A detour North to Penola would have been good, as the place is famous for being a key location in the life of soon-to-be-Saint Mary MacKillop (pictured). But on this bitterly cold morning (the early morning temperature was one degrees celcius), I decided to head straight back to Melbourne to avoid the returning long weekend traffic: a direct route via Casterton, Hamilton and Ballarat. At least that was the plan. At the first set of lights in Mount Gambier my bike died and wouldn't start. It has always been totally reliable. What was the problem? I wheeled the bike to the side of the road and left it for 15 or so minutes for a walk in the memorial park that happened to be close by. Upon my return, I was in luck, as it kicked back into life. After letting it run on a high choke for a few minutes to well and truly warm it up, I hopped on and was on my way. Low gears and high revs was my initial approach, and the bike seemed to be fine from then on. Perhaps the cold had got to it. It had certainly got to me; even though I had all my warm gear on, my fingers and toes were tingling. Perhaps an electrically heated vest would be a good investment.
And so a direct route it was, refuelling at Hamilton and stopping for lunch at a small place called Skipton, just West of Ballarat. The road from Hamilton gives a great view of the Grampians, a mountainous area in an otherwise flat region. In the early morning two kangaroos, one adult and one joey, were stationary just off the side of the road. They took so much of my attention that I forgot to slow down when passing; a major error on my part but fortunately with no consequences.
An uneventful and generally traffic free ride from Skipton to Melbourne meant that I was back home at 3pm, despite my early morning mechanical problems and losing 30 minutes for the time difference. Time for tea.
Riding Distance: 465 kms
Total Distance: 320 + 250 + 110 + 465 = 1145 kms
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