Plan Motorcycle Ride in Australia ….……….. Check!

Well as most of you know, Jenn & I are consummate planners, therefore “gaps” and unknowns are just not acceptable! So there was some final loose ends that needed to be wrapped up before we left, that involved our 3 days of motorcycle riding on the continent. Our dear friend Neal (remember him as the person who got us across the border in the Martins’ Down & Out), had suggested that we call a motorcycle dealer in Melbourne where his brother-in-law had rented a bike from in the past to arrange our steeds. Well after many calls and emails with no response, we again called Neal and asked for help.  Always one to assist, Neal went down the establishment and reserved us a couple of bikes; a Suzuki DR650 for me

 and a Yamaha Tenere for my bride. 

On a  side note, we had to move our scheduled to start one day later in order to accommodate , “Boxing Day”, a national holiday on the 26^th  . “Boxing Day” as I understand it, is a holiday in many countries  that are in the Commonwealth of Nations. It was traditionally a day for employers in England to give bonuses, leftover clothing or food to their employees, or for Lords to give agricultural tools and seeds to their tenants. They presented these gifts in "boxes" the day after Christmas, hence the 26th . I guess this is one of the things we Americans “threw away” when we asked the Brits to leave our new country a couple of hundred years ago :) Wow, who knew! ……………Anyway back to the bikes……………… We could have rented some pure street bikes, but we both wanted to check out some of the competitors for the current “Adventure” bikes that we have taken to all over North America, the Kawasaki KLR 650.  The wonderful friend that Neal is, he also developed the following itinerary for our 3 days on the bikes to help us see as much of Oz and we can in the time we have allotted. In fact, we will be our personal guide for the trip, "the man" himself, Neal. How cool is that!

Saturday 12/27
Start Point	Stop Point	Miles	Activity
Carlton	Anglesea	71	Pick up bike early.  Ride to Anglesea.  Look at the wild kangaroos at the Golf Course.  They are normally there
Anglesea	Lorne	19	Lunch in Lorne. Lovely coastal city. Nice shops and sidewalk cafes. Scope out a good hotel for the return trip if we don't have one yet. We will then go to the Lookout.  Awesome views from 300m above the ocean
Lorne	Apollo Bay	28	Small coastal town. Very nice beach. Two pubs and two restaurants.  Stay at the Lighthouse Keepers Inn.
Sunday 12/28
Apollo Bay	12 Apostles	53	This is the capstone thing to see on the Great Ocean Road.  We will spend several hours within a couple miles from here.  Many cool things to see and do.
12 Apostles	Port Campbell	7	Lunch
Port Campbell	Point Otway	45	Checkout the Point Otway Lighthouse
Point Otway	Lorne	47	Dinner in Town
Monday 12/29
Lorne	Torquay	29	Torquay is the surf capital of Victoria.  Get there early to have breakfast.  Walk over to the beach to take in the sights.  Erin can take a surf lesson if desired.
Torquay	Carlton	65	Ride back to Melbourne and dinner at Neal & Sandy’s favorite pub in Fitzroy.

Our motorcycle part of the journey looks something like this, all in South East Australia.

So it looks like our planning is finally complete (?), but as we discovered in Mexico “Life is what happens while you are busy making plans”, although I don’t expect anything close to that occurring in the “Land Down Under”! G’day Mates