- Highland and Gippsland - April 22, 2025
- A Fast Bike to North Cape - April 7, 2025
- Helmet Carry Case from Amazon. - March 31, 2025
Eastern Victoria Autumn Motorcycle Tour
I had an idea to revisit Victoria when I buy a new bike however I remain undecided if owning another motorcycle makes any sense for me where I live and thus had no firm plans. Then Ride Day posted their Summer Victorian tour earlier in the year and seeing that motivated me to plan a fly/ride trip.
I linked together roads I wanted to revisit and a few that will be new to me and went looking for a bike. I chose to try the new BMW R1300GS from Motorcycle Rental Melbourne.
I flew down with Virgin which was a better experience than my flights to Perth with Jetstar who always seem to have one sole employee to check in an entire Airbus. I am a couple of weeks off becoming officially retired and if my retirement savings are not wiped out by idiotic US tariff policies then I’m going to make myself pay extra when I fly in future.
I stayed overnight at Taylor Lakes and took an Uber next day to Motorcycle Rental Melbourne located nearby.
Melbourne to Alexandra
My route to the Yarra mountains I thought would skirt the outer suburbs of Melbourne however I find what was farm land back in 2007 when I last rode this region is now a series of new suburbs and shopping malls. The relentless sprawl of our cities.
Sunny but little cool, 11 degrees at my early lunch break. I’m very warm in my new Merlin jacket which I will post on the blog later.
Ran into some rain on the way up to Donna Buang lookout and given there would be no view in these conditions I elected to turn around.
Reefton spur is a well known Australian motorcycle road and is a superb route. Started dry then turned wet however the Bridestone Battlax Adventure A41 tyres fitted to this bike are very confidence inspiring on wet roads.
I’m also impressed with this R1300GS and will share something each day that I like. First item I will talk about is the electric ride height which lowers the bike at low speed or at a standstill. I found this very helpful today to get my feet firmly on the ground on slippery surfaces when stopping to take a photo or when doing a U-turn.
Pleasant riding into the afternoon but not good weather for photography.
Overestimated Alexandra where I am staying tonight but no problems I am in a motel with kitchen so can prepare some dinner bought at Foodland supermarket.
Alexandra to Myrtleford
Fine sunny day greats me this morning.
Alexandra to Eildon via Skyline Drive is a new road for me and a nice ride.
Foggs lookout.
The ride up to Foggs lookout is excellent until the last kilometre which is gravel.
Those Adventure A41 tyres are basically a full road touring tyre with slightly oversized grooves and offer nothing much on gravel but the GS is not difficult to ride on dirt.
I was told about the Eildon – Jamison road back in 2016 when on tour but the weather made me skip it. Fine and warm today.
Has a real remote feel to much of it.
Picnic lunch at Jamieson
Someone even left a magazine for me to read. Wanderer Warren, that’s me.
Even a small rural area such as this lost so many young men in the great war. Those stones in the photo above this each represent one of the fallen and has their name on a plaque. Very nice memorial by the people of Jamieson.
Nice a ride up Mt Buller which is another road I had wanted to see previously but had poor weather.
Not much of a view but good road surface and few cars off season made it an enjoyable side trip.
I’ve ridden the Mansfield – Whitfield road couple of times before and found myself feeling fatigued by the time I finished it today after already riding so many other corners.
Todays observation on the R1300GS is how powerful the new engine is. Twist the throttle in any gear any rpm and it pulls away strongly and on the open roads 100kph feels slow as it really wants to go faster. However it is a noisy motor. I’m wearing earplugs and still there are loud mechanical sounds like an old pushrod engine. I don’t recall the R1250GS I rode in Mexico being so noisy so perhaps something isolated to this bike.
I took a break at Moyhu.
While taking a rest some locals stop and are talking about a huge forest fire that has broken out in the area I just came through. I was fortunate to have been riding in front of that.
I’m staying at the Myrtleford hotel tonight and am the only person in the place which is being renovated and not trading yet as a pub per se. Lock up parking for bikers round back.
It’s really nice inside and the ensuite room had a new stylish fitout.
Countering that I had a poor meal at Tu Vietnamese Myrtleford. Venturing away from Aussie food is always a gamble in a regional town, this time I lost.
Myrtleford to Omeo
I have some terrific roads to ride today.
First up Mount Buffalo which I had not visited before.
I got an almost car free run up. The lower half of this road is excellent then the top half becomes a series of very tight hair-pin corners with unpredictable bush track surveying but at least it is not walled in by trees like most Australian mountain roads.
There was a large bush fire yesterday and the views downwards are obscured however near the summit I was sitting above the smoke.
On the way down I got a totally car free run however the oncoming traffic was heavy. Very fortunate to be here early to avoid that.
I was going to stop in Bright for a coffee but it was overflowing with people in expensive SUV’s queuing for a car park and 100’s of guys in lycra on exotic bicycles. Big change from my last visit here in 2007.
Next I enjoyed the Tawonga Gap road. Quite a few bikes on it today, some race suit guys riding extremely fast but they could stay in their lane thus did not worry me.
