Motorcycling

What was supposed to be an easy 4-hour ride turned into a day full of surprises – from an unexpected museum stop and a missed quirky café, to an accidental “tailing” of a Toyota (with police waiting up ahead!), and finally discovering that the only dinner spot in Venus Bay shuts early on Tuesdays. Luckily, luck – and kindness – were on our side again.

Gale-force winds, a not-so-rocking Rocking Horse, a giant goanna, closed pubs, chicken pies, and a race against a storm. Day 3 was our first real challenge — and exactly the kind I was hoping for.

Blue skies, Mexican food, tequila “for medical purposes,” a Land Rover mysteriously perched on a pole, and a dinner that came fashionably late (thanks, South Australia). Day 2 had it all — from historic churches to hungry sorrows drowned in the Riverside Hotel.

A late start, lunch instead of coffee in Ballarat, a missed art stop in Ararat, and a mosquito graveyard on my visor — Day 1 ends in Horsham with the heater on full blast.