Day 10: Orbost to Cooma
22 March 2017
Click on the image for a detailed map
Tezza wanted to be home by the weekend and noroomtomove had to be back at work the following day, so we packed our rooms and said farewell to them as they set off in opposite directions. I was sorry the group had to break up; it had been great riding together and we’d managed more than a few laughs in spite of the injuries to two of our colleagues.
I was worried about Pterodactyl. He was obviously in a good deal of pain, and I tried hard to persuade him to keep company with Tezza and go home to attend to hid foot. I had about as much chance of hitting the moon with a stone. So, he, Inhouse Bob and I trundled 15 metres along the street and stopped for breakfast and a confab about the day’s ride. The original plan had been to take the Bonang Highway north from Orbost, then loop down towards the coast before heading west again for a final night in the mountains. I was nervous about this because the Bonang had 12-13 kilometres of dirt, I wasn’t sure what condition it was in, and of course it was going to rain.
In the end we took the Bonang and rode the route we planned. We paused after breakfast to put on our wet weathers as the promised rain was falling, but it was gentle and soon eased up as we rode through the forest. It’s a ride I can’t wait to do again.
Unfortunately, the rain meant my camera was again tucked away and there are no photographs.
We stopped at Delegate for Inhouse Bob to continue his inspection of Australia’s extensive public lavatory facilities and for me to refill my water bottle. For some reason I mentioned I’d done so.
“I hope it’s potable,” Inhouse Bob remarked as I took a swig.
“Of course,” I replied, looking nervously back at the tap where I’d filled it.
I discerned a sign near the tap and walked back to see that it read “Not suitable for drinking.”
After lunch at Bombala, I was able to use my camera on the ride down the hill to Pambula, another very pretty ride reminiscent of Kangaroo Valley.
On the road between Bombala and Pambula
Pambula
From Pambula we rode north on the Princes Highway until we turned west through Candelo and up Browns Mountain. Another great ride although we were again peppered by rain.
In wets at a lookout on Browns Mountain
Arriving in Cooma we confidently rode our bikes to the back of the Alpine Hotel where there is undercover parking. But the place was full. A convention of some sort. So we went next door to the less salubrious Bunkhouse Motel from which we could at least limp back to the Alpine Hotel for beer and a dinner.
Noroomtomove reported he was safely home but drenched. Tezza reported being warm and dry at his sister’s place having also enjoyed (I use the term lightly) a good drenching.
We had a hearty dinner during which I drank too much, became tired and emotional and, embarrassingly, let Petrodactyl wind me up like an old alarm clock. I went to bed grumpy.
Inhouse Bob and Pterodactyl opted for the lamb shanks for which Inhouse Bob, at least, was rewarded with a bad case of indigestion
It was not the steak that caused me grief on this occasion