I had lunch at the Dederang general store which I remembered had decent coffee. It has been renovated rather nicely and has an inside dining area to escape the flies. Got talking to another rider there who suggested my route today was going to take quite some time this afternoon so I got the GS moving at a bit of a naughty pace once onto farm roads.
Lockhart Gap road was a real surprise. Not expecting anything for this section of my route but it is an excellent bit of road with plenty of nice curves.
Then on to Mitta Mitta and the Omeo highway which I have never ridden. It was not sealed in 2007 and later when I planned to ride it the weather turned terrible and I had to abandon.
This road is incredible but also a lot of work. Non stop corners for 100 plus km to Omeo and a good portion of those corners are tight decreasing radius. The R1300GS works very well on this road but still I was feeling fatigued well before then end.
I stopped for a rest at the Glen Wills Cemetery which has an interesting story.
The road does open a little from about 35 km out of Omeo but throws a number of tight corners lacking any warning signs to keep you on your toes.
Todays observation on the R1300GS is how helpful the quick shifter is with almost constant up/down shifting on this road. However the gearbox is not as smooth as I would have liked and the quick shifter electronics are no where near as good as the Triumph I rode in Western Australia which made shifting so smooth it almost was like DCT. The upshifts in lower gears on this bike are actually pretty crude. (however I read this has been improved)
I’m staying at the Golden Age Motel tonight which I had been curious about. Room is underwhelming considering the price. Absolutely zero sound proofing, can hear the guys in rooms either side of me snoring. Good thing I always pack soft silicon earplugs for sleeping.
Omeo to Lakes Entrance (via Hotham and Falls Creek)
Chatted to a bunch of Harley riders this morning who came in about 8pm. No way I would risk that on country roads in Australia, too many kangaroos.
Quite chilly going over Hotham, glad to have fine weather today.
I really enjoyed the descent to Harrietville on the BMW this morning which leads to todays observations:
I like the front suspension on this BMW. Telelever front end. No dive. I am entering corners so composed and mid corner bumps seem less intrusive. Telelever may not be something everyone likes due to some riders wanting maximum feel but for myself it’s very enjoyable.
Tawonga pass revisited. Have not ridden as spirited as today in a very long time. This bike with that front end makes it so easy.
Stopped at Mt Beauty for lunch and met up with same rider as I chatted to yesterday. Turns out he lives in Mt Beauty. Nice place to call home.
Quite warm today but I figure it will be cool going over Falls Creek my next destination.
Another nice ride up a mountain with no cars. Road looks similar to most Aussie roads until the very top which is more open and windswept.
Back on the Omeo highway.
Few nice sweepers and views over farm land behind me on the outskirts of Omeo.
Conners Hill lookout near Swifts Creek then an easy ride with some sweepers to Bruthen.
From Burthen I rode the scenic and fun Tambo Upper Road to Lakes Entrance.
Lakes Entrance to Orbost
That reads like a short ride except I went via Bombala.
From Lakes Entrance I rode east not expecting much but was served up a few sweeping corners which I enjoyed.
Perfect timing I spy a coffee van and stopped for coffee at Newmerella.
A lot of speed reduction signs related to controlled burn offs riding east this morning and here I discovered todays R1300GS observation:
The radar cruise control is fantastic. I set it for 100kph and it automatically slows me behind slower moving cars. This was great today in the constant up/down changing speed limits. I simply left it set at 100 and let the bike brake itself when cars slowed then bring itself back up to 100. I can set the distance to be maintained and for me personally this tech is a game changer for touring. The ride over to Cann River would have been tiring but I let the bike do all the work.
Riding north from Cann River I greatly enjoyed the Monaro Highway which has a series of excellent sweepers all the way to the NSW border. I’d go so far to say for me personally this might be my favourite section of road on the tour – but I wish the curves continued into NSW.
I enjoy a good lunch in Bombala at the excellent Eighty-ate cafe.
From Bombala I ride one of the more famous motorcycle roads in Australia to Orbost. It is now all sealed and is 105km of very twisty road.
I have to be frank and say I did not enjoy it today as much as previously. I used to love tight corners but these days I prefer sweepers and after two days of riding many thousands of very tight corners I was a little tired. Last time here I was on a G650 which is a much lighter bike so possibly the F800GS I rode in Sardinia would be better for all these very twisty roads.
I overestimated Orbost. Nothing much open, nice looking pub but it was closed. But I managed to get something for dinner from a Foodtown supermarket and am quite satisfied with that.
Orbost to Maffra
I was going to ride from Orbost to Buchan but have seen that before so decided to cut it and make todays route modest.
Coffee truck at Newmerella is again doing a roaring trade. Surprised not to see more of these on my riding in Australia as no rent to pay and the margin selling coffee is huge.
Terrific ride up to Dargo. I stopped above to take a break as I caught up to some Harleys that were tippy toeing through the corners trying not to scrape and I felt in no rush.
