Next stop was a coffee and lemon slice at Yarck where we joined several other club members. Under blue skies we relaxed at the café meeting old friends before continuing north to busy Mansfield where, following the tradition, we hunted for our lunch in the supermarket. After a re-group under the trees at the end of the main street we started towards Tolmie and Ray’s place, first a long straight out of Mansfield and later the road designed for bend-swinging motorcycling into the hilly country around Tolmie. There was a marshal waiting for us at the turn-off and we followed Ray along the track then parking among the trees at his property.

Ray soon had things organised with the BBQ going, salads ready and the hot water on so we had a good lunch in lovely surroundings – a Kookaburra orchestra playing for us in the trees above. Later we rode back down the hill, still very little traffic, and on to the Mansfield plain. In town most of us re-fuelled for the next day, some making a detour up Mt Buller, others taking it easy at the motel before meeting for dinner at the Delatite Hotel. As usual there was plenty to talk about and the evening passed quickly and pleasantly.

Early Sunday morning the motel windows rattled to the blast as the impressive range of bikes on the ride fired up – you had to have some sympathy for non-motorcyclists staying there. On time we followed our leader out of town and back up the road to Tolmie and Whitfield, taking a break from scubbing the shoulders off our tyres by visiting Powers Lookout. This is named after the bushranger Harry Power (1819-1891) who hid here and operated in the area between Albury and Daylesford. The lookout, especially the lower one, offers spectacular views over the King Valley and beyond. The massive rock formations around the Lookout are impressive.

Next it was a short ride down to Whitfield for morning tea at the popular Whitty Café which coped well with our multiple orders. It’s a popular spot with motorcyclists on a sunny Sunday. Refreshed we rode to Lake William Hovell crossing and re-crossing the King River. The Lake appeared close to full, and we chatted, listened to short speeches by Ray and Burger and admired the view before following Ray back over the hills and through the bends to Mansfield for refuelling and a re-group for the ride home.

Thanks Ray for organising and hosting another enjoyable High Country, and Reg for the photos and doing the back-up trailer duty at short notice.

Participants:

Chris Horner, HRD Vincent 1000 1947

Burger Drake, Vincent 1950

Wally Walsh, Vincent Black Shadow 1951

Keith McCracken, Norton Atlas 1966

Graham Boulter, Honda CB750 1973

Warren Blandy, Triumph Trident 1974

Phil Pilgrim, Vincati 1000 1974

Gary Williams, Harley-Davidson FLH 1200 1978

Robert Van Lohuizen, Suzuki 850GS 1983

Ross Patrick, BMW R80 1986

John Best, BMW R80 1986

David Fitzgerald, BMW R100R 1992

Jack Youdan, BMW R1150GS 2001

Bill Garner, BMW R1150RT 2002

Ray Harrison, Honda ST1100 2002

Peter Van Lohuizen, Suzuki Hayabusa 2008

Reg Hammond, back-up trailer.

John Best.