Day Seven, The Great Ocean Road
Today’s blog will be of interest to our Triumph riding compadres back in the Naki in so far as bike maintenance and resale stuff is concerned..............read on..............
Slow start to the day today, bit of housekeeping to be done. Cast your mind back to the start of the trip, you will recall we hired two bikes, me on a BMW R1200GS and Mark on a Triumph Explorer, (see pic above). Well, as you can imagine, the GS has been super reliable and performed admirably.......as expected.
Not so with Marks Triumph Explorer (see picture again now if you like), we have had a few isssssues with it leaking oil. Concerned about oil on the tires, we let Mr Google help us and tracked down a mechanic in Geelong, who services Bernina sewing machines, Poulan Chainsaws and of course, Triumph Motorcycles.
We went to see him first thing today which held up the start to the great Ocean Road. It was a simple thing, to do with a gasket. Yep, you guessed it, the price of the gasket was more then the bike was worth so the explorer was written off and he gave Mark a nice grey GS to match the red one I have been riding. We rode off happy as, but shed a tear to have to say goodbye to the trusty :) Triumph, Oh dear, how sad.
Moving on to the famed “Great Ocean Road” I rode this with Marie 10 years ago and it was an enjoyable ride back then.
You will be glued to this blog I know, so you will have it etched in your memory that on Day four, we said the Alpine Way in NSW was one of the best rides we have ever done.
Well today , we both agree, was one of the worst rides we have ever done. The “Great Ocean Road” is the most overrated piece of Tarmac on the Australian continent, a hideous days ride that we would not recommend to any self respecting rider.
Surprised?
Aussie has marketed the Great Ocean Road to death, it is over commercialized, the infrastructure cannot cope with the number of tourists, if you ride a bike, stay away from this shitfight.
The speed limit has been reduced to 80 kph. What a joke, between Torquay and Lorne, no way can you get about 50 kph due to the traffic volume.
The next bit, Lorne to Apollo Bay is the neat bit around the cliffs and close to the sea. Scenic yes, a nice ride, NO. Why? Road works and stop go lollipop men every 2-3 km mean you have plenty of time to admire the scenery as you are stationery for so long. Turn the bike off at the road works , you wait so long it will blow up if you idle.
OK, you ask me, what about the next bit with some nice inland bush twisty bits from Apollo Bay to Port Campbell.
We were warned by the mechanic at Geelong to be careful on the great ocean road, watch out for sea fog, dry sand causing a loss of traction on the corners, animals, wet slippery roads. We encountered none of these, the biggest danger on this road and the single most frustrating thing that made this the most hideous ride I have done in 10 years was ( dare I say it) tourists who should not have been given the keys to a rental car. The two main offenders today were identical to similar issues we have struck in NZ, they are easily recognized, they hail from a very large country, much larger than Aussie and to the north and east of Aussie. The rental car companies give them a car in exchange for cash as they have a license, sadly though, they have likely never driven outside Shanghai so never driven in the country.
One such B.**%@#*..d today could clearly not read English as the signs that said “ slow drivers use turnout lanes” meant nothing to this dickhead who drove for literally miles, totally ignoring turnout lanes, doing 50 kph in an 80 kph zone, had no less than 30 cars, tour buses, caravans, motorhomes, and two motorcycles behind him and had no bloody idea what a mirror was for.
It made Apollo bay to Fort Campbell a complete nightmare ride. When I eventually managed to overtake this Dufus in a not particularly safe manner, I had enough time to sit beside his drivers window and at the top of my voice and emphasized with very clear sign language, explain the following to him in less than 15 very clear words, many of which were adjectives:
1. What I thought of his character and personality.
2. My opinion as to his driving skills and
3. How soon I thought he should remove himself and his car from the road.
Total loonatic that should not be allowed on Aussie roads, and he was the second such person, hailing from the same country that drove in a similar fashion on that road today.
Long story short, Torquay to the twelve apostles, the worst ride in the world, DO NOT go there on a motorcycle, take the Princes highway and do the coastal rides in NZ if that is your thing. The Great Ocean Road is dead to me, I will never return there for any reason.
Right, you may have picked up I disliked that ride, it was an immense relief to get past the twelve apostles toward Warnambool and Portland, tourists in general, Chinese tourists in rental cars who got their license in a Chinese takeaway packets and tour buses all disappeared and the ride almost turned to normality.
A day we would rather forget to be fair. Looking forward to South Australia now, I am done with Victoria after today.