Iron Ass Ride Day 2
Wednesday morning saw us with thick fog, overcast skies & a small hangover though worse was too come when we discovered that there is no where to get a nice breakfast in Bombala 
The bakery wasn't open & the food at the servo was the same as it was last year on the way home from the GP. A group discussion was held & the need for coffee overcame the desire to wait for the fog to clear so it was off to the much discussed Imlay Rd on an empty stomach & the need to get to Cann River as quick as possible. The weather gods were still smiling on us as we approached the turnoff as the fog lifted & bright blue sunny skies greeted us with the chance to warm up gratefully accepted. Now as we all now the Imlay Rd was one of the areas we were all looking forward to discovering & after some quick photos & with butterflies in our empty stomachs we were off.
Now this is only my opinion but the Imlay Rd must be one of the most overated pieces off tarmac around. It was rough, logging trucks everywhere, didn't seem to do much in the way of excitement for a rider with just open corners & planted forestry to look at. Others will probably love it but give me the run down the Monaro Highway to Cann River anyday. The only good bit was about 4 k's of lovely 35 & 45km/h posted twisties just before the Victorian border.
Cann River found us eating a great brekky from the Cafe oppisite the pub, worth remembering next time anybody is down that way, well priced & very large. From Cann River we idled along the Princes Hway to Orbost where we headed inland along the Orbost - Buchan Rd. Its a little tricky to find the turn off but well worth the effort. Apart from the first long straight that felt like we were riding over speed humps every 20 metres the road is fantastic & has come to be known as the Firetrail. It is narrow, not signposted, scattered with bark, no guardrails, blind corners, hairpins, thick Australian bush & heaps of wildlife. Now this may not sound like fun for a motorcyclists but I can assure you that this road was one of the highlights of my trip. You just need to ride it to the conditions & boy was it fun.
From Buchan we headed to Bruthen were a well earned break was had laying around in the shade. It was then onto the Omeo Hway which starts off very bland but you sonn discover the magic of this road. It was constant 45 / 55km/h left & rights for 80 odd kilometres with just the occaisonal cruisy bit in between. The only near miss of the trip happened along this stretch in one of the towns & involved dirt, a truck & a red Ducati......again Dallas can explain 
Our accomadation was at the Hilltop Hotel which was fine except the locals weren't as friendly as in Bombala with an earlyish night had by all.
Again all pics are clickable links & if you would like more details etc let one of the Iron Arse's know. Day 3 in another post.
Iron Ass Ride Day 2
Wednesday, 1 November 2006
