FAST. To see the bikes coming full throttle out of turn 12 and onto Gardiner Straight is breathtaking. Despite lots of trying, it was almost impossible to catch a photo of them on my “Point and Shoot” camera. They were just too fast. We snooped around the trade expo and saw the newly released Honda VFR1200, a shaft drive V4 sports tourer, and the Australian release of the all new Yamaha Super Tenere 1200. This is a 1200cc twin, shaft drive adventure bike, which is in direct competition to the highly successful BMW GS1200 range of bikes, and certainly looks the goods. It was a spectacular day, and back home, Gerard cooked up a Moroccan dish for tea.


Sat 27th Feb
We managed to get a ride to the track today with one of the Medevac chopper pilots (in his car!). There was more practice and qualifying for all classes, and our Club Superbike vantage point above Pit Straight was fantastic. The day included a walk along Pit Straight to see how the big international teams do it, and during the walk I managed to get an autographed poster from Aussie Troy Corser, who is riding for the factory BMW team. We also walked around the perimeter of the track. Phillip Island is a beautiful race track, sitting right on the edge of the island such that riders heading down the main straight look like they are riding into the ocean. We loved the Historic Racing with everyone having a go on a quite low budget. It is possible to get a competitive bike going for under $6,000, so it’s probably the cheapest road racing discipline, and you get the thrill of racing on a track, without the big bucks.


Sun 28th Feb
Today was race day, and bikes hit a top speed of 320km/h on the straight. WSBK Race 1 was the closest finish ever, with just .004 of a second between the winner Haslam on his Alstare Suzuki, and Fabrizio on the Xerox Ducati. It took a photo finish to separate the bikes, and the margin was about one third of the diameter of the front wheel. The second WSBK race went to Checa on his Althea Ducati, with Haslam second. It was good to see Suzuki do well. Later in the afternoon we lashed out with a helicopter ride around the track, and the view was utterly spectacular.

Mon 1st March
Gerard and Matt were heading up into NSW as their riding adventure continued and Gerhard and Fitzy headed for home by various means. I left around 8.00, caught the ferry back across the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, and headed to Geelong to have lunch with my Auntie. We had a good old chat, caught up on some gossip, and exchanged recent family photos. I hit the GOR again at Anglesea, and again as lucky, as the traffic was light. It’s a truly spectacular road, spoiled only by overcrowding by the many travelers who come to see it. I camped again in the sandhills at Johanna, but unfortunately the fully overcast sky meant that there was no spectacular sunset. A great day.


Tues 2nd March
It was a bit cold as I left Johanna and headed for Lavers Hill. From there I rode up over the Ottway Ranges and through rainforest to Colac. What a beautiful road this was, and I was in no hurry as I just flowed through the corners, absorbing the smells and the scenery. After Colac I made the diversion to Red Rock Lookout, which gave spectacular views of the volcanic areas around Colac which were last active around 4,500 years ago and about the same time as the Mt Gambier complex. I stopped for lunch at the little town of Lake Bolac on the shore of the totally dry Lake Bolac. It wil be nice to see this drought come to an end. I rolled into Halls Gap in the afternoon and set up camp in the caravan park in the middle of town. The evening was spent in the camp kitchen, swapping stories with other campers. Many seemed to be heading to Adelaide for the Fringe Festival and WOMAdelaide.


