Wandering

I wandered wide and far today. I had intended to spend four days riding through the Riverina, Mallee and Wimmera. But much of that is now covered by an inland sea of 90km by 40km. Charles Sturt would have been pleased. And had I gone I may have been trapped in Nyah for some days.

So then I intended to ride the newly sealed road between Eildon and Jameson. But with little sleep and a bad headache, I decided against it and simply rode where-ever the whim took me for the day, covering 450km.

I began by making easterward to Healesville, but the mountains didn't match my mood. So I made north to dry country. Between Seymour and Nagambie I took Northwood Road, which parallels the Hume Freeway but is much more interesting.








From Nagambie I rode back down through Avenel where, as a 12 year old, Ned Kelly saved another boy from drowning. From there to Longwood, and down through Ruffy, Caveat, to Yea and on to Kinglake. I rode home toward dusk.





As I wound down through the Kinglake National Park road, with it's very tight bends and cliff's edge, I came upon a rider holding his bike up. Something looked wrong. It turns out he had crashed only a minute before. Coming around the tight corner, he came unstuck on a small rock and went down. He slid off the road but fortunately there was only a mild drop, and he passed between the metal signs.

His Ducati was smashed, but he was completely fine, in part due to his riding gear which was torn and scraped. We waited and chatted for a while, then he insisted on his wellbeing and, as his phone had died, I agreed to call his partner when I got in range and check that help was on its way. I spoke to him later in the evening and he got home via tow truck.