Yarra Ranges Branch - so many I lost count
Mick and I had looked forward to this trip after the fabulous, friendly dinner with the Yarra Ranges Branch members at Walsh’s Hotel in Queanbeyan on the preceding Monday night. We all assembled at Hume on a glorious sunshiny New Year’s Eve. The weather forecast was excellent and made for good riding – not too hot, not too cold….just right. Bob the ride leader gave his brief, and after a local joke about not being too concerned with corner markers for the run to Cooma, we were off.
We had morning tea at the Snowy Hydro Information Centre – and even though the thoroughly organised Bob had warned them to expect us it took quite some time for everyone to be served owing to our vast numbers, and only one barista, but it was fun to sit in the sun and chat and we didn’t have a long ride so there was no hurry.
To extend the trip and show our hosts some great riding roads, at Chris’ suggestion we left the Snowy Mountains Highway just south of Cooma and travelled along the scenic Slacks Creek and Middlingbank Roads joining Jindabyne Road at Berridale. We arrived at the Jindabyne Hotel to find that for most, their rooms weren’t ready – Mick and I were amongst the lucky few and we could check in straight away.
We all had lunch at the Hotel Bistro sitting on the deck overlooking the Lake – I could have sat there all day just enjoying the view. I’ve never been to Lake Jindabyne before – it is truly stunning. That the Hotel is a popular destination for bikers was proven by the number of other groups coming in for the night. Walking outside our room but what should be staying next door? – a later model Trophy – twins!!
Through the afternoon a few of us had a leisurely walk along the lake with a stop at local shops for coffee/milkshake/ice creams. Later we met up with members of the YR Branch for pre-dinner drinks and munchies again overlooking the lake on the grass at the back of the Hotel.
Dinner had been arranged for 8pm with the Hotel opening up a part of their restaurant for us. The same menu as for lunch was presented but everyone seemed happy with what was on offer. More socialising, eating and drinking was followed by (groan) karaoke. Some of the YR members were not shrinking violets – but we oldies were outnumbered by younger locals singing songs (post 1990?) that we couldn’t truly appreciate. So one by one we adjourned back to outside the room of one of the YR Branch on the grass by the lake for our own private and impromptu New Year’s Eve party as she had been clever enough to bring her own selection of 60s and 70s music for us to welcome in the New Year.
The Angels came on – Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? – and you know the refrain!! Lots of fun and light-hearted buffoonery till it was midnight – but none of our phones could agree on the exact time so we did our own countdown – who knew if it was still 2014 or we were late for 2015? The locals were too quiet for us to hear when it might be midnight. All needing our beauty sleep we staggered off back to our rooms soon after.
A good night’s sleep was followed by a morning walk along the lake and breakfast in the shared dining room – usual fare of cereals, toast, bacon, sausage and eggs washed down with juice and coffee.
It took some time for we Canberrans to bid farewell as we were loathe to leave newly made friends with lots of chatting still to be had. But the road and sunshine beckoned so finally we made our farewells and turned the bikes northwards. All riders (yours truly excepted) were breathalysed at Berridale kindly stopping for the lone policeman even though he had only indicated that two of us should pull over. Being respectable law abiding citizens everyone passed and we were soon on our way to Cooma for petrol, hoping to find somewhere, anywhere, open for a decent coffee. Parched, we continued on to Bredbo on the lookout for a café with an Open sign, but we were out of luck. After a quick stop and farewell to each other at Williamsdale, we, with Maritta and Jeff left the group at Old Cooma Road to travel past Googong to Queanbeyan and Bungendore.
I would like to finish with a big thank you to the members of the Yarra Ranges Branch who made us feel so welcome by inviting us to join them in their annual New Year’s trip. The dinner at Walsh’s was amazing and the ride to Jindabyne to celebrate New Year’s topped off a marvellous few days. Everyone was very friendly – we feel like we’ve known you for years - and we made some new friends that we hope to catch up with at the Wodonga AGM.
Tracey Winters
