Review of the AAR22

 The cast in no particular order:

Kathy Manthey - Organiser and support driver.

Pam and Rod Knight - Sweeper crew.

Nicholas Brittain - BMW 800ST

Paul Doran - BMW 1600 (The Mother Ship)

Dave Eardley - Ducati

Wayne and Susie Glew - 2006 Goldwing.

Greg and Sue Henderson - 2021 Goldwing.

Adrian Ikin - 2009 Goldwing.

Graham Merrick - Honda Valkerie.

Erica Sutton - BMW 800 GS.

Steve Wallace - BMW 1200 GSA.

Andrew Manthey - BMW XR 1000.

Tony Raditsis - BMW 800 GSA.

Greg Whitworth - BMW 850 GS.

Alan Bateman - BMW 1200 GS (2010). 

Distance travelled = 14,215 kms (differs from the Blog of 13,840 kms, rounding error??)

Left Sydney: 27th April 2022

Arrived back in Sydney: 29th May 2022

Total 33 days.

Donations received: $8,601.

29th May 2022 - Batemans bay to Elanora Heights

 Distance travelled: 305 kms.

Cumulative distance: 13,840 kms

Sponsored by: Cary Granger.

I had breakfast at the motel and said my goodbyes to everybody. The weather was sunny but cool so I rugged up with extra thermals.

Adrian and I were going to ride to Sydney with Nick along the coast road (Princes Highway). We waited whilst he loaded his bike which looked like an overloaded camel by the time he finished. We headed out of the motel intending to refuel at the Ampol service station just north of the bridge in Batemans Bay. Adrian and I made it but there was no sign of Nick. He must have stopped at a service station in town. We didn't see Nick again. I hope he got home to Bondi Ok. Adrian and I headed north and made good progress as the traffic wasn't too bad for a Sunday. We stopped in Nowra for a coffee and a snack. Because the run to Sydney was only 300 kms that was our only stop. We had a pretty fast run through Wollongong and the F6 freeway until we got to Kirawee and hit the traffic. After that it was pretty slow going. Adrian headed for Botany road whilst I went over the Captain Cook bridge and took the M5, Eastern Distributor and harbour tunnel to arrive home on the Northern beaches at 2pm.

I was greeted by Jacki with a list of all the things that had gone wrong or weren't working since I left on 27th April.

Nothing changes!! 

It thought I'd throw this one in. It's the world's biggest pie shop in Bairnsdale.

28th May 2022 - Bairnsdale to Batemans Bay

 Distance travelled: 468 kms.

Cumulative distance: 13,535 kms.

Sponsored by: Peter Walshaw.

We were meant to have breakfast at our accommodation, Riversleigh at 7am but there were no staff to set it up (continental breakfast) so we were about to jump on our bikes and head down the road to have beeakfast on the way to Batemans Bay. At around 7.30 am a woman turned up to set up breakfast for an 8am start. She hadn't been told that we were breakfasting at 7am instead of the normal time for the weekends at 8am. She did a great job of quickly setting up the breakfast which we all enjoyed.

It was drizzling when I left at 8am with all my wet weather gear on hoping it wouldn't leak. I rode through Bruthen and Orbost to arrive at Cann River at 10am. Andrew was there already so we had coffee and some sustenance. Then the rest of the group arrived and refuelled. I headed off to Eden behind Erica and Graham. It was overcast and there was an occasional light shower but nothing to challenge my waterproof gear. The weather cleared with even some sunshine by the time I got to Eden where I refuelled. There are some really pretty villages on the coast between Eden and Batemans Bay like Pambula, Merimbula, Tathra and Bermagui. I didn't bother detouring to see them as I had been there in March on a mid-week overnight ride. 

I arrived at the motel at 2.30pm and was the first to do so.

In the evening Sue Walter was at the dinner along with Barry the manager of the Steven Walter Chikdrens Cancer Foundation with his wife Chris. Sue said that the foundation has collected more than $10 million in donations since it started in 2001. A new facility is being built at the Sydney Childrens Hospital for research into childrens cancer. It will be the biggest such  facility in the southern hemisphere. One of the laboratories will be named "The Steven Walter Laboratory".

From left to right, Barry the manager of SWCCF, Sue Walter and Barry's wife Chris.

This is Kathey and Andrew Manthey the organisers of the ride.

L to R, Graeme, Suzie and Wayne.

L to R, Sue, Greg H and Greg W.

L to R, Paul and the mad doctor Nick.

L to R, Dave the only Ducati rider, his wife Denby and Ensa Paul's wife.

L to R, Greg H, Greg W and Adrian.

Andrew and Rod the sweeper driver.

L to R, Erica, Pam (Rod's wife) and Andrew.

27th May 2022 - Lorne to Bairnsdale

 Distance travelled: 458 kms.

Cumulative distance: 13,067 kms.

Sponsored by: Paul Margerson.

Up at sparrows (5.30am) to catch the 8.00 am ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento. Colin thought he was still over the .05 alcohol limit so decided to wait until later. I got away at 6.00 am, still in the dark and roads damp. It was a nightmare riding in the dark on wet twisty roads. A lot of the oncoming traffic had LED lights that caused a lot of glare on my helmet visor. Everybody agreed it was a nightmare riding in the dark on the Great Ocean Road with all the tight corners. We all made it to the ferry on time and the sea was flat calm so it was a smoothe crossing.