Wed 3rd March
Off home today. I didn’t leave until 9.00 because of the early morning danger of kangaroos. As I rode across the Grampians there were roos everywhere, and I didn’t get over 70 km/h before Horsham, but no near misses. I took the road to Frances, my old home town in the 1960’s. Mt Arapiles is a small steep range which juts up out of the landscape, and is popular with rock climbers. As I approached Mt Arapiles, there was a chair and metal frame on the side of the road, so I stopped to investigate. A clever local has placed the chair and frame so that when sitting in the chair, the sitter has a beautifully framed view of the mountain. At Frances I went to have a look at the old school, which now has less than ten students. I was invited to speak to the students as an “Old Scholar” and was given a guides tour of this small country school by the school captain. It was a beaut time and brought back many fond memories for me. From Frances it was north to Bordertown, and then an uneventful ride up the highway. I was home by 5.00.
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Tomorrow I pack away my gear, clean the bike, and start planning my next trip.
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Snowy Mountains Ride - 2010

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Click on the map to enlarge it and show our route

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After completing my “Half Way ‘Round” trip in early 2009, I decided that I wanted to share some of that experienced with Chris. Almost 12 months after setting off on that. original trip, we loaded up the Honda ST1300 to retrace some of the spectacular places that Steve, Marcelo, Fish and myself explored on that journey. Here’s the story of our Snowy Mountains ride.

Sun 31st Jan
Chris and I left home at 7.30 am on a day forecast to reach 35 degrees as we wanted to get an early start. We headed straight down the Dukes Highway for Bordertown, where we turned south to Frances where I spent time as a child in the 1960s. The small railway town now looks almost derelict and tired, with the pub and general store being the only places showing signs of life. From Frances we traveled the beautiful agricultural country in western Victoria to Eden Hope and then through the hills to Casterton and on to Hamilton where we stayed the night in a caravan park cabin. It was a beaut day through some lovely countryside, and a great start to our trip.


Mon 1st Feb
We decided to bypass the GOR, so from Hamilton we rode to Colac for morning tea by the lake, and then to Geelong. At Queenscliff caught the ferry to Sorento so that we could avoid Melbourne. The ferry fare was $39 for the bike, Chris and I. We then worked our way around the eastern side of the Morning Peninsula and down the coast towards Phillip Island. For some reason I find this road tiring and boring. From Wonthaggi we rode to Cape Patterson and Inverloch. The short stretch from Cape Patterson to Inverloch is a narrow and winding road which hugs the coastal cliffs and has been refered to as the “Little Ocean Road”. Inverloch where we stopped for the night is a coastal holiday town. We stayed overnight in a budget motel as the cabins in the caravan park were outrageously expensive. A VERY tasty old fashioned hamburger-with-the-lot from the local fish and chip shop, and a walk along the coast finished a beaut day. The weather remains good, but the long range forecasts are for lots of rain in the mountains.


Tues 2nd Feb
We rode from Inverloch to Fish Creek, and on to Sale. The roads were quiet and the sky darkened as we approached Welshpool, so we donned the wet weather gear and prepared for a wet ride. That chased the rain away, and by the time we stopped by the river at Sale to boil the billy for a cuppa, it was hot again. I must remember that strategy for avoiding rain as I think we will need it later in the week. We arrived at Bairnsdale at lunch time, and sat by the Mitchell River to eat our sandwiches. At the local Tourist Info Centre we checked the weather for the next few day to plan our timings for crossing Mt Hotham. We had hoped to stay at Bairnsdale for two nights and spend some time exploring Lakes Entrance, but Wednesday looks like being the last of the good weather for a while, so its one night only, and over the top tomorrow. We did quick trip to Lakes Entrance in the afternoon. I’ve never been there before and it is certainly a beautiful place. It’s a great harbour which is base for a large fishing fleet. In holiday time I imagine that there would be masses of tourists. Back at Bairnsdale we took a cabin in the Big4 park, which is right next to a massive factory that makes pies and pasties. All night all we could smell was pies and pasties being baked.

Wed 3rd Feb
Today was brilliant and the weather remained sunny for our first mountain crossing. The road it Omeo is something special. Beautiful sweeping curves and stunning scenery made for an unforgettable ride. We stopped at the bakery at Omeo for a hot chocky and then continued on the Mount Hotham. This road is such a spectactular ride. A significant down side was lots of sand on the road for a few kilometers each side of Mount Hotham. It made the curves quite treacherous, and I can only assume that the sand was to give traction in icy conditions. The twisting descent once past Hotham is quite a contrast to the sweeping curves on the way up. From Harrietville we rode to Bright and then over the spectacular Tawonga Gap road to Mount Beauty. The Tawonga Lookout provides views of the Kiewa Valley, Mt Beauty and Mt Bogong, the highest peak in Victoria.

