The Great Ocean Road Tour Ride Report....

The Great Ocean Road Tour Ride Report....

We departed in bright sunshine from Shell Scoresby at 9am and after a brief journey down Eastlink Peninsula Link for a rider pick up at BP Baxter at 9:30, we were on our way to the ferry in Sorrento. At the Ferry we were loaded first and asked to leave the bikes in gear on their sidestands.

Sitting comfortably in the lounge area sipping lattes and shooting the breeze across Port Phillip Bay which was a millpond to Queenscliff.

The journey seemed all too short, then we were back on the bikes and headed off to the Airys Inlet Pub for lunch via Point Lonsdale, Torquay, and Angelsea. Food was sensational, a fresh and unique menu which everyone enjoyed.

Mantra Lorne welcomed us with complimentary drinks vouchers and we settled into our 1 bedroom ocean view apartment. Drinks on the balcony at 5:00 where we were joined by our Castlemaine Ulyssians. Dinner at 7:00 in the restaurant was superb but no mussels were available so the restaurant supplied complimentary desserts to all 10 of us! Thanks Dunja.

Buffet Breakfast at 7:45am in the restaurant sensational and all 8 bikes were away onto the Great Ocean Road at 9:00.

Leaving Lorne we experienced some minor delays with roadworks due to some prior landslides and also filming for the MotoGP promo taking place just out of Lorne. Once through that, we had a very nice cruise to Port Campbell with a 1 hour stop for drinks and refreshments and saying goodbye to our Castlemaine gang.

Leaving Port Campbell heading back to Apollo Bay we only encountered 2 vehicles over the entire journey, both of those vehicles graciously moved out of our way so the pack riding as one was one of the most spectacular rides ever encountered. We stopped at Apollo Bay for a drink and everyone was on a high from the quality of the ride.

Back into Lorne with 5sy's in the garden then a short walk across the road to a fantastic laid back Thai restaurant, many laughs, fantastic food, huge variety and really well priced.

Thursday morning another 7:45am breakfast but a little slower after a big day on Wednesday. Onto the bikes and away to the You Yang's via Deans Marsh Road and Lake Modewarre. This road would have to be one of the most picturesque roads anywhere. Again, zero traffic which made for a really great ride. Here we said goodbye to Geoff.

Weather was heating up somewhat as we then headed north to the You Yang's, driven passed them a thousand times, looked at them a thousand times, but had never stopped there. Definitely worth the stop, a few photos and we were back on the Princes Freeway for home.

37 degrees and we were all eager to get home so we all peeled off in different directions.

I would like to thank in no particular order, Paul and Cathy, Ian, Peter, Amanda, Roland and Dunja and Roger and Geoff Miller. I've never met Geoff before this trip but have to say, a true gentleman. For a man of 77 years of age his riding was sensational. He stayed with the group the whole time. Hats off to Ian Mckenna for brilliant photography, capturing us all having a great time. Consensus of the attendees was that the Great Ocean Road tour should be a biannual event so if you missed out in 2019 we will run again in April / May 2020.
The beauty of this Tour is that it can be altered very easily to suit multiple differing riding ages riding styles and bikes.... snake
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