Ride from Melbourne (Day 1 - Wednesday 26th August '98) 

Map of rideClick for map of ride

We got up at about 8:30am.   The weather was overcast, but it didn't look like it would rain.  We left my sister's place at about 11:40am, the BMW started without any fuss (Odometre reading 26516 kms).  We spent about 50 minutes at the local shops buying stuff for the trip back, so at about 12:30pm we were on the road again.
I took my brother-in-law's advise and went through Greensborough and Whittlesea then had lunch at about 1:20pm at Wallan.
We got petrol then started on the Hume Highway at about 2:15pm.  As I watched Junko in the mirrors I could see that she looked tired so we stopped on the side of the highway for a rest at about 2:45pm.  We took some photos, then  I put my camera back in the pannier. As I pushed on the pannier to close it, the back wheel lifted and to my surprise the bike flipped over on it's side stand.

Stopped on the Hume Dropped on the HumeOuch!

Junko and I managed to pick the BMW up.  I checked for damage assuming the worst.  I was astounded to find that the only damage was some scratches on the fairing.  I thought such a fall would have broken the clutch level at least!  I was unaware of the camber on the Hume where we had stopped and having the preload higher than normal made it easier to tip the bike over with a good push. We continued on to Euroa then on to Glenrowan, Ned Kelly country, at about 5:00pm.

Ned Kelly

We arrived at Wangaratta at about 6:00pm and I persuaded Junko to ride on in the dark to Wodonga.  We arrived at about 7:00pm and booked in at the Caravan Park.  We had only travelled 320 kms, we would have to go further the next day.



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This page was created on Friday 6th November 1998