267kg . The right tool for the job , most certainly , but at every trafficlight I felt the pang of disquiet if things went awry , with the inevitable humiliation in attempting to wrestle a quarter-tonne behemoth off the tarmac .
Our intended route , apart from heading west into endless sunsets , was to stick to The Great Ocean Road of Victoria , skirting around the coast of South Australia and the Great Australian Bight , strike our way formidably across the mighty Nullarbor , then saunter up through Western Australia ’ s green southwest like we owned the place . We estimated the trip would take about ten days … perhaps longer if we broke down or … shorter if we broke down .
When announcing our schedule to ‘ proper bikers ’ we were roundly shot down for dawdling , with friends proclaiming they could achieve a thousand kilometres in a day . We didn ’ t have the chutzpah to admit we were only riding one-way , flying the return leg , and sending the motorcycles back somehow . We ’ d figure that out as we went .
We ’ d imagined blue skies and warm sunshine as we departed for the coast , yet on the inaugural day of adventure in the middle of a Victorian winter , it rained consistently and constantly the entire time . Who would have thought ?!
Sweeping around Geelong we were buffeted by strong winds , and finally the coastal road welcomed us with nothing but fog and drizzle . Heated grips , a luxury that came into its own , were extremely welcome . We ’ d both travelled a little of the coastal road before but only as far as Lorne , where we grabbed lunch , so it was with disappointment that in every sweeping turn afterwards , we felt The Great Ocean Road was taking its name a little too literally . Less of a
TRAVERSE 54