The view from the deck of the ferry.

I had breakfast in Sorrento but everybody else motored on. After breakfasting at a trendy expensive Cafe I took  the south Gippsland highway through Foster and Yarram, Sale and on to Bairnsdale. We are staying in Riversleigh a big old house converted into rooms with ensuites, very comfortable. There was a bit of trouble gaining access to our rooms as we had to register on-line to get a code to open our rooms. It was all done by remote control with a little woman on site trying to help us. The SMS with my room code ended up in my Spam!! Eventually everybody got their code and could get into their rooms but it wasn't easy.

We were having a few beers in the carpark when a Tesla turned wanting to use the public charger that we had blocked with our bikes. After we moved them he hooked the car up and started charging. It was a Tesla Model X which starts around A $114,000??? We had a chat with the guy driving the car and he told us it was his daughter's and he didn't know much about the car. He gave a donation to our charity after we offered him a free beer.

Dinner was in a local pub where the food was pretty good.

It is the last official day of the ride tomorrow to Batemans Bay.

26th May 2022 - Mount Gambier to Lorne

 Distance travelled: 388 kms.

Cumulative distance: 12,609 kms.

Sponsored by: Sue Fielding.

I was the last to leave the motel in Mount Gambier and it was pissing down. Last night I managed to fix the tears in my wet weather pants with duct tape provided by Paul from the "mother ship" and it seemed to have worked as I didn't get a wet crotch!! The rain only lasted around half an hour.  I think I got ahead of the weather front so I headed for the "Great Ocean Road" to enjoy the scenery and a few twisties. First I headed for Port Fairy which I'd been to a couple of times before. It used to be called Belfast by the gentleman who settled there, James Atkinson a Sydney solicitor who came from Belfast.  The name Port Fairy was given by the skipper of a sealing cutter "The Fairy". The name reverted to Port Fairy in 1887. It's a trendy place and has a music festival every year. After that I headed to Warrnambool and the start of the Great Ocean Road. The weather was overcast but dry and I stopped at the Bay of Islands for a few pictures.

The Bay of Islands

Another view of The Bay of Islands.

I rode past the "Twelve Apostles", I think there are only nine left. The ride from Lavers Hill to Apollo Bay had mucho twisties but it also was very damp with lots of green moss in the middle of the road making cornering a bit dicey. The scenery was quite spectacular along this stretch of the coastline. When I got to Lorne Colin was already ensconced in my apartment lapping up the luxury. We went to the pub for a few beers before dinner with the rest of the gang.

After dinner a few people came back to the apartment to have a taste of my Bushmills 10 year old single malt Irish whiskey. We have to get up at sparrow's (5.30am) to leave at 6.00 am to catch the 8.00 am ferry from Queenscliff to Sorento so we hit the sack at 11.00 pm.

25th May - Glenelg to Mount Gambier.

 Distance travelled: 475 kms.

Cumulative distance: 12,221 kms.

Sponsored by: Gerry Hood.

Donations to date: $8,410 Target: $10,000 only $1,590 to go so keep it coming!!

Well the weather forecast was spot on, it poured all day except around Talem Bend where we got ahead of the front. What a miserable day. I was hoping to go to Penola but gave that away as I had a wet crotch due to the fact that the plastic liner of my pants had ripped. I only discovered this when I took them off in my motel room in Mount Gambier. I'm getting some Duct  tape to repair the pants. Once more the room is looking like a chinese laundry with riding gear festooned all over it hoping it will be dried by the morning with a little help from the hair dryer.

I went out to dinner with Jacki's cousin Michelle and husband Charlie this evening. She is Aunty Michelle to the local aboriginal community and visits the local schools telling the story of Annie Brice and teaching the Boandik language.

Dinner Port Macdonnell style.

    Off to Lorne tomorrow and hopeful the weather won't be as bad as today.

24th May 2022 - Rest day in Glenelg.

Distance travelled: 0 kms. 

Cumulative distance: 11,746 kms.

Sponsored by: Ian Ralph.

Had a leisurely breakfast in the restaurant on the ground floor of the apartments.  We have a $20 voucher for breakfast and $40 for dinner. The service is still pretty average and it was difficult to tell the waiters from the punters as they don't wear any uniform or name tag.

I took the tram from Glenelg to the city to take in a bit of Adelaide culture. It's a great service and only two minutes walk from the apartments.  I visited the Art Gallery of South Australia  and the Migration Museum, being a migrant myself!! I wasn't quite sure what some of the themes of the exhibitions were depicting at the art gallery ie the "2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art" ; Free/State - Contemporary Art. Some weird exhibits and some really clever ones. Yayoi Kusana : "The spirits of the Pumpkin descending into the heavens". There was a room that looked like the inside of a pumpkin all dots and mirrors. There were warnings about leaning over too far and losing your balance!!

Inside the pumpkin exhibit.

 The Migration Museum told the story of the migrants who came from all over the world to South Australia. Unfortunately a couple of the exhibition areas were closed for renovation. I didn't see Gerry's name on the role of honour.

The view east out from my apartment balcony ... more apartments. 

In the evening I had dinner with Gerry at Cardones along Jetty Road from my apartment. The food was excellent and we had a good natter catching up.

Calamari for me and Garfish for Gerry.

Tomorrow we are off to Mount Gambier unfortunately the forecast is for wet weather all day.