May 16th, 2009

Going Down (Under) – Mountains, Snow, and More ‘Roos Too

And on the Third Day, we really started to get our learn on. The first thing I learned was that even for such a big country – (and by big, I mean you could literally fit two-thousand four hundred fifty and a half Kingdoms of Rhode Island inside Australia, with a bit of room left over for a few bottles of Autocrat coffee syrup and some Del’s lemonade. That’s BIG big!) – anyway, for such a big place, forecasting the weather is easy. From the hot lady talking weather-head on the morning news:

“And now, today’s weather. Rainy on the east coast, sunny just about everywhere else. And now, in sports…”

Seriously. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the same forecast at home, but this forecast was for the entire country!

That’s a big place.

The morning dawned cold and clear. Deciding to let the thermometer add a few more C’s to the readout before heading west towards Threadbo and the Snowy Mountains, we ambled out on a walkabout, looking for some ‘brekkie’ and stumbled across a little diner displaying this sign:

Any place displaying one of these gets my business.

Here is brekkie:

And here is what is cost:

A few other frosty bikers came in for coffee, and Dan asked them about the mountain road conditions.

“Oi, mate. Just came down from Threadbo. Bloody cold! The mountain roads are wet, and icy in the shadowy bits. Might get better as it warms up, might not. G’day, mate!”

Great.

After some discussion, which mostly consisted of the word ‘no,’ followed by lots of persistent whining from the French contingent, a decision was made. “Let’s go to Threadbo and find out the conditions for ourselves before Frenchy implodes.” It’s probably the first victory in history that the French can claim.

Bugs Get In My Eyes…

The altitude climbed, and the temperature fell. Soon a light dusting of snow was visible on the sides of the road.

I love roads like this. I was happy we weren’t dissuaded by our friends in the diner.

I let Dan and Maxine get far, far ahead, and swooped the Yama-busa deep into the corners of this incredible mountain road. This road was one to be savored, like a fine wine, a good meal, or a trio of high-priced Thai hookers.

It was that good! I felt like Fiona and I were alone, the only two on the whole planet and it felt divine. (By the way, she’ll kill me for that Thai hooker reference when she reads this…)

Concentration was at its maximum, but so was my smile.

The road was so good, Sleeping Beauty even stayed awake for most of it.

We finally caught up to Dan and Maxine, pulled over on the side of the road. Dan, pointing to a field, motioned me to slow down, saying, “Frenchy, there’s kangaroos in the field. A whole mob of them! Look!”

Sure as shit, there they were! Dan was right. There was a mob, which is technically what a herd of ‘roos is called. And they were alive! About thirty of the pouched marsupials were hopping and grazing right in front of our eyes!

Spectacular! Awesome! Incredible! Woo-friggin-HOO! What else can I say? KANGAROOS!

And the best part? Maxine refrained from shooting any of these so-called ‘pests.’

With ‘Seeing Kangaroos’ safely checked off the list, there was only one more order of business for me to complete for this trip to truly be called a success, which I was able to carry out less than an hour later.