KM 255
BEAR RIDES 47, 53

I left the camping ground around 8:00 am this morning and rode through the beautiful Murray Valley. It was a cold morning as the sky had been clear and there was lots of fog and mist around the hills. Stopped at Tallangatta for some breakfast and topped up with petrol. From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

From Tallangatta I headed down south to Mt Beauty. The road was good and the weather once again was fine. Not sure why the weather gods are playing ball at the moment ... Perhaps they have something special waiting for me in a few days ! From Mt Beauty I turned right and climbed up over the hills towards Bright and what is called the 'The Great Alpine Road'.

From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

The Great Alpine Road runs from Bright in the south down to the Victorian town of Bairnsdale which sits on the edge of Lake King and two other 'Lakes' (Lake Wellington and Lake Victoria if you are curious). Not sure on the definition of a 'Lake' (always thought they were not part of the ocean) but these ones are filled by the sea at the aptly named town of Lakes Entrance. All very confusing for a simple motorcyclist !

The state of Victoria seems to have a thing about 'Great Roads'. To the west of Melbourne is the 'Great Ocean Road' and now I am riding the 'Great Alpine Road' - I think I will start calling them GOR & GAR from now on.

Hmmm .. too much time to think about things. I stopped at the little town of Harrietville which sits at the bottom of the mountains for lunch. Its a nice enough spot and a good rest spot for what follows. What follows is over 100 km's of motorcycling madness winding over well sealed roads through spectacular alpine scenery. There were quite a few bikes on the road even though it was a week day and I can understand why. The bike loves this sort of road with lots of low down torque making things easy for a quick climb to Mt Hoffam.

From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

Omeo is the next stop after the mountains however the Great Alpine Road keeps on going and follows a gorge by the Tambo river for 30 odd km's which is all good road with very little traffic.

I finally stopped in Bairnsdale on the coast for the night after another good days ride.