Thurs 4th Feb
The forecast for the next three days is for rain right throughout eastern Vic and southern NSW, so we have decided to sit it out in Mt Beauty. We did some grocery shopping, checked out the local Tourist Info Centre, and because the rain hasn’t arrived, decided to ride to Falls Creek in the late morning. We visited this area about 20 year ago, and the road to Falls Creek was wider than I remembered it to be. Twist and turns and spectacular scenery all the way…. We experienced light showers near the top. At Falls Creek we went to the only open café and had a couple of almost warm hot chockys. Back down towards Mt Beauty and we hed a break at Bogong where a new Hydro Electric Station has been built. Unfortunately the station was closed to the public for the day, so we couldn’t see inside.

Fri 5th Feb
Despite the forecast rain, we wanted to explore some more. We rode back over the Tawonga Gap to Bright and it soon started raining, and we pushed on through some great riding roads to Beechworth. It didn’t look like stopping and we couldn’t find any undercover parking in the town. However we eventually found a playground with undercover BBQ by the lake. We parked by the BBQ, and boiled the billy and had lunch. The beautiful ride back to Mt Beauty via Yankandandah was great (and wet), but worth putting up with the inconvenience. It looks like most of the rain could clear tomorrow.

Sat 6th Feb
This was the day that I was looking forward to, and the weather had cleared. We rode the Red Bank Road which is parallel with the main road to Albury. It was quiet and very scenic, passing though undulating dairy country. We refueled at Tallangatta and headed along the Murray Valley Highway towards Corryong. We stopped at “Lawrence Lookout” which has great 360 degree views. We could see cloud sitting on the Snowy Mountains which we would cross later in the day. At Corryong we visited the “Man From Snowy River” museum, which features the life of Jack Riley, the original Man From Snowy River. Banjo Patterson met him at Tom Groggin Station and based the poem of a series of Riley’s exploits. We also visited Riley’s grave in the local cemetery. After a home made pie for lunch at Khancoban, we rode the spectacular Alpine Way towards Thredbo. Geehi Camp area was a good spot for a cuppa, and just as we approached Tom Groggin camp area for a break, a mob of roos dashed along trhe road beside us. It was the only encounter with roos for the whole trip. Tom Groggin is about the closest the paved road gets to the start of the River Murray. This road twists and turns up the mountains. As we crossed the top of the range the temperature dropped and a light cold rain started, but it had disappeared by the time we reached Jindabyne. The caravan park beside the lake is great and we took a cabin for two nights.

Sun 7th Feb

I don’t know where all the rain went but we seem to be dodging it quite nicely. Today we rode up to Charlotte Pass, the highest paved road in Australia at 1850 meters, and which has a view of Mt Kosciusko. On the way up, I thought that I had been pinged multiple times my speed cameras, as I kept seeing flashes. I was very annoyed as I was sure I was within the speed limits. However it turned out to be Chris taking some photos over my shoulder, which I didn’t figure out until we were half way back down to Jindabyne. We continued on a short scenic loop that took us from Jindabyne to Beloka, Dalgetty and back home via Berridale. At Dalgetty there is a lovely old bridge crossing a pond in which Playtpus may be found. It was a beaut day of touring the Jindabyne area.

