Mount Buffalo National Park
Clouds and showers rolling in...
For a brief moment there was some clearing and I was able to do a comfort stop at the top lake. Not good enough weather for a picnic!
I stopped taking photos due to then the rain moving in again. But I did manage a quick stop at the closed report. There are plans to open the report - eventurally. But unknown when.
It was burnt down in 2015 (I think -
Destroyed lodge 'our fault') and now it's a bit like ruins that's boarded up in places but you can still use the car park and walk around to see the lookouts - or in my case - the wash outs/fog-outs!
Heading back down the mountain there is the in your face reminder that being a national park, there are lots of animals present that may decide to jump out at you while riding.
From here the rain was a bit much, so I just rode non stop to the accommodation to grab my gear and load the beastie up. There is so much to see and do up in the mountain and not enough time. I was fast running out of daylight if I wanted to get back to Melbourne tonight. So I loaded the Lawnmower, got fuel and put the hammer down. I wanted to go north before swinging round southwards again to Melbourne, which meant taking in the Mitta Mitta.
Now, for those of you who don't know what the Mitta Mitta (Omeo Highway), it is probably one of
the best riding roads for bikers in Australia. Imagine about 260kms of sealed, unadulterated twisty highway that almost crosses the entire state of Victoria. Corner after corner after corner after corner after corner after corner after corner after corner (.... you get the idea...) of orgasm-inducing ride. There are hardly any straights especially the top 120kms from Mt Beauty to Tallangatta direction. As you can imagine, I was both wanting to press on with time, run away from the weather but also just having so, god, ****, much, FUN, I couldn't be bothered taking photos here.
It even got to a point where I just simply was not able to keep going with the twisties and had to pull over at one of the very few stops to relieve the pressure of my poor bladder that had been holding on for the better part of an hour. The last 50 kms was almost like exact 45-50km/hr signposted recommended speeds, at the same camber and angle - which meant that you got incredible practice on these. And they were so consistent that you could almost pick a line and once you had that down pat, you just replicated it on the opposite lean! Be still my beating heart!!!
I realised as I left the loo that the rest stop was a Spotted free frog conservation area - rather pretty.
But time was moving on so again on the Lawnmower and again putting the hammer down to get out of the twisties and towards Tallangatta.
I was lucky that for most part of the Mitta Mitta the clouds were there, and some wind, but no rain. As the day was starting to come to a close, the weather commenced moving in again and the winds picked up substantially. At this stage I worked out that there was no way in **** that I was going to make Melbourne tonight and I had to start thinking about where I would be able to find a place to spend the night.
It was a pity I didn't have stuff to cook it but i would have loved some pumpkin soup that night for dinner to warm myself up!
Eventually in a stop I managed to call up a pub in Bellana that had a $50 a night room. Apparently there was only me and one other backpacker staying there that night, which was great cause it meant a quiet pub
The only problem was that the caretaker forgot that and actually turned off the power to the accommodation section of the pub, which I didn't really mind since I had a torch on my phone. I was eating a can of tuna and crackers that night so I didn't need cooking equipment... the problem was that there was no HEATING in the joint, and being such a stingy pub, there was only one mothballed ancient thin blanket on the single bed......grrrrrrrrrrr So I suffered the whole night, even wearing everything I had to try keep warm.
Only the next day when the care taker came in to open the pub up did we tell him and he apologied. To make up for it he gave us milk and cornflakes. Gee.Thanks.