Eight Biker Chicks Among Twelve Apostles.
By Tina Hartung
I knew something big was heading my way when Wendy Raditz from the Winding Road
Riders contacted me and requested a ride through Australia in two years time. Together with
Patt from Melbourne/Australia and Leslie from Fremont/California we form Towanda Women
who run women motorcycle tours. The tour for Wendy’s group was tailor made to suit their
time frame of 14 days, relatively small budget and preferred weather – “not too hot”!
156 Emails later, six excited “girlz” from Pennsylvania arrived in Sydney for their big
Downunder Adventure: The Winding Road Riders ride the Great Ocean Road. Our route would
lead from Sydney (New South Wales) along the stunning coastal route to Melbourne
(provincial capitol city of Victoria) and further onto the famous Great Ocean Road. From here
we would take all the inland backroads and would ride via the Blue Mountains Nationalpark
back to Sydney.
The deal had been that Patt and I would suggest the itinerary and all attractions along the
way, book all accommodation and organise the rental bikes. Marci, Wendy, Fran, Anna, Cindy
and Kathy (aka as “the girlz” aged between 34 and 55 years) would just have to hop on their
rented Yamaha XVS1100, V-Star 650, Triumph Bonneville, FZS Faser and Honda CB250s and
follow their trusty tour guides on the left side of the road all around Australia, the big
unknown continent, terra incognita.
On a quiet morning we sat out to leave Sydney. This beautiful metropolis is a multi million
inhabitants town just like any other and traffic is frantic. The girlz did not expect to find
motorways and there aren’t many except for this one. I guess, their first experience from
Australia and especially Sydney was, that it isn’t all that much different from home: we had
coffee at Starbucks, breakfast at Muffin Break, did our shopping at the convenience store
next to our apartment block and crossing the road was a deadly exercise.
But as soon as we got out of Sydney, we well and truly arrived in Australia: riding along a
beautiful gum-tree lined backroad leading through the Royal National park (named after the
visit of Queen Elizabeth II in the 1950s).
The 800 miles coastal road between Sydney and Melbourne is almost equally spectacular and
breathtaking like her famous continuation south of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road. So the
next couple of days we stayed at beautiful coastal holiday hubs and enjoyed tranquil and
picturesque beaches. One of our highlights on these days was to meet Koala bears and
Kangaroos and other native but less known Australians: the Wombat, the Echidna and the
Platypus.
We visited the Blowholes at Kiama, went through historic Tilba-Tilba, a town that went back
on the time warp to the year 1879 and saw a giant whale at a paradise-like place called
Eden. We also visited a cultural Aborigine centre where we had great fun throwing
boomerangs around. Most of them did not come back to us which meant that we did not
throw them correctly. Our teacher was a fun-loving Aborigine of few words. After he thought
we had embarrassed ourselves enough, he collected the boomerangs and left without a
word… it was a true cultural experience!
Just before Melbourne we reached Phillips Island – famous to many because of its Superbike
Race Circuit and to others because of its big population of fairy penguins – the smallest
penguin in the world and unique to the Southern Oceans. Of course we visited both and we
got the photos to prove it!
Not only do Australians drive on the left side of the road, they also measure distances in
kilometers. This posed some challenges, because our traveling speed was sometimes
between 90 and 100 km/h (60 miles/h) – so in miles this would have been way over the
speed limit and one of them in particular could not get her head around that…
Luckily, there are not many straight, but extremely twisty roads in Australia and we rode
them all!
After our encounter with the cute Fairy Penguins we landed in Melbourne for two days –
including a rest day without riding. Patt had great pleasure to show off her home town to us.
It turned out the girlz were a little bit deprived of shopping and they all made up for it in
Melbourne! That night at the restaurant everybody showed off their goodies and the entire
restaurant took great interest. A handbag formed like a high heeled shoe was so incredible
that it became everybody’s favorite and a man at the next table insisted to get one for his
daughter.
During our trip Patt turned out to be an invaluable asset for many reasons, but also because
she liked to cook for us and she did it often and soooo well! Thank you, Patt! Doing her
famous BBQs she would frequently spoil her T-Shirts, so it seemed like a good idea to give
her an apron – of course it was not just any odd apron (see photo)!
To keep cost of the trip within the budget and to be as close to nature as possible, we chose
accommodation in comfortable apartments on holiday parks. It was wonderful to sit on the
balcony for a meal, enjoy the sea views and share some great and also some sad stories.
The girlz talked about their husbands (and ex-husbands), conquering breast cancer and
other heroic (heroinic) stories. Patt and I talked about how it is for us being lesbians – no big
deal! This is something, I believe, that really sets women tours apart: the ability to share
what is close to our hearts and the great effect that this has on everybody.
Riding the Great Ocean Road was of course the highlight for everybody. We had a day out of
the picture book and really, really enjoyed the ride, the road and the many attractions on the
way. The rock formation of the The Twelve Apostles are most famous and a hallmark of
Australia. Next day we arrived in Hepburn Springs which is a best kept secret spa resort.
Nothing better than a hot soak after a long day of riding! Then we arrived in Ballarat, an
amazing place celebrating, portraying and sharing the history of Australia. The girlz and Patt
spent hours there and couldn’t get enough.
Two weeks are not long when you enjoy yourself. We spent our last night in the Blue
Mountains – famous for their blue haze which is due to evaporating oil from the many gum
trees. We visited the Three Sisters, a once again famous rock formation and I tried to kill the
girlz by suggesting to go down the Giant Staircase for a “little” walk.
Getting back into the hustle and bustle of Sydney the next day was a shock that came with
the realisation that we all had to go home from here. Patt had already left for Melbourne in
the early morning hours. There is only one consolation on the last day of 14 fun filled days –
that we all had a great time and that we could do it again any time.
We would love to tailor-make a tour for your group or club – in Australia, New Zealand or USA!
www.towanda.org
Share your travel tales with WAVE Journey readers by emailing them to
tips@wavejourney.com
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