Mon 8th Feb
Today our destination was Tumut. Another fine day for us, while the rest of the east coast drowns in rain. We rode to Adaminaby where I dropped the bike while parking it when my foot slipped on some fine gravel. Bugger!! Chris and I sprawled on the road, but fortunately there were no spectators to see the spectacle. No significant damage to the bike, but a little ding on the muffler. I was a bit gun-shy of gravel for the rest of the day. We had a look at the Old Adaminaby site which as flooded when Lake Eucumbene was flooded as part of the Snowy Scheme. There’s not much to see as it’s all flooded!! We rode on to Yarrangobilly Caves. The road into the caves was a one way paved road, which turned into a 7 km, one way, gravel downhill track, followed by a 7 km, one way, uphill gravel track to get out again. I was not comfortable riding the big heavy tourer with two-up on these tracks, particular after dropping the bike an hour of so before, but we survived without incident. However, we were too tight to pay the hefty fee to get in to see the caves. We detoured to Cabramurra which is the highest town in Australia, and which provides accommodation for the workers at two Hydro Electric power stations. The views were incredible. At Tumut we booked into the local caravan park which is a stunning park right on the river. I would come back here in a moment as it was a beautiful spot, with tame possums frolicking on the verandah. It was here that I noticed that the rear tyre was down to the indicators, so I rang a dealer in Albury to arrange to have a new rear fitted the next day.

Tues 9th Feb
Our ride to Albury for the new tyre took us through the rolling hills through the apple areas of Batlow, Tumbarumba, and the area’s around Greg Greg which have quite recently been devastated by bushfire. We crossed the Murray and back into Victoria at Tintaldra, where se stopped for a cuppa and morning tea. From there the road is magnificent as it twists and turns along the Murray and the edge of Lake Hume. We crossed the Lake at Bellbridge and headed for Buzz’s Bikes & Bits for the new rear tyre, which after negotiating the day’s roads was totally had it. After lunch and with a new Michelin Pilot Road 2 on the back, we hit the Hume Highway for a short time, before heading along the river again for our overnight stop at Echuca. We had a great feed of flathead and a couple of wines at the local Bowling Club. Our trip is drawing to an end, and the roads from here are straight and flat.


Wed 10th Feb
We left Echuca and continued to follow the Murray heading west in hot weather. At Yarawonga we stopped by the lake for lunch and chatted with some retired folk who were traveling in an old Ford Camper which had done several hundred thousand miles. At Piangil we turned left for the long run across the mallee towards Tailem Bend. Ouyen was our last overnight stop, and we had a great dinner at the local club. Rain threatened overnight, but I chased it away by putting a plastic cover over the bike seat.

Thurs 11th Feb
The morning was beautiful and as we headed for home the sun was behind us, and the sky in front of us was grey. The bright sunlit colours of the mallee were beautiful, accented against the grey sky. We stopped at Tailem Bend for lunch and donned our wet weathers, which this time failed to chase the rain away. We had a wet ride from Murray Bridge to home.

What a great trip! The Snowy Mountains are stunning in summer and we are keen to return to do some walking. Kosciusko summit is 18 km return from Charlotte Pass and 13 km return from Thredbo. There are new roads to explore and roads that I would love to travel again either on the bike, or with the caravan, for this is a place that calls me back.
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Flinders Ranges - Rawnsley Park

On a weekend in December 2009, some mates and I set out from Adelaide on an easy two day trip to the Flinders Ranges. The Adelaide crew, Fish, Tully, Jock and myself met up at a service station on the northern outskirts of Adelaide and headed north up the A1 Port Wakefield Road. We planned on meeting Cozzie who has a Suzuki 109 Boulevard at Port Pirie which is about 220 km from Adelaide’s northern outskirts.

Fish and Tully had traveled with me on my “Half Way ‘Round” trip in early 2009, and I was looking forward to being on the road again with them. Since that memorable trip, each of us has changed bikes. We were going to field test the CB radios that we had each removed from the old and fitted to our new bikes. However, we each had various technical problems, and so headed off with no coms.

