Hitcher
19th March 2007, 21:34
Ten days on the roads of Victoria and surrounding territories on a motorcycle provided an interesting way of taking in many things Australian and having a general great time being bikers in our nearest neighbour.
Victoria is only a small part of the West Island, but one that has a wide variety of country to experience, from coastal lakes, fertile farmland, “alpine” forests, flat plains, massive limestone outcrops, desert and a big muddy river. This state is framed by the Southern Ocean, Bass Strait, the Tasman Sea, Murray River and a couple of strokes of a cartographer’s pen. It has one large city (Melbourne, population three million) a handful of smaller cities (Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Warrnambool) and many delightful country towns. The natives are generally friendly and well fed, and exotic wildlife is never far away.
The natives too generally speak a language roughly similar to ours. But their vowels generally give them away: “Hey Kiwi, say Seex!”
“Only after you say five.”
“Foive.”
A land where the late, great Peter Brock and others will tell you that “Only a fewel breaks the two-second rewel,” and where shopping is transported in “bargs”. And thart’s a fucked.
Petrol is either unleaded (NZ 91 octane) or premium unleaded (NZ 95 octane) but there is no leaded fuel available. Some stations offer methanol/petrol blends but these aren’t common.
Unlike New Zealand where the oil companies have closed most small town petrol pumps on the lame excuse of “safety”, it’s available almost everywhere in Victoria. Small one and two bowser stations exist even in downtown Melbourne, but the price can vary by over 20 cents a litre, depending on how remote some servos (local abbreviation for service station) are.
And, unlike New Zealand, beer is sold by the glass. Glass sizes are defined by a bevy of descriptors such as schooner, pot, pint, etc, terms for which there is no generally accepted convention for application, other than where one grew up. Apparently.
Shower mixers. Most Aussies sampled had no idea what we were talking about. It may have been our accents for some, who may have heard “shower muxer”. Others thought we were referring to some kind of cocktail. But the largely ubiquitous single control unit that combines hot and cold to emit water of the desired temperature from a shower rose, to which most New Zealanders are accustomed, is a rare thing indeed in the land of the barbied prawn.
Road rules are largely similar to ours, with some exceptions about the right-hand turn rule, the most notable of which appears in downtown Melbourne. The “hook turn” is where the right-turning vehicle starts by moving to the left-hand centre of an intersection and only turning right after straight-ahead traffic (particularly trams) has gone through. On “overtaking” lanes, traffic in the centre-most lane has the rights, with traffic in the left-hand lane having to indicate right and merge. Brilliant!
Rugby Union? Forget it. Most Victorians don’t know the difference between Union and League, preferring their own version of the pointy-ball game called “Rewels”. Rewels is played by an indeterminate number of combatants wearing colourful singlets and very tight shorts. Points are scored by propelling the ball between four upright sticks at either end of an oval ground for either a “goal” or a “bottom” or whatever. The game is played in quarters to satisfy the demands of television advertisers. And the locals are completely obsessed by it.
The countryside is simply vast by New Zealand standards. While the vista does change, it doesn’t do it quickly. And many things about it are very similar to New Zealand – the types of houses, farm shelter, fencing styles, farmed land, roads, cars. Riding along you’d think “This is a bit like the Maniototo, except it’s a bit greener.” And then you’d ride past a dead wombat or a flock of cockatoos would swoop past, completely destroying the comparison.
Bikers are road-kill connoisseurs. And Australia certainly provides an abundance of new experiences on this score. Wallabies, wombats, kangaroos, koalas, echidnas and foxes. We didn’t see any rabbits or possums. Or snakes. Road-killed marsupials are large animals by New Zealand standards. Hitting one on a motorcycle would be disastrous for riders and bikes. Most carnage occurs at twilight or in the evenings, when these beady-eyed nocturnes are attracted by the lights of oncoming vehicles. They can do a considerably amount of damage to a car. On this basis we resolved to be off the road by five each evening.
As for other livestock? If road signs are to be believed, it is both highly literate and fearful of financial consequences for unapproved behaviour:
“Wandering stock
Obey signs in this area.
$500 fines apply.”
March is a warm month in Victoria. Eddie Garner, from whom we hired our trusty steed (a 2002 Yamaha FJR1300 with hard luggage and tankbag) recommended we take our vented jackets with us. Apart from a few cool starts to the day and two particularly windy and comparatively cold days, he was right on the money. We had a few days when temperatures reached into the high 30s and were grateful to Mr Shift (jackets), Mr Draggin (jeans) and Mr DriRider (gloves) for their consideration in providing apparel suitable for such conditions.
Even so, you could feel yourself dehydrating and stops for liquids every 30-45 minutes were essential when conditions got really warm.