This road was a pleasant surprise. A brilliant bit of tar that I had not read many ride reports about. Of course very few people still write these days so my sources are bit limited. It’s all YouTubers talking for 5 minutes to say something I could have read about in 20 seconds and ‘content creators’ that pump out press releases ‘reviews’ to feed algorithms. I can only bring myself to look at YouTube after few glasses of wine haha :D.
General store does a reasonable burger and old mates on their Harley’s reached the pub.
More autumn colours and an easy car free ride back.
I stopped for a rest at Boisdale just out of Maffra as I was well ahead of my ETA and got talking to a bicycle rider that had just ordered a similar model new BMW1300GS. I told him it’s brilliant and he will love it.
Todays R1300GS observation. The electric windscreen works far better than I could image for a fairly compact screen. Raised it offers reasonable wind deflection and lowered plenty of air. There are additional wind deflectors that work in conjunction with the screen to achieve this and for riding in Australia where we don’t have to deal with as much cold and rain as I had overseas it might be enough most of the time. However I find the bars are a little low and little forward. I would add a set of bar risers.
Soft breeze flowing over me, feeling at ease with myself sitting here this afternoon which is priceless.
Maffra to Traralgon
Nice ride this morning out to Licola. Another road I had been interested to look at and it turned out to be terrific.
Some more observations on the bike: I like the brakes which are powerful and do not need heavy squeeze of lever. I like the keyless system very much, so good to never have to fiddle about with a key. The seat is all day comfortable. I feel quite at home on this bike by now.
Aussie roads all tend to look similar in photos but I try to change it up a bit.
The heat really started to build by late morning it was showing 30 degrees.
I detoured into Heyfield to get fuel then had the best lunch of this trip at Cafe 3858.
Leaving Heyfield it was 32 degrees. I did not come prepared for a heat wave in Autumn. It was too hot for the jacket and gloves I had with me. However I really wanted to see Wahalla so I pushed on.
The road out is superb up to the last 10km it is nice sweepers in thick forest which cast plenty of shade on to the road thus the temperature dropped a few degrees.
Then the last 10km is very tight corners but again mostly in shade and I saw the temperature drop even lower in a couple of valleys that lay in deep shadows.
Wahalla was packed with cars and people, it looked more like a theme park than a historic gold mining town. School holidays and weekend double whammy. I took a look but found that many of the buildings are recreations which along with the heat made me loose interest.
Then it was simply too hot to continue my route today in my gear so I rode direct to my hotel.
Finally a room that meets the prices I have been paying this tour. The Mantra Traralgon.
You know you are a wine snob when you don’t even open the complimentary 1/2 bottle of wine but life’s too short to drink crappy wine.
Traralgon to Melbourne
Forecast last night was rain and indeed early this morning I took a peek outside and it was drizzle but by the time I got on the road it had passed. As much as that pleased me I had anticipated testing my new Merlin laminated jacket in some rain on this tour to make sure it is up to the task for my Norway ride later this year but that ride will be a leap of faith now.
Nice roads and rolling hills all morning in the Gippsland region following some routes I had seen posted by Ride Day however not the best light for photography.
The Gippsland was named by the famous Polish explorer Strzelecki, along with many other places most notably Australia’s highest mountain Mt Kosciusko. My thoughts drifted to my friend Agnieszka in Poland this morning who would find all this very interesting
Good roads over to Yarra junction but busy today with trucks and cars.
Nice autumn colour starting to show in this area.
Tried a little more gravel riding on the way to Healesville to see if I could get excited and got showered in thick dust and stones couple of times. Yeah, nah. It’s not something I want to explore further.
Then I took a spin up the famous Black Spur but alas a lot of traffic today. Above a rare moment with no cars.
I needed a rest before the final haul back into Melbourne and stopped at what turned out to be a superb memorial at a place called Kangaroo Ground.
So glad I visited here.
I let Google maps guide me back which in hindsight was a poor choice as it drifted me straight into heavy traffic. (the map below is incorrect last section)
Dropped off bike much later than I planned as the traffic density out at Taylors Lakes/Hillside area was insane.
Final observation on the R1300GS was the blind spot detection system which illuminates an amber light in the mirror when a car is in your blind spot. Not a replacement for shoulder checks but it does make you aware even sooner that there is someone there in heavy traffic and is another nice feature.
In conclusion it is indeed an impressive bike. I have some reservations about how rattly the engine was and the clunky gearbox but the overall package worked very well for me.
I enjoyed to ride some new to me roads in Australia. Can’t beat the feeling of exploring a new route. Those really tight roads all closed in by trees were ok but I doubt I will revisit them. I prefer now more open countryside with things to stop and see and less focus on the corners. Yep I’m getting old. Glad to be given the opportunity to do that.
Enjoyed some superb food next couple of days in Melbourne CBD and loved how the city heart came alive every evening unlike my former home town of Brisbane where the CBD is dead after hours. I like good food but I don’t need to be eating out all the time. I’m happy to visit these places occasionally then come back to my small town beach life.