It was an uneventful ride up the two lane highway to Port Wakefield, where we stopped at Pop Kiplings Bakery for a coffee and bun. In my opinion they have the best pepper pies and fruit buns in SA and it’s worth the ride, just to get a feed.

We rolled into Port Pirie mid morning and headed for Cozzie’s house. It was about 250 km from Jock’s place in Adelaide’s southern suburbs to Port Pirie. Jock now knows that the absolute range of his Yamaha is 248 km, because he ran out of fuel just a couple of kilometers short of the servo. It’s unlikely that we will let him forget. We phoned Cozzie, who delivered some fuel, and we were soon on our way again.

We rode north to Port Germain , which has the longest Jetty in SA, and then turned east on the road across the Southern Flinders Ranges through the Germain Gorge. While this is a sealed and nicely twisty road, the surface is bumpy, and we encountered plenty of gravel and other debris on many corners. It a road to be ridden with great caution, but the scenery is spectacular. We rejoined the Main North Road at Murray Town. At Wilmington we turned west and rode back across the range through the spectacular Horrock’s Pass. This is a twisting road with good surface and no tricky corners, which cries out to be ridden with enthusiasm. It emerges with a view over the coastal plains and the top of Spencer Gulf, with the city of Port Augusta and its power station in the background.

We turned north off the highway again, just before Port Augusta and headed through the picturesque Pitchi Ritchi Pass. This magnificent route through the ranges follows the historic Pitchi Ritchi Railway to it’s beginning at the equally historic Flinders Ranges town of Quorn.

Hawker, the gateway to the Flinders Ranges, is just 70 km further north. We topped up with fuel and rode the last 30 km to the Rawnsley Park Caravan Park, where we had booked a cabin here for the night. Rawnsley Park Station, on the southern face of the famous Wilpena Pound, was settled as part of Arkaba Station in 1851, and while it still runs a few sheep, has tourism as it’s main focus.

I’ve stayed here on several occasions. There is a variety of accommodation, from unpowered bush camping sites, powered vans sites, cabins and luxury Eco-Villas. There’s the Woolshed Restaurant for an up-market meal, but we chose to cook out own in the well appointed Camp Kitchen. We watched the sunset over Rawnsley Bluff, shared some good wine, good company and good food, while we shared our stories with other campers. Camp Kitchens are such a great place to exchange stories with other travelers, over a meal or a drink. I find that everyone has a story to tell, and they are keen to hear mine, and I will use Camp Kitchens as often as possible.

We woke the next morning, having all slept oblivious of the snoring which would have been rattling the walls. Sunrise over Rawnsely Bluff is truly magnificent.

After a stop at the Arkaba Lookout for some photos. Our ride home the following day took us back through Hawker, Quorn, and just to try a different road, on the direct route to Wilmington, rather than through Pitchi Ritchi and Horrock’s Pass again. We stopped for lunch at the famous Stone Hut Bakery which boasts “The Best Pies in the Universe”, along with a range of other local produce. I must say that the pies were very good, but the prices were a little high.

The Clare Valley was looking quite lush for this time of year, and we had to stop at the Clare Bakery for afternoon tea. It’s a beautiful ride and much more scenic than the highway that we had taken the day before when heading north. South of Clare we struck seemingly endless road works, where scheduled repairs and the construction of the new northern expressway is taking place.

Our two day ride covered about 850 km in near perfect weather. Once home I unpacked, cleaned the bugs from the bike, fixed the problem with my CB Radio, and started planning my next trip.

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Six Ferries Ride

Click on the map to enlarge it

This is a one day ride that I have mapped out, which covers 430 kilometers, and crosses the lower SA section of the River Murray a total of six times by Ferry.

Today Fish, Jock and myself completed the “Six Ferries Ride”.

