Day 1, Home to Bega.

30th July, 2011. Day 1...

Odo start of trip, - 1,418


Odo end of Day 1 - 2,034k


Distance Travelled today - 616k


Accommodation, Grand Hotel Bega, ensuite room $55.00
good room and great cheap eats and beer $4.30 for a corona.

I finally got underway at 10:10am, i started loading the bike at about 7:45am, i had planned on using  my Giant Loop bag, but luckily i discovered i could get all the stuff in the panniers : )

I did spend a bit of time worrying that i had forgotten something as the load looked fairly light.

The ride started off very weird, i must admit to feeling out of sorts when i jumped on the bike, i literally hadn't even thought which way i was going to turn when i got to the end of my driveway!! 

I was literally making it up as i went along. I rode through Belgrave heading to Narre Warren, where i would have to make a decision… either go straight ahead onto Cranbourne then follow the coast through to Wonthaggi then onto Sale, or hit the highway. 

The dark grey clouds to the South helped me choose the highway, it meant a boring run, but hopefully it would give me an easy day tomorrow cruising through Sydney then onto North Avoca

I fuelled up at the Shell servo on Heatherton Rd at 11am, this would be the first time for a real run on the bike, so i had no idea about fuel range. With such average weather i decided to simply get as many k's under my belt as possible. I finally pulled into the Can River Servo at 3:45pm to fuel up both the bike and myself. 19.35 Ltrs of fuel for 420K's, the last block of the fuel gauge had been blinking at me for about 40k's. I was starting to worry that i would run out of fuel on day 1… I had a crappy microwaved pie and a hot chocolate.

It was freezing cold East of Can River, it felt like an arctic wind was blasting me. The guy at the servo told me it was -5C last night!! Time to hit the road and get as far as i could, the roads were damp but there was still decent daylight so i wanted to get to civilisation before the critters came out to play.

I rode into Pambula looking for a place to stay but didn't find anything, so it was time to push onto Bega. Riding through town, i spotted the Grand Hotel, it looked like a great option. $55 for an ensuite room seemed like great value, so i am sitting in my room typing this before i head downstairs for a Parma…..

Only 1 quick photo, fueled up at Cann River

Tomorrow, it will be a leisurely cruise up the coast, then into North Avoca to stay with friends for the night...