KM 282
BEAR RIDES - sadly none !

What a shitty day ! The stuff I wrote in the earlier entries about the weather gods treating me well came back to haunt me today.

I awoke this morning undecided about what to do. I had intended to head south west around the coast and take in some of the scenery by the Tasman sea. However the weather forecast was not good with wild southerlies and rain forecast.
So instead I opted for plan B, a quick trip to Melbourne and on to the Tasmanian ferry and Tasmania for 5 days.

I had checked the weather and it looked much better in Tasmania. What I didn't consider was how fast that weather front was moving and how flat and exposed the road was to the town of Sale. I have ridden bikes for a long time but I don't think I can remember feeling quite as battered and dumped on as I did today.

Leaving Bairnsdale the wind picked up and was gusting 60 - 100kms an hour with driving rain. The gusts were coming from every direction meaning I wasn't quite sure whether I would have a head on with oncoming traffic or be blowen off my side of the road . The latter was my preference so I favoured the left as I rode along at a 45 degree angle one moment and the opposite 45 degree angle the next. It must have looked hilarious from behind but from behind my visor I can tell you I was not laughing. The road was wet and I was effectively doing some pretty hard cornering going in a straight line !

Just to add to my misery a police patrolcar stopped me about 5kms out of the town of Sale and advised me not to go any further as it was too dangerous for motorcycles. Ha ... sure tell me something I didn't know. I agreed it was dangerous and carried on.

I had a booking on the 7:00 pm sailing of the ferry so I battled on till closer to Melbourne where the weather finally cleared. I stopped on the M1 highway about 50 km's from Melbourne and took a well earned break and let the nerves return to normal.

The rest of the ride in to Melbourne was fine (only 50kmh winds and light rain) except my GPS inexplicably turned me off the highway and through the central city so the last few km's were spent in rush hour traffic avoiding the city's tram tracks and trams. I have to admit having not being to Melbourne for a long time I had forgotten how it looked around the city. Cafes, old buildings, trams and leafy streets.

From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

Anyway after a long day I am now on the ferry to Tasmania where the weather looks better, ha now theres a joke !

From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

PS. Turns out the GPS's route really wasn't that inexplicable. I had in the peferences menu 'Avoid Toll Roads' set to 'Yes'.