We left the Adelaide southern suburbs at 8.30 am and headed through the southern foothills in almost perfect weather. It was about 20 degrees when we left, which was a pleasant change after last week’s heat wave. Our chosen route wound our way south through some wonderful twisting Adelaide Hills roads from Mylor, to Hahndorf and on to Strathalbyn via Echunga and Meadows. This is all a fairly well established and popular motorcycling route, and there are many alternative roads to Strathalbyn, all of them great.. After a brief stop at the Strathalbyn Bakery for a coffee, we said goodbye to the “twisties” and continued through the Langhorne Creek wine region to Wellington. This was to be our first Ferry Crossing. This part of the ride is quite flat and straight, but picturesque nonetheless.

Wellington is an historic river town, situated just before the Murray empties into Lake Alexandrina. The pub has good meals, and there is a small community museum situated in the old courthouse.

Over the Ferry to the eastern side of the river, and just a short run up the road to Tailem Bend, and old railway town which is now a services centre for the local community. The ferry crossing there leads to the small town of Jervois on the western side floodplain, which is in the middle of a dairying area.

From Jervois it’s about 25 kilometers to major town of Murray Bridge where we kept to the western side of the river and headed for Mannum. Just ten kilometes out of Mannum we passed the Reedy Creek Waterfall Reserve. This is a relatively unknown hidden treasure, Here a permanent stream from the eastern side of the Adelaide Hills runs through a shallow gorge and over granite boulders forming a string a rock pools stretching for several hundred meters. It’s a pretty spot for a picnic and a scramble up the creek and over the rocks.

Mannum is another historic river town, and home to the paddle steamer “Marion”. We topped up with fuel, and stopped for morning tea down by the river, before crossing ferry number three which is right in the town, and beside the caravan park. There’s plenty of options for meals here, with a couple of pubs and a good bakery.

Once back on the eastern side of the river, we followed the scenic river road to Younghusband towards Bowhill. This road follows the main stream and the strings of now dried swamps which are testimony to the low river levels. This road has a couple of kilometers of hard packed dirt road, before it rejoins the bitumen. This is a beaut side road which showcases the nature of the river. We bypassed the shack city of Bowhill and continued the further 10 kilometers to Purnong Landing for the fourth ferry crossing. After crossing to the west side of the river again, we left the shacks at Purnong Landing and headed inland for 16 kilometers on the Mannum Road, and then cut back north east towards Walker Flat. This route kept us on the sealed roads. At Walker Flat there is a well stocked general store, with sells a range of takeaway food as well as both un leaded and premium petrol. We sat by the river to eat lunch while watching Ferry Number Five ply back and forth.

After lunch we crossed the penultimate ferry at Walker Flat and then headed north to Swan Reach. This road follows the cliff tops on the eastern side of the river. There are several lookouts which provide great views of the old river and the sad dried swamps.

The Swan Reach pub is a great venue for a meal, with the dining room overlooking the river. The general store also sells petrol.

We crossed the sixth and last ferry at Swan Reach, and headed west through mallee scrub and crop farms to the little town of Sedan. From there the Sedan to Mt Pleasant road concludes with a magnificent 18 kilometer stretch with open sweeping curves which wind up the eastern side of the range at Cooks Hill and then across the top through open grazing country to finish at aptly named rural town of Mount Pleasant. This is a spectacular piece of road, which cries out to be ridden with enthusiasm.

From Mount Pleasant we meandered through the hills passing through Birdwood, home of the National Motor Museum, and Woodside with its pubs and antique shops. We joined the freeway at Verdun, and headed home.

This ride has a magnificent variety of scenery and roads. We passed through twisties in the hills, wine regions, river towns, all manner of farm country, highways and straight roads through flat mallee country, and wonderful sweepers. If you want a one day sample of what SA has to offer, I can recommend the “Six Ferries Ride”.

More Adventures are Planned

It's 2010 already, and I have some more adventures planned. There's nothing planned which is quite as adventurous as my last trip (not yet anyway), but some adventures nevertheless. Keep watching, as I use this site to keep you up to date with my latest motorcycle journeys.