Wednesday Morning, October 14th
By this stage there are two groups. the group above and the group that comprises, Pommy Chopper, Keith and Tiffani from the US, Spokes, Bobbazooki, Madis, Gringo and John and me.
Pommy and Keith were held up in brisbane for a day, spokes, Bobbazooki and Gringo had to do some running repairs and decided to stay at the shed to fix them, Madis found an old set of goat horn bars haning in the rafters at my shed and decided to fit them and john decided to hang around and help the lads with the running repairs, and do the cooking.
Keith and Tiffani arrived on a bike borrowed from Midnight in Brisbane. Its a great bike but it didnt have a sissy bar and for a long trip, Tiffani needed one, so I managed to borrow a Victory Vision demo bike from the Victory showroom in Melbourne. Really comfortable.
After another night of eating, and only a small amount of drinking, (all the rest of the beer and another 40 slabs) we hit the road at about 10 am on Thursday morning.
We went straight down the Geelong highway, it was wet, on to the Geelong bypass, and into Anglesea, then Aireys Inlet to fuel up. After a photo op at the Great Ocean Road sign, it was wet, we went into Lorne and had lunch at the Pacific Hotel.
The weather was cold, the roads slippery and it was overcast. We had occasional rain squalls and it was wet. the next stop was to be Warrnambool or weather permitting Port Macdonnel.
John and me headed out fast, me on the borrowed Vision, Keith and Tiffani where on my Vision and the rest where in hot persuit.
We arrived at Lavers Hill at about 3.30 and eventually, Spokes, Bobbazooki, Pommy and Madis arrived.
We waited for about 20 minutes and I decided to head back towards Apollo Bay and see what was holding up Keith and Gringo.
About 4 K's down the raod, there it was, a wrecked Vision a forlorn looking Keith and a bruised and battered Tiffani.
A wet, greasy, muddy bend in the road had caused bike to slip out from under them.
The happy couple, Keith and Tiffani from the US.
This copper was a nice young fella. He told us that on this very same corner, two weeks previously, the Police Nissan Patrol rolled and was totalled. As I was cleaning up the broken bits of the Vic, I found parts of other wrecked vehicles including the tacho dial off a Suzuki bike, still in good condition, hadnt been there long
They are both OK but Tiffani has a bit of a limp and there are also a couple seriously bruised and dented ego's and some changes to the travel plans.
We called the ambo's, tow truck, Insurance company ( another story ) and after loading the wrecked bike onto the tow truck, we all headed off to Colac for the night.
After dinner at the Colac Hotel, a couple of drinks and several hundred dollars worth of Tequila shots, we drifted off to bed.
In the morning, Keith and Tiff had decided that as we were in Colac and still had at least 9 hours of riding ahead of us, they didnt have a bike, Tiff was bruised and sore, and it was wet, so they, with Pommy and myself, decided to head back to Melbourne, Keith and Tiff on the train, Me and Pommy on the bikes.
The rest waited in Colac while Bobbazooki did some running repairs to his bike and then headed off in the rain.
This couple, Kirsty and Loic, stopped at the scene of the accident and opened up their caravan and made cups of hot tea for the Americans and generally made sure that Tiff was comfortable.
Spokes and the Honda Chopper
The Estoian Prospekt, Madis, the Nom. exceptionally good young bloke. a real pleasure to meet you mate, enjoy the rest of your stay in Australia and if your ever back in Melbourne, drop in.
Bobba's little Suzuki single. Epitomises the custom, build your own, backyard chopper.
...and the man himself, Bobbazooki.
Spokes, nice hair mate.
No bike, no more mega ride, not happy Jan.
Gringo, the other Honda chopper with our group. Nice ignition switch mate.
John, Bigfella, big drinker, big help, big stories and a big heart.
The Estonian Mafia.