Photos:
1. Didn’t see any of these as roadkill. Thankfully.
2. Mrs H meets her first wombat.
3. Another great Australian songbird.
4. The mighty FJR. Note the Staintunes, Yamaha topbox and Bagster tankbag. A brilliant set up.
More to follow…
Victoria is only a small part of the West Island, but one that has a wide variety of country to experience, from coastal lakes, fertile farmland, “alpine” forests, flat plains, massive limestone outcrops, desert and a big muddy river. This state is framed by the Southern Ocean, Bass Strait, the Tasman Sea, Murray River and a couple of strokes of a cartographer’s pen. It has one large city (Melbourne, population three million) a handful of smaller cities (Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Warrnambool) and many delightful country towns. The natives are generally friendly and well fed, and exotic wildlife is never far away.
The natives too generally speak a language roughly similar to ours. But their vowels generally give them away: “Hey Kiwi, say Seex!”
“Only after you say five.”
“Foive.”
A land where the late, great Peter Brock and others will tell you that “Only a fewel breaks the two-second rewel,” and where shopping is transported in “bargs”. And thart’s a fucked.
Petrol is either unleaded (NZ 91 octane) or premium unleaded (NZ 95 octane) but there is no leaded fuel available. Some stations offer methanol/petrol blends but these aren’t common.
Unlike New Zealand where the oil companies have closed most small town petrol pumps on the lame excuse of “safety”, it’s available almost everywhere in Victoria. Small one and two bowser stations exist even in downtown Melbourne, but the price can vary by over 20 cents a litre, depending on how remote some servos (local abbreviation for service station) are.
And, unlike New Zealand, beer is sold by the glass. Glass sizes are defined by a bevy of descriptors such as schooner, pot, pint, etc, terms for which there is no generally accepted convention for application, other than where one grew up. Apparently.
Shower mixers. Most Aussies sampled had no idea what we were talking about. It may have been our accents for some, who may have heard “shower muxer”. Others thought we were referring to some kind of cocktail. But the largely ubiquitous single control unit that combines hot and cold to emit water of the desired temperature from a shower rose, to which most New Zealanders are accustomed, is a rare thing indeed in the land of the barbied prawn.
Road rules are largely similar to ours, with some exceptions about the right-hand turn rule, the most notable of which appears in downtown Melbourne. The “hook turn” is where the right-turning vehicle starts by moving to the left-hand centre of an intersection and only turning right after straight-ahead traffic (particularly trams) has gone through. On “overtaking” lanes, traffic in the centre-most lane has the rights, with traffic in the left-hand lane having to indicate right and merge. Brilliant!
Rugby Union? Forget it. Most Victorians don’t know the difference between Union and League, preferring their own version of the pointy-ball game called “Rewels”. Rewels is played by an indeterminate number of combatants wearing colourful singlets and very tight shorts. Points are scored by propelling the ball between four upright sticks at either end of an oval ground for either a “goal” or a “bottom” or whatever. The game is played in quarters to satisfy the demands of television advertisers. And the locals are completely obsessed by it.
The countryside is simply vast by New Zealand standards. While the vista does change, it doesn’t do it quickly. And many things about it are very similar to New Zealand – the types of houses, farm shelter, fencing styles, farmed land, roads, cars. Riding along you’d think “This is a bit like the Maniototo, except it’s a bit greener.” And then you’d ride past a dead wombat or a flock of cockatoos would swoop past, completely destroying the comparison.
Bikers are road-kill connoisseurs. And Australia certainly provides an abundance of new experiences on this score. Wallabies, wombats, kangaroos, koalas, echidnas and foxes. We didn’t see any rabbits or possums. Or snakes. Road-killed marsupials are large animals by New Zealand standards. Hitting one on a motorcycle would be disastrous for riders and bikes. Most carnage occurs at twilight or in the evenings, when these beady-eyed nocturnes are attracted by the lights of oncoming vehicles. They can do a considerably amount of damage to a car. On this basis we resolved to be off the road by five each evening.
As for other livestock? If road signs are to be believed, it is both highly literate and fearful of financial consequences for unapproved behaviour:
“Wandering stock
Obey signs in this area.
$500 fines apply.”
March is a warm month in Victoria. Eddie Garner, from whom we hired our trusty steed (a 2002 Yamaha FJR1300 with hard luggage and tankbag) recommended we take our vented jackets with us. Apart from a few cool starts to the day and two particularly windy and comparatively cold days, he was right on the money. We had a few days when temperatures reached into the high 30s and were grateful to Mr Shift (jackets), Mr Draggin (jeans) and Mr DriRider (gloves) for their consideration in providing apparel suitable for such conditions.
Even so, you could feel yourself dehydrating and stops for liquids every 30-45 minutes were essential when conditions got really warm.
Photos:
1. Didn’t see any of these as roadkill. Thankfully.
2. Mrs H meets her first wombat.
3. Another great Australian songbird.
4. The mighty FJR. Note the Staintunes, Yamaha topbox and Bagster tankbag. A brilliant set up.
More to follow…