After such a promising start to the ride with weather on Day 1, the wary Baggers were wondering what weather god they had run over on the way to Warrnambool. We awoke to the sound of rain drumming on the Roof of the Mid City Motor Inn which had hosted us last night to raise more than $6K.
After receiving starter’s instructions it was off to the Nissan dealer for a meet and greet with the local Nissan dealer and a photo opportunity. We then headed for Dunkeld and along the way we saw the western Victoria equivalent of Stonehenge. To say that wet weather riding is less than fun, would be like suggesting that a visit to the dentist is akin to a day at Seaworld, Movie World and Wet N Wild when you have a VIP pass!
First stop at Caracut, a whistle stop to check that all were well and to scoff down a bag of M&Ms. At least by the end of hour one we had not headed the wrong way… Surely that would change at some point in the day.
A decision to bypass our next allocated stop at Penshurst and just continue on to Dunkeld was well considered. Dunkeld is the southern gateway to the Grampians and in a sign of the economy has no “manned” petrol station. It does have a 24/7 payment system, which took the professor (Slowlane) Clayton about 23.5 minutes to work out. In the meantime a local pulled in, swiped her card, filled up and left before we had even started. Seems that TC has a good ability to tell people what to do but can’t follow instructions himself.
Lunch was provided to the Baggers by the Gentlemen of the Grampians Golf Club, also known as the Grampians Gentlemen’s Club, however their revelation that they had a Telstra tower removed so that phones don’t work was such a piece of brilliance that they are uncontactable, meaning that partners are forced to come and collect them when they are trying to track them down. That may mean that bar sales are better than they would be if players were able to receive calls from irate wives. A great meal, out of the rain for an hour and warm up by the open fire.
The NAPA was awarded and a surprise result too many, especially the recipient… It seems his repeated indiscretion was to choose not to follow the ute – even though the ute was going the wrong direction. Mawson did the same to his expedition and look what that happened to them. Matt Stubbs, as a first time NAPA winner, it is an honor to have you in the club, although as a dual NAPA winner over two trips myself, you have a way to go to reach Hall of Fame status.
The ride to Halls Gap, was beautiful once the rain cleared and altogether uneventful. Leaving Halls Gap is not that hard and really shouldn’t be hard to get wrong… Not so for John and Tony in the lead ute… They didn’t get to go to Dunkeld in the morning as they were forced to ferry Webby to Horsham with a Migraine, so thought it would be good to see it. Only problem was the rest of us had already been there. Not sure what part of the signs to Dunkeld they didn’t see but they kept driving towards it, for nearly 15 ks before realising they had made a mistake. More proof that men can’t ask for directions.
Great ride to Horsham over the range to another photo opportunity at a local Nissan dealer. Seriously the Kardashians would be loving how getting many photos we get taken.
Accommodation at the Wimmera Lakes Caravan Resort very good and we were really well looked after. Dinner at the Olde Horsham was excellent country fare, with a painting on the wall as big as the Last Supper in the Louvre (I’ve never been there so I may be talking rubbish). Very tired bunch of baggers drifted off after a day of contrast. Makes me think of the old poem that was used in the Keep Australia Beautiful ad from the 70s.
I love a sun burnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of rugged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains
I love her cool horizon
I love her deep blue seas
This wide brown land for me…
We have seen all of it and hopefully for the rest of the week we will see plenty of dry weather and lots of blue skies. Off to Bendigo tomorrow with lunch at Taltarni Wines at Moonambel.